John Cabot Summer I Session Study Abroad Review

Overall, my experience during this study abroad session was positive. It was only a 5 week session, so it definitely flew by very quickly. The campuses at JCU are great: very clean and beautiful buildings with AC which was definitely key during the hot summer here in Rome. The classes were fairly straightforward for a 5 week program, moved quickly but that's to be expected. The only thing preventing this from being a perfect study abroad experience for me, was the housing situation. I was placed in the Trastevere Apartments, which are a mile from the closest campus (25 min walk minimum). I ended up taking the city scooters to class everyday to cut travel time and save my legs which were tired everyday from sightseeing. The distance really became an issue at night, since if you wanted to go out in Trastevere, you would have to walk all the way back in the dark, often times by myself since my friends were placed in better housing right in the heart of Trastevere (Gianicolo & Lungara). In addition to the distance, my housing gave me 8 roommates (luckily all were great) and had NO AC, which in the summer in Rome is a huge problem. I could barely sleep at night even with our balcony window open. They gave us a single fan (which considering there are 7 rooms in our apartment was not very helpful) and the fan didn't even work, the motor ran but the blades didn't spin. So, if you get a housing placement in Gianicolo or Lungara, you will have a great experience. If you get Trastevere Apartments, it will very quickly become incredibly inconvenient. Overall, a positive study abroad experience with one glaring issue.