CIEE Open Campus of Opportunities

For my CIEE Open Campus Program I visited Rome for my first six week block. This program is perfectly designed for students whose main goal while studying abroad is to travel to multiple locations. The class schedule is Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, so Wednesdays are perfect for exploring around the city and your neighborhood and the three day weekends make traveling to new locations in Italy super convenient! While the classes are each 2.5 hours long, it is necessary in order to complete the course credit hours due to the shortened program of only 6 weeks compared to most other schools which generally last the entire semester (approximately 14/15 weeks). The program offered an included overnight trip to Pompeii and Paestem that was no additional charge for students. CIEE also provided opportunities to sign up for events around the city of Rome like pizza making classes, gelato tastings, bike tours, and more - also at no additional cost for students! These were a great way to explore the host city while saving some money which was super valuable for me as a college student! Also, the courses I enrolled in were based around Rome (specifically the architecture and museums in Rome) and they included numerous On-Site visits to different ancient ruins, monuments, and museums all over the city! This was also a great way to get familiar with the large city.