Review of CET Academic Programs – Siena, Italy

Studying abroad in Siena through CET was one of the best experiences of my life, and I mean that without exaggeration.

There's something about being dropped into a foreign country and having to figure it out that no classroom can replicate. But what made this specific program special was Siena itself: a city with more going on beneath the surface than most people realize.

Learning about the Contrada system, the rivalries, the identity people build around their neighborhood from birth. It made me understand that some cultures run so much deeper than what tourists ever see.

We traveled most weekends. Bologna's food scene and student energy hit different from anywhere else in Italy. Venice during festival season was something I'll remember for the rest of my life, same with Rome and its history. Every city taught me something different about how people choose to live.

But the thing I'm actually taking back home with me is a concept I had no word for before this trip: dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. Not laziness. Not wasting time. Just being present without needing to optimize every moment. That quietly changed something in me.

The friendships this program built are the other thing I didn't see coming. When you're navigating foreign cities together, missing trains, finding hole-in-the-wall restaurants at midnight, you bond with people on a different level entirely.

If you're debating whether to go: stop debating.