CEA CAPA Italy: Florence (summer) : Reviews (Florence)

Just about everything about the CAPA Florence trip is incredible. You are provided with everything you will need. You are taken on a tour of the city, get set up in an awesome apartment, you are provided with museum passes and public bus passes. You are also taken to two beautiful Italian cities near Florence. The only unfortunate factor about this program, which is not at all the program's fault, is that since the program is a summer program and just six short weeks, there is not much time to interact with locals and immerse yourself in the culture. Otherwise, this program is truly sensational and wonderful.

I loved the two classes that I took (cross cultural psychology and anthropology (intro to modern Italy)). Even though classes were 2 or 2.5 hours each time, it was great to not be sitting in the classroom everyday and actually out and experiencing Italy and learning from those various activities. The location of CAPA was great, right in the middle of everything! I loved my apartment. It was pretty far out of the way (about a 30 minute walk to CAPA or almost 1.5 miles) but was extremely nice with awesome landlords. The only difficult part was our landlords didn't speak any English so it was very hard trying to figure out how to work the appliances and understand what they were trig to tell us. The locals were good as well, if I were there for an entire semester I definitely would have taken the Italian language course. Local transportation was really hard to figure out and involved lots of trial and error however, once we were able to figure out a few of the bus routes (to the train station, Piazza San Marco etc.) it was very easy. Cabs and what not were never an issue either. I loved our excursions we went on, I wish there would have been more! I took advantage of many of the different excursion opportunities CAPA provided and never had a bad experience.

I liked the fact that classes were sometimes given outside the classroom. I loved the location, housing, excursions. I didn't like that there was very little interaction with local people other than when buying things or at the program. I never used public transportation that was provided to me, but trains are a good way to travel to other places in the country.

The length of the classes is my only con for academics; 2.5 hours is a long time! The variety of courses offered was nice though, and helped with understanding Florence. CAPA's location in Florence is prime, as it is practically city center. It served as a navigation and meeting point for students while we were abroad. I loved interacting with the locals, as the Italian people in Florence spoke a little English and were welcoming. The housing was great, we all stayed in apartments for the summer session. They served their purpose as housing for us. A bus pass was given to us, and my roommates and I used it to get to the train station. We did not need it for much outside that, since everything was walking distance from city center. There were no internships or volunteer work available for summer sessions, but we did take a day excursion to San Gimignano and Siena, which was fun.

The best aspect of the program was the city it was situated in: Florence. Many of the other cities in Italy are fantastic, but I would not necessarily want to stay in them. Florence is a great size for walking around, and there are many attractions to see that are easily accessible. Florence is a very busy city, however, in the summer, and, as such, some of the locals can seem rather aggressive or busy. My apartment was great. It was very modern and just off the street. My classes were good, but, for me, they were not the main attraction of the visit. They at least allowed us to get out into the city to see some of the landmarks. We had one excursion on our program to Tuscany and it was one of the highlights of the trip. I only wish that there were more excursions built into the program. It wasn't a big problem, however, because the train station was near the center of the city and it could take you almost everywhere.

My courses were very enjoyable and interesting. The location I was in was perfect and I feel I got to enjoy all sides of the city. My interactions with locals were varied depending on the type of interacting, but overall they were positive.

The courses were interactive and engaging. The courses also helped in the cultural emersion. Florence and my location in Florence was all i could have asked for and more. I was 15 minutes away from class, but in the middle of where I wanted to be. Winning over the local's respect by dressing and speaking with confidence was the greatest reward. Weekend excursions are a must, and Italy was the perfect home base for trips.

I would suggest definitely taking an art history class or something that actually correlates to the history/architecture of Florence. It was like having your own personal tour guide everyday for class because my teacher was so knowledgeable about art history. I highly recommend this course; I don't think I would have learned so much about the beauty and history of Florence without it.
My apartment was super close to the school and it was a great location within the city itself. It was difficult getting around the city at first, but once you figure out where you're going anywhere you will live in Florence will be great.
I was actually surprised at how touristy Florence is, but that what you get I guess when you study abroad in the middle of tourist season (the summer)! I enjoyed the fact that almost every in Florence spoke pretty good English, which definitely helped me adjust to living there. I was nervous about studying abroad in Italy since the culture is so different, but it was actually a great fit.
Florence has two companies (Florence For Fun & Bus2Alps) that were amazing in allowing my to be able to travel around Europe without doing it completely on my own. Florence was a great middle point to study abroad in--it allowed me to easily and safely discover Europe.

The courses were really easy and focused more on engaging in cultural enrichment rather than sitting in the classroom. The professors took us around florence to different museums, restaurants, and different local spots. CAPA provided us with different activities such as olive oil tasting, teaching school children englishl, and a variety of other activities as well as giving us a welcome and going away dinner.

It was awesome

The courses were very interesting. I took a Drawing course and Travel Writing course. Both classes encouraged the students to explore the city of Florence. The teachers brought us to museums and showed us around the city. My travel writing teacher brought us to many local areas and made us write about our interactions and what we noticed about the areas. CAPA was located in the center of Florence. My apartment was an easy 7 minute walk from campus so it was very convenient.

The classes were so much fun! My professor took us to a different church or museum everyday so we were able to see all the awesome things we were learning about. Florence is an absolutely incredible city filled with art and history and of course, amazing food. I volunteered once an an elementary school to help teach Italian kids English. We were told there would be teachers there that spoke English, but there weren't and the kids had little to no English background. It was a difficult experience, but it was fun to get to just play with the kids even if we couldn't really understand each other.

I absolutely LOVED my abroad experience with CAPA Florence! I took Beginners Italian and Renaissance Art History. Both were awesome and very relevant to Florence! From my 6 weeks of Italian, I was able to communicate fairly well with locals and understand them. I learned so much about art history and gained a new appreciation for art in general!

It was a great idea to take Italian because learning the language of the country you're staying in really helps you experience their culture. I loved Florence and thought it was one of the prettiest towns in Italy to study abroad in. Locals really like when you try to speak their language and engage with them that way. I found that locals in surrounding countries such as Austria and Germany were a little friendlier than in Italy.