Rome: Beautiful, but Slow Moving Past Review
By Myracha L (Film, Kean University) for
CEA CAPA Education Abroad: Rome, Italy
This experience has made me feel more independent and want to travel to other countries
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
My workload was normal but it really depends on the number of classes you take. The grading system was simple either A or B's no A- or B+'s. I do not believe the educational system was that different from my home university, but the method of teaching was different. I would learn about different historical figures, stories, events etc. and see them while exploring the city. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The CEA Rome Faculty was really knowledgeable about the city, but it was difficult to get appointments and things sent within the city not because of the lack of effort from the CEA staff, but the Italian way of making you wait forever. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
All the food is natural and simple. Italians do not like guessing what their eating. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
CEA organized really great trips in and around Rome to get us more familiar with the Italian culture such as Florence, Bomarzo Monster's Villa, opera night etc. Rome is also a great city to connect to other European cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich etc which are only 3-4 hours away by plane. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
CEA Rome program gave us contact information to all the important people such as the police, fire department, CEA staff etc if we ever got in trouble or needed help. Also through the program we received full health coverage and the CEA staff would even set appointments for us to doctors if we ever got sick or hurt. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I think the best way to improve language skills are speaking with local people and watching the Italian films. When interacting with the locals I would try to speak Italian, but when they realized I was American they would speak English. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Never buy anything on the street no matter how nice the seller may be, wear comfortable shoes because Rome is all cobbled streets, and always call ahead of time when planning to go to attraction because you never know when its unexpectedly closed. |
