Strasbourg
Author: Sawyer Knox | Major: Supply Chain Management | Semester: Spring 2023
The program I chose was the CIMBA Italy program. Some of the reasons I picked this program are that they have a campus where all housing and classes take place, they emphasize leadership development, they allow ample travel time, and the location is ideal. All the classes in this program are business related. As a business major, this made it easy to ensure that all the classes would go towards completing my degree plan. The leadership development and emphasis on international business culture go along with my personal career plan. Whether I work abroad or not, I want to work with companies and people abroad. The classes were great. Most, if not all, of them integrated lots of hands-on, real-world learning. The teachers were all top-notch. They all really cared about the students. One of my favorite parts of the program was the teacher lead activities. These were outside of class time when teachers would organize some sort of fun activity that students could sign up for. Some of them included dinners with the teachers, bowling, pizza making, hikes, and lots more. These were a great way to get to know your teachers better, as well as some teachers that you may not have. The classes are definitely different from those at the University of Arkansas. They are two hours long, attendance is always mandatory, the grading system is different, and there are lots more written assignments and projects. Overall the program itself is more rigid than what I was used to. There are lots of mandatory leadership training events that were helpful. It was pretty fast-paced with the long classes, short semesters, all the planned events, and the travel breaks. It is strenuous but a very rewarding program overall. The best part was how the design of the program allowed you to get very close to all the other students.
The best part of this, and as I would imagine, any other study abroad program, is the traveling. Paderno Del Grappa (where the campus is located) is a very small town, but by getting on some public transportation, you could easily get to any part of western, central, or southern Europe. Traveling was an amazing experience. The best time I had traveling was when I traveled alone. I did not do it very often, especially at the beginning. I was nervous about trying it as it is intimidating being alone in a foreign country. It was only when I traveled alone that I really got to know myself and had some of the best adventures of my entire life. I met many great friends that I still keep in contact with. I already have plans to see some of them again this summer. I did things that I would never have been able to do, traveling in a large group, and really got to challenge myself.
The best advice that I can give is to be open. I think most people who want to study abroad are already pretty open to new ideas, but I would challenge anybody doing it to push themselves to their limits. Be uncomfortable. Do things that seem scary. Put yourself out there. Get on the wrong train, miss your bus, lose your stuff, make friends, lose friends, spend too much money, dance, cry, be vulnerable, and love every second of it. You most likely won’t get another experience like it. I would recommend this program to other students. However, I would say it is not for everyone. As I said, it is strict in some aspects, particularly the classwork and leadership stuff, and they are intense about their beliefs, but if you are looking for a program that allows and almost forces you to get close to a bunch of new friends and travel all over Europe with them while learning a great deal about the business world, then I would recommend this program to you.