NOT culturally immersive June 10, 2022

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Let me preface by saying that I enjoyed the people who I studied abroad with and I had a good time in Italy and traveling. HOWEVER, it is not a culturally immersive program. If you are looking to go to Italy to immerse yourself in the culture, the language and feel like an Italian: you won't. You won't be studying in a university with Italians, if you stay with a host family you won't be speaking Italian. I was definitely blindsided. I stayed with a host family and felt like an au pair and so did the other only girl who was also in a host family during my program. Both of us were the only people in host families and we both felt exploited. We PAID these families for rent and WORKED for them. We were essentially baby sitters and au pairs. We would take their kids to school, pick them up from school, play with them for an arranged amount of hours (15hrs/week or more), and TEACH THEM ALL English. We signed up to live with host families to LEARN the culture and LEARN Italian, but instead we were TEACHING English. The families spoke with us EXCLUSIVELY in English and NEVER spoke with us in Italian. We were essentially there to help them practice their English. Do NOT live with a host family via USAC if you want to learn Italian! Look for another program! Save your money and your experience and DO NOT go to USAC Reggio Emilia if you want to learn Italian through a host family because all you will be is a baby sitter and English teacher. Besides host families, if you think you will immerse yourself in Italian culture through the university or USAC programs: you won't. The university that American students go to is SEPARATED from the Italian university. It is not even in the same building, it is 3 buildings away in a separate secluded area. That building is exclusively for Americans, thus you will only make American friends from your program. If you think you will make Italian university-aged friends via the program because you will be in an university in Italy: you won't. PLEASE look into other programs if you are looking for a culturally immersive experience. If you want to feel like you're in the United States while you're in Italy, sign up for USAC Reggio Emilia because all you will be doing in this program is speaking English and hanging out with Americans. Think long and hard before signing up for this program and what type of experience you are investing your money into! Do you want to go abroad to feel like you're back in America or do you want to have the full immersive Italian experience? Because you won't have it through USAC Reggio Emilia. Another note: we were one of the first programs post-COVID and it was apparent that the program advisors were unprepared. When one person caught COVID, that person's roommate (who had asthma and did not test positive for COVID) was forced to stay in the apartment with their positive roommate because the advisors did not have a backup apartment or location for this person to stay in.

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

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• The city it was located in
• The food
• The advisors were nice

• Immersive education with Italians
• Host families speak in Italian with students not English
• More Italian culture integration