Author: Macey Wyler | Major: Political Science and Journalism | Semester: Summer 2024

CIMBA Italy is housed at Instituto Filippin, a boarding school in Paderno del Grappa, Italy! Campus is always bustling and provides many amenities because of its location!

I had never been abroad before, so why not live in another country for a month of my summer? Studying abroad has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. At the beginning of my freshman year, I started exploring programs that had to do with my two majors, political science and journalism. I had many friends who experienced different programs, but one that had always stuck out was the CIMBA Italy Global Business Education Program. Given the name of the program, I knew the program was going to be business focused. I had a suspicion, however, that the program might have opportunities even for non-business majors to live and study in northern Italy. I decided I might as well go for it, so I got more information and talked to the plethora of University of Arkansas CIMBA alumni. With a few photos, class descriptions, and my dear friends telling me their CIMBA summer was the best summer of their college careers, it didn’t take much convincing to decide CIMBA was the program for me.

The CIMBA Italy program was a wonderful balance of academic challenges and cultural immersion. While attending the program, students choose two classes out of the 12 offered to receive six hours of college credit through the University of Iowa upon completion and sufficient grades in the courses. CIMBA, while marketed as a business school, offers classes in everything from mythology to engineering while also covering important business topics like marketing and law. During my month in the program, I took Introduction to Law and Italy Live. Introduction to Law was like a traditional business law course, but it also incorporated other elements like comparing U.S. law to different countries and Italian law. Italy Live was an Italian language and culture course with a special emphasis on learning the Italian language useful for living and enjoying everyday life in Italy. The CIMBA courses are designed to educate students while also exposing them to Italian life through field trips in each class every week. Rather than sitting in a classroom all afternoon, professors are encouraged to take students on field trips to local businesses or do interactive activities like scavenger hunts through surrounding towns. It is hard to pick a favorite field trip. Still, two highlights included a trip to the Boots Museum in Montebelluna to learn about trademarks and a trip to nearby Bassano del Grappa for a scavenger hunt with my Italy Live class. The courses aren’t easy, but the professors want to see their students succeed and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. Many of the professors travel from various U.S. colleges and universities to teach at CIMBA, so they want to experience living in Italy with their students through their classes and activities.

What made the CIMBA program unique was how much the staff and professors encouraged us to explore the beautiful country and region around us on the weekends. Each week, classes wrapped up around lunchtime on Thursday or Friday before we boarded buses from campus to the nearest airport and train station. We were free to explore whatever city or country our heart desired. I spent my first weekend wandering the historical sights and restaurants of historic Florence, or Firenze as it’s known in Italy. The second weekend, a group of 14 of us took off to Pula, Croatia, for a much-needed boat day and relaxing time enjoying the water. The boat day was a real highlight of my experience- always book the boat day! The third weekend, my friend and I went to Toulouse, France. Exploring a new country for the third weekend in a row was incredible. We wrapped up our travel weekends in Venice where we enjoyed the beautiful sights of the canals and historic landmarks. Travel weekends were truly the most fun! CIMBA staff and professors loved hearing stories about where we traveled and what we learned over the weekends, so much so that we very rarely had any homework on the weekends. The CIMBA program provided the perfect opportunity for us as students to explore new cultures and plan trips to those new places completely on our own.

Daily life at CIMBA included lots of sunset walks, gelato runs, and trips to Pizzeria Al Sole, a student favorite in Paderno del Grappa. Outside of class, I spent most of my time catching up with friends while doing homework or studying for exams. Because we were only on campus a few days a week, those days also usually consisted of telling stories from the weekend before and planning for the weekend ahead. The CIMBA classes I took are two of my favorite classes I’ve taken so far in college. The material was engaging, and the professors truly cared about the material they were teaching. Campus life was relaxing and full of fun times spent with friends!

My CIMBA Italy experience was nothing short of amazing. From the stellar academic opportunities to unmatched experiences, I cannot recommend studying with the CIMBA Program in northern Italy enough. CIMBA was the perfect bridge connecting me, someone who had never been abroad, with the world and cultures around me for the first time. Because of my experience, my worldview has expanded as I learned to connect with new people and navigate new places on my own. The Honors College provided me with the opportunity to go abroad, and I cannot express enough gratitude for the opportunity they provided me. To anyone wondering about studying abroad- GO for it!