Barker Business Abroad

Studying in Rome was the most amazing experience ever. I'm an International Business major with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Studies, so Barker was perfect. Classes were all good and professors were cool (all pretty standard w/small classes), but what whats the best was the events/excursions. I had been working on a startup idea for years and got so much more done on it during this semester because of these events and conferences we went to. I even met some VCs and angel investors at one expo and now have awesome connections in case I need funding in the future. We also did other random things with the program like a cooking class at a local restaurant, a wine tasting at a vineyard just outside Rome, etc... (point is- it wasn't only business-type stuff).

Rome is a great city to study in and the university is located in a nice residential area just maybe a 15 minute walk to downtown. We lived in sweet flats and really did live like locals. I never wanted to do a homestay, but also didn't want to go abroad to live in a building full of US students either (might as well stay in the US then), so Barker housing was the best. We didn't have classes on Fridays, so went away a lot of weekends. Rome is super easy to travel from: there are tons of trains that go all around Italy and then two airports with lots of cheap flights to other countries (and I mean cheap- one weekend we did Morocco for 60 euro roundtrip and the South of France for 30 euro another weekend).

I didn't know what to expect going into my semester abroad, but I knew I wanted to study in Madrid because I speak Spanish and wanted to be in a major European city. I chose to study abroad with Barker Abroad because of their business excursions. Not only were the excursions and events an awesome time, but also we had by far the best housing out of any other study abroad students at my university. This was the best semester of my life (wish it could have lasted forever) and as an international business/marketing student I am so happy I chose Madrid through Barker.

I knew I wanted to study abroad in Madrid because I was looking to improve my Spanish and live in a major European city. I could have gone with any program, but I chose Barker Abroad because I am an International finance/business student and liked that their programs are for business students. For our excursion we went to London to the Business Growth Show and it was awesome. I met so many high up business people from all over the world and made some great connections that I've actually used since then (never mind had a blast in London in general). Besides the business bit, we had the best flats. That alone made glad I went with Barker.

I spent a semester in the French Riviera and it was incredible. Nice itself is a great city to live in- it's a fun place in general, the beach is right there, Monaco is just a short train ride away and ski mountains an hour train. I did a lot of traveling on weekends with friends and there are loads of cheap flights out of the Nice airport and it's easy to get to, so that was also huge.

Another huge this is that the flat I lived in was awesome and so much better than any other student flats I had seen from friends who came to Nice not with Barker (you automatically get your own private room even). Also, our excursions were cool. We went to London for a weekend and went to the World Startup Show and met lots of high-up business people. Made some great connections that I've used in my professional career. As a management & entrepreneurship major, I'm super glad I studied abroad with Barker and definitely recommend.