Middlebury - C.V. Starr Schools Abroad

This past school year I took both semesters to study abroad in Jordan with Middlebury. While I had heard incredible things about both the program and Jordan itself, my expectations were far surpassed. This is the best work team I could imagine and supportive through everything from health issues, daily transitions, language challenges, regional conflict. I couldn’t be more grateful. I have never seen a team work so well together and create such an incredible program through attention to detail, love of students, and passion for language immersion. My arabic has exponentially improved and I was given endless opportunities to interact with daily local life creating lifelong friendships, connections, and job/volunteer experiences.

Living in Paris was an expansive experience. It challenged me in a lot of ways, and helped me grow because of it. Paris is such a beautiful city, with spectacles and beautiful architecture and people and a moving, dynamic current. There's always something to do, someone to see. It’s city to get lost in and find yourself again. It’s a city designed for people, for connection, for community. If I could, I'd do it all over again. The Middlebury Program is a great way to immerse yourself. With a host family, and a balance of local and program-led classes, and a lot of independence, you are sure to find yourself getting to know a great city. I found the language support really helpful, and I was able to meet a bunch of people, either local or through the program or through different study abroad schools. I’m really grateful for the opportunity it gave me.

My time at Middlebury CMRS was really rewarding. Adjusting to a new academic environment and system was definitely intimidating at first, but I grew to really appreciate the change, especially because of how much it pushed me outside of my comfort zone. Until coming to this program, I didn't realize how quickly I could read and write, and that helped me overcome intellectual/academic perfectionism. The tutorial system was definitely difficult and lots of work, but it felt really good to be taken so intellectually seriously by Oxford tutors, and the system also allowed me to create strong relationships with each of my tutors. By the end, I felt very proud of myself for taking on such a difficult course/workload and realizing that I could still keep up and do well. It built my intellectual confidence and also allowed me to meet some really wonderful people and create some really cool experiences and memories.