1. Transferring credits…
“I was pre–med and trying to study abroad in Tel Aviv. I couldn’t take any pre–med classes abroad because med schools don’t like it, so I needed three of my classes abroad to count for either my major or college requirements in order to graduate on time. Unfortunately, there’s no one place at Penn where you can go to figure out what classes will count. Penn abroad says ask your advisor, your advisor says go to an advisor in the college office, the college office says go to your major advisor, who says go back to the college office. So I ended up with no people capable of telling me what to do and some people giving me wrong advice. Only after getting accepted to the program, did people decide to tell me that a) my major would only give me one of the credits I needed b) if I didn’t get the credits then I would need an extra semester and c) I had to go abroad and come back to see how credits transferred. So after getting accepted, I was apparently supposed to go abroad with a low chance of getting the classes I need and not knowing what would happen until I got back. The only option was to not go.” —Samantha Klein, C’16
2. Going to high–risk areas…
“I was supposed to leave to study abroad in Tel Aviv in July. As the start date approached, though, relations got more violent in Israel. The program assured us that things would be fine, and that we had nothing to worry about. But my typical Jewish mother refused to send me on a plane. I guess I'll have to find another time to make it to the Holy Land!” —Carolyn Rauch, C’16
3. Getting grades and visas…
“I was in Argentina which is just a mess. So we were told out right that we would not get our grades until next May (the program went July to November). Also we were supposed to apply for student visa once we got there because you can’t do it before being in the country. So my entire program did that, but we got the visa a week before we were all leaving. It was a very close call since we wouldn’t have gotten our grades without them. Oh and the visa process itself was this ordeal just like going to the DMV 5 times at 8am.” —Eugenie Gruman, W’16
4. The subletting situation…
“I think most people would agree that study abroad is an amazing experience, but no one wants to talk about when you get back. In particular, where do you live? Honestly, finding a nine–month subletter for my apartment was one of the most annoying and stressful things I had to do all year.” —Michelle Riband, C’16
5. And the occasional culture shock…
"That feeling when you go from starving to not hungry at all...when your host mom serves you brains over rice for lunch." —Lizzy Greener, C’16
