Ciao Italia!

Written by Walter January 9, 2020

Ciao! I am Walter Buck, a finance junior from Christopher Newport University. In just a few days, I will leave Virginia and travel to CIMBA. I am beyond excited! I had never even considering study abroad anywhere until this past semester. I certainly never heard of CIMBA.

So, why study abroad with CIMBA?

My family went on a trip last summer to Vancouver and Alaska. This was the first time I had been out of the country, or even off the east coast of the U.S. I completely loved the trip, and it made me realize that I deeply enjoy traveling and adventures. This led me to know that I wanted to study abroad.

The decision to study abroad was still a complicated one for me. I am a member of the Christopher Newport University men’s tennis team, and our primary season is in the spring. It wasn’t a simple decision to skip our season and leave the team behind. Luckily, my coach and team completely supported my desire to study abroad! 

My school’s study abroad office helped me consider all the different programs available to me and made sure I would be able to get all the classes I needed. This was how I discovered CIMBA. CIMBA not only offered the classes I needed, but also provided the perfect opportunities that I was searching for. I wanted a program short enough to allow me to complete an internship for the summer, but also with enough days to travel. CIMBA ends early in April yet has a great number of travel days! 

I am very excited to go ahead and leave for Italy!  Preparing and packing has been a little stressful, but mostly it has made me more excited for the program.  I will surely miss my friends and family, but this once in a lifetime opportunity will be worth it!

Walter