Italy: Verona - International Business, Tourism, Italian Studies

Verona is an easy city to navigate and not a busy, overwhelming city. I believe this helped in actually seeing the city and living comfortable compared to tourists cities nearby. It helped with getting in touch with the culture and having an experience that is a personal learning experience. Verona is also close to other top destinations like Venice and Milan. I enjoyed taking solo day trips to get out of the familiarity of Verona and have a new perspective. I gained so much experience and learned qualities about myself that I wouldn't have learned if I did not step outside my comfort zone.

Verona was the perfect place for me to study abroad because I was exposed to the beautiful architecture of Italy while still being central to the rest of Europe. Verona is also a smaller city and provided amazing opportunities to meet locals and create a community. Whenever I would go out and about, I would run into someone I knew: yet, the city was big enough to have everything that I needed and more while having good options for transportation in and out of the city. lThe staff and our directors were friendly. Could not be more grateful for my experience.

I’ve been studying for a year and just started my second semester and this experience is something I will always be grateful for. So far I’ve traveled to 15 countries and counting and multiple cities across my host country. As cliche as it sounds, study abroad truly changes your life and helps you grow and change in ways that wouldn’t be possible or comfortable back at my home university. The friends and experiences I’ve made are unforgettable and I know I’ve made some life long friends and international connections.

Verona is beautiful and the school is located in a great area near the city center. Although the housing is a bit far from the school, I loved getting to bike, walk, or bus through the beautiful streets. The locals were very kind and my USAC group was amazing! Verona is the perfect size, and feels very safe. It is close to other places in Europe, we went to new cities every weekend! I’ve made life-long friends through this program, and would recommend to anyone looking for an affordable, yet amazing study abroad program!

My experience studying abroad in Verona, Italy was more than I could ever hope for. Verona is the perfect city to study abroad in. It has the perfect mix of tourism and quiet. Specific to the program, the best part about it was the program directors. Anna and Irene are the reason this program was so enjoyable. They are available to help you with anything you could possibly need. They were like my second moms away from home! They work so hard to make the program great and make sure you get everything you want out of your study abroad experience. In addition, they helped me find an internship that matched what I was studying for in school.

I had been abroad before, but actually studying abroad was my dream. I chose Italy for several factors. I had the time of my life and would recommend others to study abroad too, in Italy or another country. Schooling was okay. It was a little frustrating because our schedules changed every week. We had the entire schedule ahead of time but it would be nice to have a set schedule to make planning and traveling easier without having to scour the schedule to make sure it worked out. Our housing wasn’t the best. I heard the semester after us had more options, but we felt really unwelcome in our building and lots of things broke and went wrong. Hopefully having more options made the housing experience a little better. Our building was also very very far from school. It was either a 45-60 min walk or a 20 min bus ride with an additional 15 min of walking. A closer building would have been a lot easier. Verona is beautiful and full of history. There’s so much character there, be sure to take advantage of it and get to know your new home city! The traveling experience was also incredible. Verona is a little tougher to get to other places simply because the airport is really small, and to get to bigger cities is time consuming because you have to travel by train or bus to get to the bigger metropolitan area airports. But it’s worth it. Being able to travel to so many different countries for so cheap and just for the weekend is something I’ll never forget. Studying abroad was definitely an experience to remember. I’ll always tell people to make the jump and just do it. You will never regret it.

Before coming to Verona, Italy I had no idea what to expect. I had never traveled outside of the United States and I had no idea what kind of life changing experience I was in for. Verona opened my eyes to so much of the world and has encouraged me to pursue new opportunities and experiences. What I really enjoyed about Verona is that you really feel immersed in the Italian culture, which is different from more of the larger touristy cities in Italy. I was able to meet Italian locals, enjoy the beauty of Verona every day on my walk to class, go to aperitivo in the piazzas, and so much more! This city completely made me feel like I had a home away from home. I was also able to travel quite extensively during my time In Verona to many places in Italy and other countries as well. Verona is a great hub for transportation, but every time I left to go to a new place, I was eager to get back home to Verona. Being in Italy changed me so much as a person and I would recommend it to anyone - no matter where you are at in life! After my departure, I find myself missing Verona every day, and I cannot wait to come back!