CIS Abroad Summer Study in Italy

This was a life changing experience. Being completely submerged in the Italian culture was a completely new experience and being able to experience this with new friends was one of the best parts. I'm still in contact with the students I met abroad and they have grown into very close friends of mine. In addition to the amazing views, food, sea and architecture. CIS was an amazing program each event felt special and like a lot of time and effort was put in to give us the best experience. 10/10 recommend!!

I absolutely loved my summer abroad experience in Sorrento, Italy! I took Elementary Italian Language and History and Culture of Italian Food. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes abroad. The teachers were very friendly and easy to work with. My History and Culture of Italian Food class even took us to a Buffalo Mozzarella Farm field trip as well as a pasta factory field trip. My classes were engaging and interesting to learn about. There were few assignments and often just a midterm and final exam. The class sizes were small which I enjoyed, which made it easier to build a relationship with the professor and ask more questions. I lived in a local apartment right in the middle of downtown with three other girls. The apartment was very spacious and clean and even had an outdoor patio with a table and chairs. There were so many fun activities to do in Sorrento. I went to beach clubs, paddle boarding, cliff jumping, wine tasting, olive oil tasting, cooking classes, and more. The town of Sorrento is very touristy, especially with a lot of travelers during summertime. The town does feel very safe during the day and at night. There is a nightlife scene with night time bars and fun rooftop bars overlooking the ocean. Sorrento is located in the bay of Naples so to travel to any big Italian cities you must first take a local train from Sorrento to Naples. Then you must transfer to a regional train in Naples to any other cities. This extra transfer can make traveling on weekends to cities a bit difficult, but is easy to navigate after the first time.

I could not recommend Florence enough to any person looking to study abroad! I had the best semester of my entire life, and not a day passes that I don't wish I was there! The people at CIS and Florence University of the Arts were beyond supportive and helpful throughout the whole process, and I would pick up and move back right now if I could! Florence is the BEST study abroad city in the world in my opinion, and I am so so so grateful for this experience! It took me a long time to decide if I should go or not because I was so nervous about not knowing anyone, but I could not be happier with my decision, it has changed my entire life!

My summer in the Italian Coast in Sorrento, Italy with CIS Abroad was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Going into it, I was extremely nervous going overseas alone but this program did an amazing job at connecting me with students before the program even began. Once I arrived, there are so many different opportunities to get involved and meet people whether it is through classes, field trips, sponsored organized activities or through your housing accommodations. This is something that I will advocate for my kids to experience one day. It was truly a dream.

Thanks to CISabroad, I not only went to Italy, I experienced the culture! CISabroad had a staff member on-site that would lead scheduled events to teach us more about living in Sorrento, Italy. We had events such as a lemon garden tour, a coffee/pastry breakfast at a local cafe, and a day trip to Napoli! If I did not study with CIS, I would not have had the experience I did. Additionally, CIS was great with helping me get settled in my living situation and did a great job with roommates! They have a quiz they send out so they can match you up with a good roommate for the month (or semester!). I actually am going to be meeting up with a couple of my roommates from the trip here in about a month! Overall the experience was beautiful and fulfilling, enriching my life with culture.

Rome is the absolute perfect place to spend an entire month just exploring. Its rich history and famous culture are definitely something worth seeing (and trying)! There is something new to do and see every day! The public transportation system is easy to navigate and there are plenty of English-speakers, which makes communication so much easier. The university is very nice and I feel as though I learned a lot from the classes I took. I took an Italian language class and a History of Modern Europe class, and even now I reflect on what I learned in those classes while attending school at home. CISabroad was very helpful in organizing several trips for the students and that made us more familiar with our area. By the end of my trip, I knew so much about life in Rome that I felt like a local.

This trip was easily the best experience I've ever had. Right before writing this review I was going through my old pictures from the trip reminiscing, as I have done every single day since I got back. Not only did CIS go above and beyond while abroad, but they made sure we were all prepared before even stepping foot on the airplane. While applying, I was wary of whether or not my summer work schedule would allow me to go on the six week program, or the three week program. My program advisor reassured me that once I have my application in they can always switch it over–which took a complete weight off of my shoulders. Once accepted into our programs, CIS had an orientation meeting via video chat. This orientation meeting provided me with all of the information I could've asked for pre-departure, and I felt as if I knew everything about the city of Florence before even getting there. This definitely helped ease me into the culture, and mitigated any potential culture shock. I wound up doing the three week program, but I wish I could've stayed for an entire semester. Additionally, we had an orientation once we were settled in to our places as well. The orientation was long, but I don't know what I would have done without it. They described at length what to do, what not to do, which places to avoid, cultural norms we should respect, and even where to get the best mosquito repellant (which was VERY life changing). Once we arrived in Florence, I knew I was in the right place. The city itself is so utterly beautiful and rich in culture and history. Aside from the true magnificence of the city and the country, CIS provided us with numerous opportunities to truly dive into the culture and experience local life outside of the tourist realm. One of my favorite experiences was the gelato tour–where we toured around the city and tried two of the best gelato places in Florence, the kind you only find if you wander far off the beaten path and have a local to help you find it! My other favorite experience was the pasta making night. We all contributed to make a traditional Italian meal from scratch–including making home made pasta. These are only two of so many experiences I enjoyed and that truly made my time abroad feel like I was at home. Our site leaders, Peggy and Alessandro also had a huge impact on our trip. Not only were they there for us if we had any issues or concerns, but they helped to guide us whether we were looking for local spots to explore or needed to figure out how to use public transportation. This totally changed our experience, because we basically had locals we could text and ask any questions! We were able to explore so many cool places that we wouldn't have had the opportunity to had we not been able to reach out to Peggy and Alessandro. In addition, the institution where we studied could not have been more perfect. Florence University of the Arts offered numerous academic subjects to explore, and went above and beyond in ensuring that students got the most out of their experience. What is unique about FUA, is that they offer mandatory excursion trips as part of each course, where you get to travel outside of Florence and take part in activities pertaining to your class. For example, for my Italian class we visited Orvieto, a small town with a bit of a large secret–an entire community of caves under the city that were once occupied years before. We got to tour the caves and learned about the cities' history and why the caves were created. This was definitely one of my most memorable experiences, it was so unique and I would have never visited or even known about that town on my own. Overall, I could write an entire book about how great my experience was. CIS does it best, and they offer everything you could ask for! As a last point, I would like to mention that CIS has included health care while you are abroad. If we ever got sick or had any emergency, we had a doctor available to us that was free to visit, which really made a huge difference for me. Although I never needed to visit the doctor, I had a friend who broke her tail bone cliff jumping and was able to visit a doctor immediately because of this. It eased the students' minds knowing we had somewhere to go if anything happened to us, which really matters especially in a foreign country.

This was by far the CRAZIEST and most exhausting 3 weeks of my life, but also the best! The Taste of Italy program is by far the best way to truly experience Italy and all it has to offer! The food was delicious, the people were friendly, and the places were absolutely incredible! I would go back today if given the opportunity...the only thing I would change is the length of the program. Three weeks just wasn’t enough for me!