Catania: a summer filled with new friends, sunshine, and a unique cultural experience Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The program began with a great orientation program run by the resident director. Before beginning classes, we had a chance to learn our way around the city and get to know our fellow housemates. When classes began, we had 2 weeks of language intensive classes, one in Italian language, and one practicum class, either gastronomy and culture or journalism. This gave us a chance to do some language review to start off. Classes were usually 3-4 hours a day, with several Friday's off. After the language intensive period was over, we began our history course, either taught in English or in Italian. This class provided us with a change to learn about the history of Sicily and the culture surrounding us. All of the work in the classroom was very hands on; for the Italian, we often left the room itself to go out into the city and speak to pedestrians to practice our language. In our gastronomy practicum, we would learn about different Sicilian regions, and then learn to cook the important dishes from those regions. For our history course, we took a traveling seminar to Palermo, Sicily's capital. The classes did require work, but all of the work was designed to enhance our experience in Catania and to learn as much language as possible. Also, outside of the classroom, we had language partners, who were young Italians from the area who were also trying to learn English. We had formal and informal activities planned with this group, and it was another great way to get more connection within the city. The only problem with the program was the History class, which was taught by an Italian professor in English. Because of the slight language barrier, the pace of the class was slowed down, and many of the English texts were clearly translated from Italian and difficult to understand. Even though it would have been difficult, it would have perhaps been better in the long run to have taken the class in Italian

On-site administration of your program

Overall, this program provided students with an amazing opportunity, and was much more organized and well planned than many others I have heard from my friends experiences abroad. Many programs sort of expect you to find your own way in your host country, but from the moment we got off the plane, everything was planned perfectly so we never had to be concerned about being in a foreign place. The program was small, and the resident director, Janet Lawrence, did a fantastic job of getting to know each of us and make sure we were comfortable at all times. The biggest weakness in the program was the housing situation. Living with so many other Americans made it difficult to focus on language learning, and while the program gave us a lot of freedom, it would have been beneficial in the long run to encourage the house to be an English-free zone.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

When we arrived in Catania, the apartment(which really felt more like a house) had already been set up incredibly well by the resident directors and was ready to live in, with a kitchen filled with all the necessary utensils, perfectly made beds, cleaned supplies, etc. Our house had 11 American students, and 2 Italian students living with us. Our house had a fantastic balcony with a large dinning table on the second floor, which was great for sunbathing, studying, and group dinners. The location was amazing, the house was about a 4 minute walk from the center of nightlife in Catania, but was on a quieter street in an apartment complex, so noise was never an issue. While the house was fantastic, living with Americans did at times make it much more difficult to work on language and become fully immersed, and we had to motivate ourselves to speak in Italian, and were not forced to as much as we should have been.

The food was one of the greatest parts of the trip. Catania has outdoor markets with amazingly fresh fruit and fish, and there are plenty of local restaurants that are reasonably priced within walking distance. The only downfall was that the grocery store was sort of a long walk, and was nothing like American grocery stores, but there wasn't much of a reason to go there very often, with a small market around the corner. My advice to future students would be to go on a hunt for great restaurants and explore early on.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

One of the greatest days on the program was the trip to mount Etna, an active volcano right outside of Catania. Before visiting Etna, you think you're able to appreciate it's view from the city, but actually visiting the peaks was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life. Another amazing experience was one night, driving back from a club on the beach with some Italian friends, we saw Etna erupting from afar. Knowing we were perfectly safe, we were able to enjoy as the sky was lit up with orange and red fire. also took many trips to the beautiful nearby beaches. Catania is a short busride away from really fun local beaches, but if you explore a little further, you will find resort like beaches about 30 minutes outside of the city. We also took a few trips to Siracusa, which was about an hour away, and saw a show in a real Greek Theatre. There were plenty of amazing opportunities for day trips and amazing events; many of them were run through the program, but after we were able to meet many locals through our language partners, we could easily plan many amazing trips on our own. The region has so much to offer there was never a reason to be bored.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

During orientation, we were taught how the healthcare system worked in Italy, and how to use the pharmacy which is very different from America. It was very accessible, and if we ever had questions or emergencies, our resident directors were always a phone call away.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Apartment

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• Americans
• Local Students