Go to Italy, But Don't Go With USAC Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I learned a great deal of Italian very quickly, but by and large the majority of my USAC cohort was not motivated to do much learning. As in failing to make a pretense of even trying. The language classes lagged because of my classmates. They were too busy booking Ryanair flights all over Europe and getting dangerously drunk on weeknights. I did my share of drinking and travel, but my goal was always to explore the culture and place around me. Luckily, I found opportunities to learn on my own.

On-site administration of your program

Appalling. The behavior of the Viterbo administration staff in 2007 - Stefano, Francesa "Frankie" and Marco - would not pass muster in an American institution. I can only hope their egregious behavior is partly due to cultural differences. Let me take just two examples of many to illustrate their inexcusable behavior. 1. After we complained about the mold, Marco came to our apartment to inspect it. He noticed a condom in my roommate's windowsill. He shared this with many of the other students, and joked about it openly. My roommate was not only embarrassed, but had to deal with harassing jokes and comments from the other students for the duration of the trip. Marco eventually apologized, but the damage had been done. In the US, he would have been terminated, or at least sent to an HR sexual harassment training. 2. In another instance, Francesca ("Frankie") publicly upbraided me in the office for bringing my boyfriend on a class fieldtrip when he made a transatlantic flight to visit me in Italy (he paid all of the fees for the bus, admission, etc). I had invited him because the other students had brought visiting family members on trips, and I'd checked with the professor to see if there was extra room on the bus. Francesca explained that it was only acceptable for family members to come on fieldtrips. Now, this distinction made no sense to me, since in both cases you have extra non-student bodies coming on class trip. Why couldn't students be allotted a certain number of guest spots? Why wasn't there a clearly stated guest policy in the first place? It was never my intention to violate the rules. I felt like I was being picked on. Regardless, publicly chewing me out was inappropriate, if for no other reason than I am, in essence, the customer.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The apartments arranged for student stay were quite nice, although we discovered that they were extremely expensive to heat. We were assigned four to a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, with the second bedroom located on a loft. The housing director, Stefano Pizzetti, lived directly across the hall. The heating costs were impossible on our student budgets, and we suffered through the cold winter and spring months without heat. And then there was the mold! It got so bad that my roommate got sick and left to stay with one of our teachers. We eventually discovered from local students that there were much cheaper and more private housing options available in town (admittedly, not as nice as our apartment, but of comparable quality to an American student dorm). Several of the other apartments in the building were filled with USAC students, which did nothing to help us meet locals.

Food is not provided, but there are two cantinas in town that provide very cheap meals for students that bring their ids. There are many local grocers, markets, and also larger grocery stores in town. Groceries are very affordable. Pizza is cheap too- about 7 euros a pizza when I was there!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I made it a practice to avoid most of the program-sponsored field trips, partly because of the students. For some reason, USAC attracts a huge number of Chico State students, who apparently get off on the fact that they are from California and enrolled at Chico. Otherwise, I've just never had any interest in being bussed around with a tourist group on a fixed itinerary. I found I could take much cheaper and more rewarding trips on my own or with friends by utlizing public transit, setting my own schedule and picking destinations/attractions I found personally interesting. One of my favorite trips was the day Viterbo was evacuated so a WWII bomb could be excavated. The train to Rome was free, and I spent the day lazily wandering around the city with a friend.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I felt very safe in Viterbo, although occasionally I received unwanted attention from men. Not as much as my blonde and lighter-skinned classmates, however. This is pretty much par for the course in Europe, though. Women should learn to walk with determination and ignore come-ons and pick-up lines. It doesn't hurt to pick up a few phrases to let guys know you're not interested. The worst safety incidence in my knowledge happened to one of my few friends in the program, who was given counterfeit money in change at a restaurant in Naples. It was eventually brought to the attention of the police when she tried to spend it. All was resolved in the end, but she never got her money back.

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

I wasn't interested in befriending the drunken crew of Chico State Californians (the majority of the 30 student cohort), so I made it a priority to meet and befriend international and local students. Most of these students spoke good English, but they were happy to practice Italian with me. The majority of interactions I had outside of school took place in Italian. By the end of the program, I was certainly wasn't fluent, but I felt competent to conduct transactions, travel the country without hassle, exchange small talk with people I'd just met, and even book an appointment with a local office to discuss my visa status and the possibility of returning or staying on as an au pair or English tutor. The language instructors were very good, despite students' disinterest. I was very disappointed that the program and the staff did not facilitate any opportunities for us to meet or interact with locals, or even other students.

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