Author: Jarrett Hoover            Major: Computer Engineering

Colosseum in Rome

After 14 months of lockdowns, restrictions, and everything else that came with a pandemic, I considered myself incredibly lucky to be going to Italy for five weeks. I had no idea how true this would become. For me, the first half of summer 2021 included new classes, a new culture, and new experiences that would leave me speechless every time I‘m asked about my stint abroad.

The CIMBA program came onto my radar very early on. I had several friends attend this program, one of which has a mother who teaches at Arkansas and has taught a class for this program for many years. I knew I wanted to study abroad and when I declared my minor in business, I knew this program was the right one for me. Going through the application and material gathering phase twice due to the cancelation of the summer 2020 term was not an enjoyable period but obviously worth it now that I have returned with all these amazing experiences. I took two business classes in Italy that contributed to my business minor. I am all about expanding my horizons and an education in business along with my engineering courses fit in with this academic goal of mine. One said class covered consumers globally. We learned about Italy, China, and several countries in Africa such as Ethiopia. I came into this class with no knowledge on these places and left versed in how they interact and work together, specifically their consumers. This international perspective is something I had hoped to achieve while abroad because I know it will be an advantage in my job search after school. My other class gave me an introduction to law, a crucial part of learning for someone wanting to go into business for themselves like myself. As a whole, both of my classes were wonderful and I cannot give enough praise to my instructors. They handled the smaller than normal classroom size perfectly and my overall experience in Italy would not have been the same without their classes and their knowledge on the region. These classes differed from the U of A in many ways but I found two ways to be most favorable. The smaller class size, which is an aspect of this program even without covid, was something new to me as an undergraduate student. I found the ability to talk and ask questions every class period beneficial to my success in retaining the material. However, the feature of class I enjoyed most had to do with the location of campus for this program. Residing in Paderno del Grappa, Italy, a town of 2,000 people, we would go to a local café or take a walk with views of the Dolomites, specifically Mount Grappa. Listening to an instructor in this environment is truly one of a kind.

Everyone always wants to know about the food and wine, and yes, they were both fantastic. I prefer to talk about other experiences I had. One of the cultural things I found most interesting was that everyone we encountered, with a few anomalies, was from/had grown up in that town or area. It seemed the desire to get out of town and start new somewhere crazy like some Americans do does not inhabit the Italian people. I think that it was due to the natural happiness found in this country. Everyone was content with life and I think there is a lot to be learned there. Traveling and experiencing different places is importance as I would definitely tell you now but being content with what you have and where you are from was certainly a characteristic I am not used to seeing in America.

As everyone says, studying abroad is phenomenal and I recommend it to anyone who has the privilege of doing so. However, I do think the CIMBA program is unique to other programs and highly advise attending it over others. What makes CIMBA special is that every single day of the program is not planned for you. They specifically give you weekends, even some three day weekends, to plan your own travel and experience Italy unbounded by the program leaders. I think this is crucial to getting that authentic study abroad experience. You need to have a travel hiccup and learn how to quickly put yourself back on track. One thing I wished I had known before this journey was that something will go bad while abroad, even if it’s not your fault. In my case, a broken down train made for a long day of travel with lots of adapting and there is nothing I could do to fix that. These things will happen, and it is important to stay calm and wisely make your next decision.

I had no idea how much I would miss good air conditioning and fried chicken but they were easy things to go without when I was waking up in a place like that every morning. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do to have an experience like CIMBA again. As I come home, I see a visit to Chick-fil-A in the near future.