While long-existing Foreign Study Programs in departments such as government, history and religion remain tried and true, the English FSP in Trinidad is undergoing some growing pains following a rocky first offering last term.
Many of the students complained about issues ranging from inconvenient dining hall and library hours to an overall feeling that there was a lack of organization.
More than half of the students who participated in the program last term said they would only enroll in the trip again if more information were available before the trip and organizational problems were solved.
"It was a worthwhile program but it needs some major changes," Holly Eaton '98 said.
Students call program disorganized
The University of the West Indies -- the Trinidad school with which the program was affiliated -- scheduled classes a week earlier than the College had originally expected, which caused the students on the FSP to miss the university's orientation period.
The students did not find out until very late in Summer term that the class schedule had been moved up a week, and many were upset by the mix-up, which they said made the initial adjustment period more difficult.
Shavon Fields '98 said "no one knew who we were or why we were there."
Fields said she wished someone from UWI had taken the time to greet the Dartmouth students and give them some of the general information they had missed during the orientation.
"The university was just not prepared for us," Eaton said.
But Carline Dorcena '98 said representatives from UWI did try to accommodate the Dartmouth students, given the orientation mix-up. "The hall coordinator in the dorm made a big effort so that everyone could meet," she said. "After that I didn't feel any tension from my fellow classmates or Trinidadians."
Besides shifting the orientation schedule, the UWI also did not inform the Dartmouth students of some class schedule changes until after their arrival in Trinidad, according to Eaton. Furthermore, the students were not given their Trinidad addresses until a few days before they left the United States.
Dean of Off-Campus Programs Peter Armstrong said "normally at universities the students would have the addresses ahead of time."
Participants on the FSP said the program could have been better organized in several other areas as well.
John Brister '96 said as a whole, the UWI was not very cooperative. "They would make appointments and then cancel them -- they weren't very reliable," he said.
In addition, English Professor Martin Favor, the on-site advisor for last term's program, did not have an office at the university.
Many students were also frustrated by the general lack of information available to them before they left for Trinidad, and said the Dartmouth representatives who organized the trip could have done more thorough job.
"They couldn't tell us what the rooms would look like, they didn't know what we would be reading," Fields said.
A safe haven?
Many of the students on the trip said they had serious concerns about their security, and thought living in Trinidad required taking the same safety precautions typical in large American metropolises -- like Chicago, Detroit or New York.
According to several students on the trip, all who asked to remain anonymous, Favor's apartment was broken into and robbed and later his car was stolen. Favor would not confirm these events for The Dartmouth.
Favor said he thought the safety in Trinidad was no more an issue than it is in large U.S. cities.
Ariana Funaro '98 said Trinidad "is a dangerous place. You just have to be careful and be intelligent about your choices."
"Running around by yourself wasn't really possible," Eaton said.
Students had to consider safety even using the telephone to call the United States.
The FSP students had only one public phone available to them, but could not use it to make international calls. Therefore, according to Eaton, students had to go in groups of three or four "just to make a phone call"-- since walking alone at night, even on the UWI campus, is unsafe.
Funaro said there were burglar bars on the first-floor windows, which made escaping the room impossible in the event of a fire.
The tropical climate -- and all the insects that come with it -- also was an irritant for some students.
Fields said the windows had no coverings, so early in the program there were a lot of insects flying and crawling around the rooms. To combat the problem of what some FSP participants termed "open holes in the walls," the students were forced to buy mosquito netting, citronella candles and bug spray.
Brister added that he did not really mind the insects. "Part of the abroad program is getting used to a different environment," he said.
Inconvenient hours
While the students in Trinidad were hardly expecting 24-hour access to Kiewit Computation Center or late-night Food Court nachos, the restricted dining hall hours and academic resources were a big disappointment for many.
The cafeteria at UWI was only open until 2 p.m. which meant the students were on their own for dinner.
Dorcena said she "took advantage of the situation" by learning how to cook some traditional Trinidadian dishes
Others, like Brister, who were not accustomed to cooking their own meals, opted for take-out. "They have a Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken that delivers so I ate a lot of that," he said.
The availability of research resources was also a dilemma for some members of the trip.
The university "doesn't have a lot of money, and they aren't putting much into the few resources available," Brister said.
Brister, who wrote a paper about a Trinidadian author, said he "would be better equipped to do primary research on a Trinidadian author in the United States than when I was in Trinidad."
The library's book cataloguing system was poor, and according to Eaton, "students hiding things for themselves was a common practice."
The professor's perspective
Despite the concerns expressed by some students, Favor said he thinks the trip "went fairly well."
Favor said he was unable to comment on what the students thought because they have not yet turned in their evaluations.
Once he receives the evaluations, Favor said he will prepare a report for the Committee on Off Campus Activities and the English Department.
As for the student concerns, Favor admitted, "There are things that needed to be worked through," he said. "There are things that need to be worked through every time someone goes to France. It is always different."
Brister agreed that the students and faculty should expect some rough edges to smooth out -- especially because the Trinidad trip was in its first year.
Although the first trip did not go off as well as had been hoped for, Favor said "the students did a terrific job and were in some level exemplary representatives of Dartmouth."
Fields said Favor is the major reason many of the student stayed with the program.
"Favor is the one that kept us from giving up completely," she said. "He talked to the professors and told us he would do what he could to help us. He was the one that kept us there."
