Author: Camilla Cureington | Major: Marketing | Semester: Summer 2025
This weekend I traveled to Barcelona which was my favorite travel weekend!! I am standing in front of Basílica de la Sagrada Família which even though it was under construction it was so breathtaking!
This summer I spent four weeks studying abroad at CIMBA in northern Italy. I wanted to study abroad for the unique and unforgettable experience going abroad offers. The lessons you learn and the challenges you encounter are so impactful and a learning experience within itself. I’ve learned over the past month how large of an interest I have in other cultures and learning all the nuances and differences. Studying abroad gave me a deep dive into seeing how other people live and what they value and also gave me the chance to live like the locals for a month. I really appreciated the location of CIMBA. It was in a very small and quaint Italian town about an hour north of Venice. This small town environment gave great opportunities to truly immerse myself in Italian culture and connect with locals, which could’ve been more difficult in a large city. The environment was so welcoming and being in a place like that is something I will always appreciate.
During my time at CIMBA I learned so much through my classes. I took International Marketing and The Global Consumer. We would go to both classes for 90 minutes each in the morning Monday-Thursday. Something about CIMBA’s academics that I really appreciated was the afternoon class excursions. We would go with our class to local Italian businesses, large factories, markets, and more to learn about how the Italian economy and business structure is different from ours. I loved this hands-on and real life learning experience. I had the pleasure of having Molly Rapert as one of my professors and I learned so much from her. We learned all about China from their marketing as a country, to their history, to their social norms and everyday life, and to their goals as a country. This course really opened up my eyes to the globalized world and is what started that spark of curiosity in other cultures. I gained so many valuable life lessons from my professors and left CIMBA with a wealth of knowledge in just four short weeks. It truly was an impactful academic experience I don’t think could be replicated anywhere else.
Advice that I would give to other students interested in studying abroad is don’t be hesitant. It can seem scary to move halfway across the world for a month but it is the most amazing and rewarding experience. The prep work can also feel overwhelming whether it’s working to save money, filling out scholarship applications, researching different programs or countries, and thinking about all you need to pack to live abroad. Don’t let all of that overwhelm you too much. I thought I needed to leave for my study abroad trip with every travel weekend planned out but you actually want to do the opposite and not plan a single thing. When past CIMBA students gave me that advice it overwhelmed me in the beginning because I am typically such a planner and stress without a plan. This turned out to be some of the best advice I had received. It gave me the opportunity to go with the flow more and be more present. It also gave me a chance to meet new people from other schools and find people who wanted to go to some of the same places with me. So leave with an idea of some countries you’d like to visit but don’t be too stressed about having everything planned out perfectly. For example, I went to CIMBA with no intention of going to Barcelona but we went there on our last weekend and it was by far my favorite travel weekend. If I hadplanned all of my trips prior to CIMBA, I wouldn’t have been able to experience my new favorite city. I also highly recommend visiting Barcelona. Between the unique architecture, the food, the culture, and the shopping, it made for such an amazing trip.
I am leaving study abroad with an empty bank account but gained a month of the most amazing memories and experiences of my life. The new friendships and memories are truly unforgettable and so unique to the experience of study abroad. I am so grateful to have had such an amazing opportunity and encourage everyone to study abroad!