Study abroad offers an incomparable chance to meet new friends, enjoy unique experiences, and maybe even gain an entirely new perspective on the world. But many people find that actually living abroad is a bit harder than they’d expected. A new environment, a new language – even adjusting to new food – can make it challenging to stick to your goals.
To help, CIEE is now offering a unique course, the Seminar on Living and Learning Abroad (SLL). In the Seminar, you’ll learn about local cultural practices and values, develop your intercultural communication skills, and discuss your daily experiences with other CIEE students under the guidance of a knowledgeable cultural mentor.
The Seminar on Living and Learning is a credit-bearing semester course designed to help you get the most out of your experience abroad. The SLL is currently available to CIEE students in select locations. For a complete list of programs offering the Seminar on Living and Learning, click here.
Why Choose the Seminar on Living and Learning Abroad? Click here to find out.
Get the most out of your experience abroad
Integrate better into the local culture
- In-depth information on local culture – beyond the "do's and don'ts"
- Challenging exercises, including suspending judgment and working with critical incidents
- Focused assignments that take you outside the classroom and into the community
Transfer your learning once you go back home
- Conceptual frameworks to help you understand what culture is and how it works
- Practice articulating what you’ve learned on applications and in interviews
- Exercises designed to help you learn to communicate effectively anywhere
Don’t just take our word for it … To see what Seminar on Living and Learning alumni say about the course, click here.
Reason #1: Be more than a tourist.
"What is your reason for going abroad? Is it just to have fun, or is it to go a little bit deeper and actually become a part of the community?"
Troy—Alicante, Spain
Reason #2: Make local friends – and keep them!
"I feel like I understand my host family a lot better now…"
-John—Santiago, Dominican Republic
"At first, I thought I could just be myself and my host family would understand me….now I’ve learned to look for more clues as to what my host family is thinking."
Emily—Dakar, Senegal
"This class really helped me think about and analyze my experience abroad. It helped me interact with my host family and Dominican friends.
We all inevitably encountered situations where there were language or cultural misunderstandings but the conversations we had in this class really made me take a step back and think about the situation from a new perspective. I was constantly reminded not to make snap judgments and just understand that our
ways of communication are sometimes very different.
This class is something I highly recommend to all future students because the activities and projects were really helpful in helping me have a more meaningful experience here."
Rebecca—Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Spring 2010)
Reason #3: Transfer what you learn abroad to other experiences in the future
"There are [sometimes] culture shocks, or just conflicts and you don’t know how to deal with them but In Seminar you learn how to break it down and consider it in a rational way and look at how different cultural aspects affect your judgment…just analyzing your experiences in a more constructive way."
Martha—Santiago, DR