What is neat about Hope College and Liverpool Hope university (LHU) is that they are sister schools! This means that I can enroll directly into the school without going through a third-party organization. This is nice because there are less steps to go through, and makes the process a lot easier on me.
My advisor is Matt Farmer. He studied at Hope College and went to Liverpool Hope University for his undergraduate abroad experience. It has been very nice to have Matt to talk to about his dance, and general abroad experience.
As we were going through the process, there were some steps we did not expect such as international student classes being different than the classes listed under the major and minor requirements. As we got into the middle of summer, I received an email from the university with a list of classes for international students to take. These were not the classes I had intended, on my list, to take. I was hoping for some technique classes, but none of these were on the list. LHU told me they were only available for me to take if I went for a whole year. I would have loved to do that but there was no chance I could fit in all the classes I needed to graduate this year. This being because of the credit load difference in classes at hope verses classes abroad. Classes at hope are 1-2 credits and abroad they would be translated back into 4 credits so I would run out of credits too quickly abroad.
Here’s the positive!!! I worked with the religion, writing, and dance department to help figure out what I could substitute for requirements. I am so thankful that Hope College was willing to work with me and work around the parameters set for us between the two schools. So, we are still back on track! All this being said, if going abroad is something you want, you CAN still go and get what you want out of the program even if it is a little out of the ordinary. In my opinion, dance is one of the hardest programs to go abroad with because all dance programs are so different from one another and there are so many qualification variations.