Touring the Colosseum

Author: Katelyn Dahl | Major: International Business | Semester: Summer 2023

Katelyn Dahl, a junior international business major with an emphasis in finance, spent four weeks this summer in Paderno del Grappa, Italy, exploring culture, architecture, and history in a memorable study abroad experience through CIMBA the summer of 2023.

I don’t think it hit me until I was three hours into my flight. I am flying to Italy to study abroad!! This was my furthest international flight and all by myself. I spent the day in Venice with some friends before meeting at the train station. Our first hiccup was figuring out the train system fast enough before we missed our connecting train. Only half of our group made it! Thankfully there was a train right after going to the same destination. We made it to the CIMBA campus. I chose this study abroad for many reasons. One being everyone I had spoken to loved the program. I took a total of two classes; International Marketing and Global Consumer. The instructors were very kind and good about giving us advice for when we took weekend trips and what to expect for the social norms of Italy. A normal week started off with classes Monday through Thursday. You would have both classes in the morning and one of the classes in the afternoon for a three hour block. Majority of the time we took class trips to surrounding businesses during this block time. We visited pottery making, a beer brewery, coffee factory, winery and a getaway hotel in the vineyards of Asolo. What I found even more interesting was seeing the coffee brand all through my travels in various parts of Italy firsthand. Italians don’t drink iced coffee or add any type of flavoring. The quality of their coffee is top notch which takes extra time and steps in the process of creating a bitter free coffee.

I knew Italy was known for its pasta but I didn’t realize that it practically is its own food group. A variation of pasta was served with just about every lunch and dinner meal. The Italians take great pride in the homemade quality of their pastas and pizzas. Having a glass of wine with your meal was not uncommon. Italians take their time when eating. The customer is the one to ask for the check since it is customary to stay and visit with friends and family for a few hours.

We did not have classes Thursday evenings which allowed us to travel to our destination of choice for the weekend. The first weekend three friends and I visited Cinque Terre. It was beautiful! Cinque Terre has five small villages you can get to by train or hiking. We hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso in about two and a half hours. Many people hiking in the opposite direction would point out our white shoes and the mud that was on their shoes implying that our shoes might not be white by the end of the hike. When we arrived at Monterosso we walked around the lemon festival. Everything was decorated yellow with all different types of lemon flavored foods and drinks. The environment was fun to be in with live music and families all around. The second travel weekend I joined a big group to visit Rome and Florence in the same weekend. We arrived on Thursday, explored Rome in a day, on Friday walked around Florence, and Sunday traveled back to campus. This was probably my favorite weekend. I joined an Airbnb with nine other people I didn’t know. Since we had such a large group everyone was able to do what they wanted. We would split up and meet back up for a family dinner. The third weekend some of my closest CIMBA friends and I visited Lake Como. We wanted something with water and that wasn’t a super far distance from campus. After three weeks of school, travel and field trips, laying at the lake sounded like the perfect weekend. In Lake Como we took the ferry to visit Villa Balbianello which is one of the filming locations of Star Wars. Nature in Lake Como was absolutely stunning!

Reflecting back, I would have brought a jacket in addition to a rain jacket. I didn’t realize that the weather is a lot cooler than the US in early May. I ended up buying a jacket! I was so grateful I brought a rain jacket and if you have the space maybe even an umbrella. If you are considering this program, I would recommend it! My advice would be to say yes to everything. You are going to be tired but go on the travel day trip to Asolo because it might just be some of your favorite memories!

These four weeks flew by. Through this program I was able to continue my international studies, meet amazing students, learn the social norms of Italy, figure out the train system, plan and execute weekend travel plans and best of all enjoy all Italy has to offer.

Ciao,

Katelyn Dahl