CEA CAPA Education Abroad Reviews

This city is honestly the perfect study abroad city. Not only is it student friendly in the fact that it is EXTREMELY inexpensive. It is also very easy to get around with public transportation, it is also very central in Europe only 4 hours from Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava and only 8 hours from Budapest. And also very close to other cities in Europe. It's full of history and has amazing coffee! What's not to like!

Granada is an amazing city due to the large university there. It's large enough to offer something for everyone, but small enough not to feel overwhelming. I had a great experience due to the amazing CEA staff, the friends I made here, and my wonderful host family. My host family experience combined with the classes I took helped me to improve my Spanish immensely, and I learned so much about the language, culture, and history here in Spain. I was also able to travel to many other cities in Spain as well as other countries in Europe! Overall, it was a very culturally immersive program and I was very pleased with everything, including the amazing support from CEA. I learned more about myself, improved my language skills, and tried new things I never would have done otherwise. Study abroad is truly a life-changing experience.

CEA made sure that everything went smoothly so that we could get the most out of our study abroad experience. They were always readily available and easy to contact when needed, not to mention super friendly. They always had events, activities and programs to keep us engaged, help us meet our fellow study abroad peers and help us learn all about our new home. They even organized trips to help us see more of the Czech Republic. They prioritized our safety and our needs and were always very accommodating. I was housed in a really nice apartment located right near old town and everything was in walking distance. Prague is an absolutely amazing city where there is always so much to do and see, plus beautiful architecture and great food. This was an amazing program and I'm so grateful to have participated.

I was greeted by CEA staff from the moment I arrived at the airport to pick up my bags. All throughout the semester, the staff showed unconditional support in academics, housing, and even travel tips. Professors are very knowledgeable in their subjects and courses offer field studies which allow for learning to take place outside four walls.
CEA also offers Experiential Learning Activities which involve activities within the city in addition to trips to Sitges, Valencia, and even Madrid! No matter where you end up going, you learn so much about the culture, language, and the people.
There's always something to do and somewhere new to go eat. Barcelona itself has SO much to offer that there's no going wrong in choosing Barcelona as your study abroad destination. I don't regret my choice and would recommend it to anyone wishing to study abroad!

Studying in Florence was amazing. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to live in such a beautiful place with such a rich history for four months. However, my experience with CEA, which included being talked down to countless times, brushed off repeatedly, and being harassed by two male staff members, was awful. The classes were not hard and weekend traveling was relatively easy, but by the end of the program I was actually afraid while at school.

CEA Madrid is an incredible program and I am very glad that I made the decision to study abroad with CEA. They really help you become allocated with your brand new location and take you step by step to make sure you are all set to embark on a semester abroad. That being said, if you ever need anything throughout the semester the on-site contacts are very easy to get ahold of. Also, the weekend trips and Friday excursions were amazing. I highly recommend to attend as many as you can because they are all included in the program cost! I highly recommend CEA.

I could not have been happier choosing CEA to study abroad in Rome, Italy. They provided a wonderful structure for the programs and allowed for so many great opportunities. I enrolled int he Full Curriculum program that partners with John Cabot University (JCU), and I absolutely loved it. The CEA Center and student apartments are in a neighborhood that's a great location within walking distance of JCU and anything else important to Rome, including the Trevi Fountain all the way to the Colosseum. The classes offered at both CEA and JCU are wonderful, and I truly enjoyed all of them. The CEA staff was always eager to help students with major issues or simply giving advice on local favorites for food or gelato. I loved the CEA excursions to Florence and other cities! Learning how to make fresh pasta early in the semester during the cultural experiences helped with cooking throughout the semester! I would highly recommend studying abroad with CEA in any country, but especially in beautiful Roma!

Being apart of the engineering program at CEA was an interesting experience. This had been the first semester that the program was offered so there were some things that they were testing out for the first time. Overall, the engineering classes weren't terrible. They were different than those offered in the states though. They got two pretty great professors for us and one who was very disorganized with planning. This made learning hard in that class because all of us were unsure of what we needed to know. My other class that I took at CEA was amazing! The professor was great and took pride in her job and showing us a different side of Paris. The only thing I would really change about my stay here is where I chose to live. I lived in the dorm and we did not have reliable WiFi the entire semester. CEA was very helpful about that issue though. Besides that, the dorm was just some rules, some of which were included in the agreement, and some that weren't, that were just rather strange and made no sense. I loved being able to explore Paris on my own time and being able to travel within Europe though during my stay.

I studied abroad in Dublin during the Fall semester of 2017. Due to my introverted nature, I was cautious about studying abroad. CAPA reassured me that I made the right decision to go abroad. Studying in a foreign country pushed me outside of my comfort zone, but in a good way. CAPA also had an onsite office in Dublin and they were so helpful, I went to them when I had a mix up with my class schedule or wanted to see a friendly face. I took classes at Griffith College with Irish and international students. The courses that I took were challenging, but not as hard as the ones at my college back home, Seattle University. Besides being introduced to Dubliners and other Irish locals, I had the opportunity to meet other study abroad students from different parts of the United States. Dublin was a perfect size, not too small that it seems boring and not too large to get lost in. Dublin is filled with lots of history but is still a great city for young generations.

Buenos Aires really is the Paris of South America. This city has a wonderful European vibe and there are always a mountain of free activities available to its residents. Overall, I loved my time in Buenos Aires, but I do not think my Spanish improved as fast as it could have. Although my skills did increase from how they were at the start of the semester, I know they would have increased faster if I enrolled in a university for Spanish speakers, rather than decided to take classes at the CEA Study Center for American students. During the spring of 2018, the CEA Study Center in Buenos Aires only offered 2 courses in Spanish and the rest were in English. I took those 2 courses and I do feel like they slightly improved my Spanish, but the simple structure of the course work felt like a review of my high school Spanish classes, rather than a course with challenging learning objectives. The courses taught in English were rather easy too. If I were to do it again, I think I would have enrolled in a university with other native Spanish speakers.

Aside from my Spanish skills not growing as fast as I would have liked them too, I genuinely loved my time in Buenos Aires. I think this is a wonderful city and I feel like my abroad experience enabled me to mature and learn more about myself.