Best. Semester. Ever.

I studied in Rome for the Fall 2014 semester and loved every minute of it! I struggled with the US staff in regards to communication (if you want to know something, you have to go after it - including questions about application completion and even program acceptance) and politeness so I was a little concerned at first but all of my concerns were curtailed with a great on-site staff. I lived in an apartment with 5 other girls (who were all awful but that's not CIS's fault) that was modern and included weekly maid service. The American University of Rome is an amazing little university in the great neighborhood of Monteverde - it's academically rigorous but I still had the time of my life while abroad. I cannot stress enough how incredible the on-site staff was. Romina Marchionne helped me through every step of culture shock, homesickness and roommate issues and I could tell she really cared about me. Included in the program fee was tuition, housing, international health insurance (which saved me when I had a health concern in the middle of the semester; Romina went with me to the hospital), and cultural activities all throughout the semester which included but were not limited to walking tours of Roman neighborhoods, gelato, cheese and espresso tastings, cultural immersion and re-immersion back into your own cultural activities. Rome is amazing in that it's very central to the rest of Europe so travel on the weekends was cheap and easy; I had the opportunity to travel within Italy extensively and travel to 9 other countries in the short time I was there! I had the time of my life! I learned many valuable lessons while I was abroad and CISabroad really made the experience as simple as it could be. I would absolutely 100% recommend CIS.