For this semester, I am staying in a homestay with an Italian family in the town bordering Sorrento.  I am living in an apartment building, located on a street directly off the main road leading to the piazzas.  The area I live in is relatively quiet, except for the sound of speeding motorinos and smart cars on the street below.  The view from my balcony is absolutely stunning; to the left I see the snow-topped Vesuvius and straight ahead are the rolling Sorrentine hills that include the towns of Vico Equense and Piano di Sorrento.  Continue reading →

I chose to study abroad because I wanted adventure. Living in Montreal, with my parents, my entire life made me realize I needed my independence. What better way to experience independence than to study abroad? And with a generous scholarship from my school that covered my tuition and most of my living expenses, there was nothing stopping me. Continue reading →

I’ve wanted to study abroad since I found out that such programs existed when I was in high school. I was always asking my parents if I could do programs like learning about turtles in Costa Rica or building orphanages in Nicaragua. I have never been out of the country, and my parents refused for me to go for my first time alone in remote villages at what they felt was too young of an age. I then set my heart on studying abroad once I was in college. I had always planned on studying in Spain, because I felt that anywhere in Europe would be an ideal location for travel since I had never been out of the country, and I can speak Spanish. Continue reading →

This spring semester I am studying abroad with the Sant’Anna Institute/Sorrento Lingue located in Sorrento, Italy.  This is a small, but growing, international study abroad program with a school that overlooks the Bay of Naples.

My program consists of four classes including Business in the EU and Italian Literature, but also includes a 3 credit internship with the marketing department of a local Limoncello company.  The opportunity to work abroad in addition to studying abroad seemed like an obvious choice.  Also, since I come from a small town in Rhode Island, I wasn’t looking to jump straight into a large, fast-paced city, but preferred a slower-paced, culturally rich environment. What I liked even more about this program was the fact that it is non-traditional in the sense that it is not located in one of the mainstream study abroad cities.  For this reason, the area is less filled with Americans and I am able to practice my Italian daily with the locals, as well as my host family.  Continue reading →

I am on a program called Semester at Sea, it is run through the University of Virginia. This program has been in place since 1963 and has had over 100 voyages, my voyage is the 108th!

I chose this program because I get to live on a boat and travel around the world, what could be better than that? I would love to spend a semester in one location and really get to know the culture and way of life, but that will have to wait! I chose this program because I wanted to see the world, I wanted to go to all of these unique countries that I will probably never have the chance to go back to. Continue reading →