I remember when I first started visiting colleges during high school, and one common thing that I heard every university employee express was how awesome studying abroad is and how big of an impact it can have on your life. At the time, I didn’t know how or when I would do it, but I knew that it was a must.
When I stumbled across John Cabot University in the University of Kansas' Study Abroad Office, I was very impressed. There were many classes available for me to choose from, and I always wanted to visit Italy at some point in my life, so choosing JCU as my destination for a study abroad experience was an easy decision!
Isaac's Summer at John Cabot University
While spending my summer of 2018 at JCU, I was able to take business classes which helped me to obtain my business minor back at my home university. I was also able to take an amazing history course where I was able to learn about my new temporary home in Rome. The professors for the classes I took were some of the best I have ever had in my life. I learned a tremendous amount while attending classes at John Cabot University, but I believe some of the most important things I learned during my time abroad occurred outside of the classroom with the international people that I met.
Living Like an Italian In Rome, Italy
I lived in JCU's housing at the Gianicolo Residence and was pleasantly surprised to find out on my first day there that I was placed in the largest residence with 6 other roommates! This was intimidating at first, but we all meshed so quickly despite the various backgrounds we all came from. The diversity of the group was incredible. In our apartment, my roommates were guys from all over North America, Asia, and Central America. The culture shock you get when you finally start realizing you are now living in a totally different environment with complete strangers is definitely real and can be very scary, but what I found was that this happens to pretty much everybody else you are around, and going through some of the same things with those people makes hardships a breeze to conquer.
Learning Outcomes from Studying Abroad at JCU
After returning home from my summer abroad in Italy, I realized how important it is for people to force themselves out of their own comfort zone and experience as many new things as possible. The self-growth you will experience when taking on these types of challenges is something that you cannot obtain in any other way. As for some advice to future students considering studying abroad at JCU, or any other abroad program, simply enjoy your time while as much as possible while you are there because I promise you it goes by fast and will be incredibly missed when over.
