Hello everyone, it’s Hannah and I am back with another blog to talk to you guys about CIMBA classes. Coming over the campus, I was not entirely sure how classes were going to go. With the semester only being 12 weeks long, it thought it would be crazy to fit 16 weeks of material in that short amount of time, especially with all the travel days CIMBA offers. I had taken shortened summer classes through Iowa and strongly disliked them, so I was unsure how it was all going to work out. But keeping up with classes has been the least of my worries. CIMBA does a great job of allocating time for studies. Although I have had to choose between going to the sports bar and writing a paper or studying, that is something you have to do no matter where you are studying.
A large difference compared to classes back home is the longer class periods. Instead of the normal 50-minute or 1 hour and 15-minute classes, they are 1 hour and 50 minutes at CIMBA. Although that seems long, all of the professors give breaks halfway through the class. My favorite class that I am currently taking is Italy Live. Professoressa Marin is one of the most genuine and sweetest people alive, by far one of my favorite professors I have ever had. I have learned a lot of Italian and picked it up very quickly because it is very similar to Spanish. I am also taking Introduction to Finance, Introduction to Management, and International Marketing. My class load here is pretty small, which is causing me to take more classes next semester to make up for this lighter class load, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Having free time to go and explore Paderno or build relationships with my fellow classmates has been critical to my happiness here at CIMBA.
Besides classes, I spend a lot of time socializing with the Italian students that go to school here. Most nights, American and Italians are doing one of two things – 1) going to the sports bar to hang out or 2) playing soccer or basketball at the gym. Learning about the culture of Italy has been very rewarding. I went from the first week having dinner with them and struggling just to ask, “How are you”, to having full conversations in Italian and English. After doing Add A Seat, I became closer with the Italian students because I was better suited to speak Italian with my host family. My favorite Italian thing to say is an inside joke between some of us Americans and Italians. In Italy, instead of a dog saying “woof woof”, they say “bow bow”. When students learn English, they learn “bye-bye” never just “bye”. So now, when we are leaving, instead of just saying “Ciao”, we say “Ciao ciao bow bow”, much to the dismay of the Italian students. Other notable words are “basta” and “aspetta”, which mean stop and wait respectively and are constantly used. Although I didn’t plan it, I hope to continue learning Italian once I get back to America!
Hannah