My Final Days At CIMBA

Last night, we had our third and final CIMBA gourmet dinner. Every semester, CIMBA schedules three gourmet dinners, and the students and staff dress up and eat a nice, authentic Italian meal. I attended all of the gourmet dinners they offered this semester and I can honestly say some of my favorite memories were made at them! The dinners usually last about five hours. During these five hours you talk to friends, meet new people, get to know professors better, and eat great food!

The gourmet dinners usually have five or six courses. The first course is the “appetizer” course where we get three or four small portions of food. For our first course, last night, we were served asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, couscous with vegetables, artichoke stuffed with asiago and speck, and a wonton filled with mushrooms and cheese. Although I am a very picky eater, I tested out all of these things, and for the most part they were surprisingly good! I figured since I am in Italy most of the food I am served here won’t be in America, so I have to try everything I can at least once! For our second course we were served risotto with asparagus and clams. Risotto is a very popular dish in Italy and I have become very fond of it, it is a really creamy rice. Our next course was a very thick pasta with spinach and cheese which was pretty good. Our main dish, my favorite, was a red meat with roasted potatoes, this is always my favorite course. The last part of the meal is always dessert and espresso. I am usually too stuffed to eat the dessert, but of course I always have to try it!

Since last night was our last gourmet dinner and the semester is coming to a close, the staff had a surprise for us. The social media team made a slideshow of pictures of all the CIMBA students traveling and hanging out around campus. It was really fun to see all the different places the students went this semester. At the end of our meal, there was a DJ and we all danced the night away! Well, until midnight. It was pretty fun and it was really nice to have one last big gathering of all the CIMBA students and staff together.

This gourmet dinner was very bittersweet for me. Part of me is really excited to get back and see my family and friends from home. But, I have made so many close friendships with so many students here at CIMBA that I am sad to have to leave them all. I feel like we formed our own family while we were here! Attending a smaller study abroad school was a really good choice for me because I was able to meet and get to know nearly every student here and learn everybody’s name. I was also able to get to know my professors pretty well, too. I am going to miss having smaller classes and knowing everyone in them. Reflecting back, CIMBA has definitely helped me to boost my confidence in many aspects of my life. For example, I am not as afraid to start a conversation with someone I don’t know, I’m less afraid to speak up in class, and I even learned some new study habits that I will be taking back to Iowa State with me! You really do change a lot from this experience, at least I know I have!

This has truly been the best semester of my college career, so far. I could not have picked a better program and a better country to study abroad in. I will forever remember the friends I made here. I am already sad to leave everyone, and I haven’t even left yet! I have a lot of people to thank for the amazing experience I had while studying abroad.

Time to get back to studying! Ciao!