CEA CAPA Education Abroad in Florence, Italy

Italy was such an amazing experience with my professors and our provider CAPA.I had a blast exploring the city of Florence led by my amazing professors. The thing I loved most about the trip was it didn't even feel like school. The classes were taught in an amazing way where a lot of the learning was centered towards different places around the city. For example, most of our class days were exploring museums, cultural sites, and the beauties of the city. CAPA was also a great provider because of their passion for making their students' time abroad the best it can be. The staff was friendly and the accommodations were clean and nice. We stayed 5 minutes from where classes were held, and the apartments ranged from 5-30 minutes walk as well. On the weekends, the majority of us took trips to destinations outside the city. I went to the Alfmafi coast and Croatia as well. These trips were so awesome and I'm glad I had the chance to take them. Going abroad was so much fun and the adventures I had with new friends will last a lifetime.

I have never been abroad without the security of my parents. I was extremely excited and nervous at the same time to experience a new country. I was mostly nervous about the process of landing and getting to my apartment. The Florence CAPA staff were amazing in helping me get from the train station to the CAPA headquarters then to my apartments. A month before your trip, CAPA sends you a packet through email about where your apartment is, the location of CAPA headquarters, and other important information about traveling to your country. The packet answers many questions that my parents were asking me. The one thing I wish CAPA did was to pay for the cab/transportation to the CAPA center after you arrive because they want you to go to the center to pick up the schedule for your program. However, CAPA did pay for the cab from CAPA center to my apartment. On the first whole day in Florence, CAPA gave all the students in my program an introduction to the Florence CAPA center, a tour of the main city, and an authentic Italian dinner. The first day welcome was the main reason I automatically felt comfortable with the staff at the CAPA center. The dinner was completely paid for and very filling. The tour allowed me to determine how I wanted to spend the next 3 weeks exploring and helped me becoming more comfortable in navigating the streets of Florence. Throughout the rest of the trip, CAPA planned amazing day trips to many cities and facilitated visits to hospitals, medical schools, and other medicine related activities. My program was a global health class trip and the day trips added to the appeal of the trip. All the activities planned were well thought out and aimed towards the program. As my time came to an end, CAPA supplied another complimentary dinner at another amazing Italian restaurant. On the plane ride home, I was extremely happy and relieved that I choose to travel abroad with CAPA.

CAPA gave me the opportunity to live in Florence for 3.5 months. Living in a foreign country for an extended period of time definitely opened my eyes up to the way i perceive the world. There is so much out there that many American students do not see. I believe that CAPA was very organzied when it came to getting our paper work done before starting to travel and explore Florence. I also thought that they remained professional while attentive and comforting. Since we are so far from home, it was important for the students to feel personally connected with the staff at CAPA. The course work was manageable and the professors understand that we are abroad from multiple reasons although school is still a priority. My apartment was a spacious Italian styled apartment. It was definitely different than what I'm used to at home but it added to my experience. My location was great because I was across the Ponte Vecchio and a block away from the bridge. Overall, I think that CAPA gave me multiple opportunities to be indulged in the Italian culture and they made my visit to Italy very welcoming.

CAPA is an amazing study abroad program. Not only is it a wonderful opportunity to explore not only another culture, but you also explore a lot of personal views and personal growth while abroad. My experience was a blessing in disguise, from the cultural immersion, the classes, the people, and all of the friends I made through my university and in Italy were life-changing.
I highly suggest CAPA for this one in a lifetime opportunity. The courses are not your typical college lectures with three hundred plus students, it's very hands-on, very indulging, plus for most classes, you're exploring the city during daytime excursions. Even though the classes I took while abroad does not pertain to my major, I still gained a lot of knowledge and personal growth.
If you're considering this program or any study abroad opportunities, go for it! It's a life-changing experience for anyone who's looking into abroad programs. CAPA is a phenomenal program and I highly suggest studying through them!

This summer I had the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen, Italy. When I first arrived the first thing I noticed was how narrow the roads were. The taxi driver was navigating the street with easy but I feel like if it was me driving I might have been on the side walk. The second thing that struck me was how much everyone was walking. I thought at first the amount of walking would be daunting but by the time I left I found that my group and I were easily walking 5-10 miles a day and loving every step! We even became masters of the public transportation with the help of phone apps. One of the things I loved the most about Italy was that even without a car my group and I were about to travel far and wide throughout the country and stay in different cities for very cheap. During my time there I explored not only Florence, which was where our apartment was located, but also Rome, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano,Padova, Cince Terre, Levanto, and the Vatican City. While in Rome I was able to see the Coloseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Roman Forum and Panthan. In Siena we got to climb the crazy hilly streets and learn about the different sections of the city and how each section is a build-in family for anyone who lives there. In San Gimignano we got to eat “arguably” the best gelato in the world and climb a tower to see the country side. In Padova we got to learn the rich medical history and how it affected the rest of Italy. In the Vatican City I got to do what most people will only dream of doing…. I got to see the Sistine Chapel close up. I could not take pictures for fear of getting tackled by security but I took very vivid mental pictures. I did an impromptu hike between the cities of Cince Terre in only flip flops. I would highly recommend the hike, just not in flip flops. My most treasured memory of all was sitting on a rocky beach in Levanto and looking out out the pristine sparkling ocean and up at the mountains and the sky and thinking I had to be the luckiest woman in the world! How many people in the world can say they had the opportunity to go on this wild and wonderful adventure. My roommates and I got lost… several times….the mosquitoes ate me alive until I figured out how to work the plug in repellent… I almost missed the train… my travel group and I got locked out of out Airbnb for hours, only to realize that we were not putting in the key correctly…. I had blisters on the bottom on my feet the first week… I was exhausted. In the end I would not trade a minute of that adventure nor would I trade the opportunity that I had to make life long friends.

I had the pleasure of studying abroad in Florence, Italy this past winter through CEA. Although I was studying thousands of miles away from my hometown in North Carolina, the CEA team made my arrival, transition, and overall experience comfortable and exciting. The accommodations CEA provided went beyond the classroom. They offered safe housing in desirable city spaces, alternative scholarship opportunities and travel vouchers, out-of-the-box extracurricular activities, and 24/7 personal assistance if necessary. I HIGHLY recommend traveling with CEA and would seriously consider traveling with CEA again in the future.

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.

To be able to say that I lived in Italy for 3 months seems unreal. To say that besides Italy, I travelled to 9 other countries, seems beyond me. But I did do all those things! I explored a new, beautiful culture and fell in love with it. I strongly encourage everyone who has the opportunity to do so, to go for it. These experiences turn into lifelong memories you will cherish for the rest of your life.