Dove Right In!

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!