The food was AMAZING!! Also, I learned so much about art and improved my drawing skills immensely! Also, we had plenty of free time for shopping, sleeping, hanging out, etc. I highly recommend coming to Italy because it is so safe and beautiful. The staff was very inclusive and the Italians were nice. Things are hard to adjust to at first, but then it gets better. The drawing instructor will be kind and my advice would be to not compare yourself to others. I learned that my skill might not be as advanced as some of my classmates, but that doesn't mean I am not good.

I loved all of the people I studied abroad with and they were truly the highlight of my trip. The Program Leaders (PLs) were all super kind and down to earth. They were also close in age to us participants so we were able to connect with them and we became friends with them like our peers. There were 60 kids in my program since Rome is one of the most popular destinations. The kids were organized very well into 5 groups of 12 which made traveling around the city much easier than I thought it would be when I first arrived. The cultural excursions were very fun and we got to explore so much of the city. If I had to give advice to anyone traveling it would be to lower your expectations about food because the food served was not good so often times me and my friends would buy our own. Nonetheless I think that being able to try so many different things was really fun and I would recommend this to anyone. One more thing I loved was when you show up to the airport, nervous to meet your new friends, you immediately have a sense of community because of the CIEE shirts and everyone is very friendly and excited to meet people.