SIS Intercultural Study Abroad

My gap year program at SIS has been for sure one of the most meaningful and productive experiences of my life. I found the program to be very unique as it really gets you to experience the local culture by volunteering at local NGOs/projects, and living with a host family. The teachers are great, and I saw a lot of improvement in my Italian in a couple of months. Classes are very hands-on and include many visits to museums, like the Uffizi museum in Florence.
Siena is beautiful and SIS is located at an amazing spot, so it is really easy to get around the city.

Siena Italian Studies is nothing short of amazing. I attended SIS for a semester during my gap year and it was the best experience of my life. I was able to learn Italian extremely quickly through the community service programs they organize, through my loving host family and through the social events organized with Italian students. Siena is extremely safe and still a place I can call home. After SIS, I majored in Italian at my university in the US. After my degree in the US, I even decided to go back to Italy and pursue my Masters for two years in Milan. SIS is a major reason why I was able to get that opportunity. Without the advanced intercultural skills I gained through SIS, living in Milan would have been much more difficult. I cannot stress enough that SIS is an incredible program that runs so smoothly by an incredible staff and faculty of amazing professors!

If you’re looking for a program in Italy, it should definitely be this one. It gives you such an authentic experience with an awesome host family and a bunch of cultural activities that they organize. They provided a lot of opportunities to get to know Italians your own age and make friends. We went on trips my year to the alps, the beach, Florence, and a few smaller towns. It was seriously incredible. We also had a few breaks where we could do our own thing and they were incredibly helpful giving suggestions on what to do if you had no idea. I’ve since been back a few times and they are still so welcoming. Once you’re a participant of this program, you really are a family. The classes were also very interesting and transferred easily back to my college.

I had an excellent time through this program. I was able to pay like a normal semester for college. There were many opportunities to travel with the program from already pre planned trips included with your program to having time to go all over Europe and Italy. I met so many wonderful people and our teachers were super help and kind. The only down side is that you are surrounded by English speakers which can make it harder to learn the language. I liked my classes and I loved the beautiful city of Siena. My host family was awesome and my roommate and I got along really well with each other and them.