CEA CAPA Education Abroad Reviews

My educational experience at CAPA's Florence program exceeded my expectations in all aspects! The professors were wonderful and excellent teachers, who understood all that abroad students are going through and excited by. The course work was engaging and often very useful to know while living abroad. Anytime I or another student had a question regarding abroad life or the subject being discussed, my professors were always excited to answer. So many of the classes focus on real-world examples, which certainly make class time more interesting.

During my time abroad, the CAPA staff were extremely encouraging and helpful. These people were the go-to resources for any questions regarding abroad life, travel, or "how would I say this..." inquiries. Often times, during breaks, I loved chatting away with Valentina, who worked the front desk. She was so sweet and caring. Valentina kept students updated on the fun programs CAPA would throw and answered any questions about the Italian language. All of the staff knew Florence extremely well, so that was such a plus with moving to an unfamiliar and big city.

My roommates and I loved our apartment. With just a 3-minute walk to the Ponte Vecchio, our apartment was in an excellent location, with proximity to beautiful sites and 5-star restaurants. We always felt safe in Florence and had a great landlord that took care of any maintenance issues in the apartment (there were only 1 or 2). With the CAPA program’s central location, one never has to walk more than about 10-15 minutes to get to all the major sites in Florence. I loved that this program’s classes were all in one building and not scattered around the city.

Everyone was super friendly in Florence. There was not one time that I felt unsafe or uncomfortable with the locals. CAPA staff are the best resources for any questions about culture shock or cultural/social integration. CAPA even provided a night program to discuss culture shock and ways we could combat it. That program was necessary in my cultural integration to Florence!

The best thing I gained from my experiences in Florence was the understanding of exploration's value. It is so important for Americans to see the other side of the world, how people of different cultures interact, and how these different people live. Every little aspect of my abroad life was worthwhile. I learned to ask more questions, venture out, and explore things that interest me.

I loved the pre-departure tips and checklist that were provided by my university. I would encourage anyone studying abroad to carefully ready over these materials, and search for blogs/articles on your city of study. This resources can be helpful to envision what your daily life will be like.

There's no doubt about it - living abroad can be very difficult...at first. From what I have learned, the best advice I can give is to stay busy and really push yourself into new, safe situations. I loved exploring. It allowed for me to meet and befriend locals that I otherwise would not have met. Within 2 weeks of my time in Florence, I felt as though I had a good understanding of what Florentines are like and how I should carry myself. The CAPA staff will encourage students to ask any questions regarding the "do's and don't's" in Florence. Definitely take them up on this! Doing so will greatly reduce your vulnerability to intense culture shock.

I had a fantastic time studying abroad in Florence, Italy through CAPA! I went to so many museums, restaurants, stores, and historic landmarks, and it was truly a life-changing experience. The staff at CAPA was incredibly nice and welcoming, especially Valentina Fatichenti. Everyone made us feel at home and guided us through our first time overseas. The CAPA building is also beautiful, blending modern classrooms with historic artwork and architecture. Overall, studying abroad with CAPA in Florence was something I will never forget, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in studying abroad in Firenze, or any Global City for that matter!

I loved the city of Grenoble, France and the CEA program so much that I decided to stay an extra semester by sudying abroad for a whole academic year! I fell in love with the French Alps and in Grenoble you can see the mountains off of every street corner. It's the perfect size city with a huge student population and lots to do. It's easy to get around with the tram and it's also all walkable. Grenoble is set in a valley so the winters aren't that bad and it rarely snowed. The CEA program made the whole process so easy and I never had any worries or issues. They take care of everything from housing to excursions. Patrick, the program director is the best and is so dedicated to all the students. He was the first to show us around the city and knows so much about French culture. I loved our weekly FACE meetings that were relaxed and engaging. My first semester I stayed with a host family and the second I lived in a residence hall with other international students. They both were amazing experiences and in great locations in the center of town. I was close to the river that runs through Grenoble that I'd love to run along and I always felt safe because there are a lot of locals who run, ride, or walk the path. Grenoble is a very safe city in general and I never once felt unsafe. I attended Grenoble Ecole de Management which is a small international business school and I met so many wonderful people there and learned so much. I could go on and on about my time in Grenoble and all the travel I did around Europe (13 countries!), but it overall changed my life and was the best year ever. Grenoble feels like home and I will surely be back soon.

The point of a study abroad experience is to dive into the culture of the place you are in, right? CEA's internship program in my opinion is the best way to do that, hands down. First off, with CEA I got to live in an apartment in the city of Florence. I had Italian neighbors. I had to find the local bread shops, meat shops, cheese shops, grocery stores, wine stores, etc.. I had to walk through the city every day to get to my classes and my internship. I got to live the life of an Florentine, Truly! On top of that, all of my classes with CEA were culturally based, hence the name: Cultural Experiences Abroad! Every class had something to do with Italian culture! This was all so great and offered such a great opportunity to emerge yourself into the Italian culture. Unfortunately not all of my classmates did this though. There were people who still only hung around American establishments with their American friends. It was the internship for me that really made the difference in cultural emersion. I worked in a small Italian business with Italians. I learned how Italian business functions and I made friends and connections with actual Italians! This was the best part of my experience abroad and I plan to keep in touch and see the people I worked with out there again! Maybe this could also open up some job opportunities for me some day!

Grenoble is a place that I had never heard of before, and upon arriving, remember crying for my first two days for not haven chosen to study abroad at a more popular location such as Prague or Madrid where my other friends had gone. However, being alone with no ties to home and complete strangers on the other side of the world, was undoubtedly the best decision of my life. Grenoble has a strange way of making you feel like you're right at home with the benefit of the mountains, student atmosphere, and always friendly and ready to help supervisors on site. I never once felt homesick being in Grenoble, and I loved it so much after one semester, that I had to stay the full year to make sure I was doing it right. Grenoble has everything, and I owe all my future successes personally, professionally, and mentally to the help of Grenoble Ecole de Management and the town of Grenoble for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

I took part in an 8-week intern abroad program through CEA in London during summer '17 session, and, for the most part, the program has been good. Not great, but good.

Unfortunately, my experience is bitter sweet. More bitter towards the end than sweet. I had alerted CEA that I would be needing to leave two weeks early for my brother's wedding, before I even applied to the program. After I applied, I was sure to alert every CEA official of my intentions to leave early.

I was extremely busy toward the end of my spring semester. Between my RA job on campus, my internship with Baker Tilly in my hometown, travelling back and forth between home and college, and taking two upper level college courses in my accounting major, I was already pretty busy. Throw in countless hours of paperwork for CEA and this pathetic program, and I forgot to bring up the fact that we would like to get a discount for the two weeks I wasn't going to be there.

I brought this up about 3-4 weeks into my shortened 6 week program (originally 8 weeks). I went to the finance department at CEA, and didn't get anywhere. All they told me was that I had signed the terms and conditions and was responsible for 100% of the cost. I went to the director, and pleaded my case. They wouldn't so much as give me half of what I was asking for.

This program and CEA HQ are money hungry and profit driven. They could care less about the average (poor) college student that is giving an arm and a leg to pay for their program, which, by the way, doesn't even cover the cost of your airfare, meals, transportation, or excursions. Oh, and also, if you plan on interning, you'll need a visa. CEA doesn't cover the cost of the visa, either. I didn't get my placement until 2-3 weeks before my flight was supposed to leave, which then meant I had to expedite my visa to have it in time before I left. All in all, my visa ended up costing me an additional $400-500 in order to get it on time. Essentially, I paid $8,000 (for six weeks) for an apartment that isn't air conditioned, and an internship that is unpaid. Also, note this $8,000 is before the flights and everything else I mentioned that isn't included.

If I were to do this over again, I wouldn't choose CEA. The experience I've had on my own time, and the friends and relationships I've developed on my own, have been great. We've traveled all over the UK, and plan on traveling to Rome my last weekend here. That part of it has been wonderful.

If you're a perspective student looking to sign up with this program, I would caution you. You'll be working 30+ hours a week, with a very strict attendance policy. You'll also have a 4 hour class on the other day you aren't working. You'll be limited to the weekends for travel, which is almost useless, as you'll be spending anywhere between 100GBP and 300GBP for two to three nights. I would highly recommend traveling on your own as you can see more and experience more without all of the restrictions that CEA places on you. And you'll also save $8,000 and be able to put it towards actual travel expenses, instead of flushing it down the toilet to a CEA program that will refuse to do anything for you.

I hope this helps! Feel free to contact me with any specific questions about the program if you have any.

I really enjoyed studying abroad with CEA. I took Thermodynamics for my major requirement and Photography as a humanities course. My thermo course was taught very well, and photography really allowed me to explore a lot of Rome. The excursions with the other courses that were going on (such as Art and Archeology) were open to people who weren't in the class, which again allowed people in the program to see parts of Rome that they might not have otherwise known about.

CEA set up a lot of great experiences / excursions for our program, all expenses paid, such as a pizza & gelato crawl, pasta making class, an overnight trip to Campania, and a day trip to Florence. These events helped me make the most of my time in Rome, and allowed me to get to know the people in my program better.

I couldn't be more happy with my decision to study abroad through CAPA's Dublin Program. CAPA gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and I am so thankful for that. Studying abroad in Dublin was a fun, eyeopening, educational, and beyond worthwhile experience. I would recommend this program and country to anyone interested in studying abroad. Dublin is fit for all people looking to have an unbelievable time while abroad!

If you're a travel geek like me I highly recommend this program because how many people can actually say they went to China. Not only does studying abroad look good on a resume, for most going abroad is a once in a life time experience, where you can gain independence, responsibility and become culturally educated. I highly encourage anyone who remotely interested to take the opportunity because it is unforgettable and you also gain close friends while abroad. I also want to include, CAPA made all the application processes very easy by giving us step by step instructions on what to do.
I studied abroad mainly in Shanghai, China, but I did visit other cities as well such as Beijing, Wuzhen, and Hangshan. Myself and 20 other students from my school lived at East China Normal University for about a month and stayed in a hotel in Beijing for 2 days. The dorms were very nice and modern even though it did take us a while to figure out the Wi-Fi and the heating system. We had both a guide and a translator from CAPA with us for the majority of the trip, which was really helpful and CAPA was also gracious enough to all us to visit many popular sites in China, like the Great Wall, temples, the Yu Garden and the Bund. In addition, we tried some traditional Chinese food like frog, lychees and many different types of fish. I highly recommend taking a trip to Coco Party which is like a little cafe in Shanghai that has amazing milk shakes and sandwiches. My favorite memory is when about 7 of us decided to go to Yellow Mountain. The views were breath taking and you also get a good work-out. Overall, I enjoyed the entire trip and I hope to travel to more places in the future.

For my first study abroad semester, I made the right choice by choosing CEA. The staff was always available and always made our trips to enjoyable places. The academics provided fantastic culture experiences and we equally as challenging. My Italian professor Elda made every effort to emerge us into the Italian culture through hands on experiences as well as making sure we were understanding the language itself. Each of my professors made a huge effort of helping both inside and outside of class. Overall, CEA is a wonderful program.