Italy: Kaylie Fan
Program: CIMBA, Summer
Kaylie’s Major: Marketing
What is your advice for someone considering your program?
Put yourself out there! The program has a lot of people and a lot of them are eager to make new friends. When I first arrived, I was incredibly nervous about meeting new people and was worried I was not going to make close friends. I get shy around new people, and was suddenly getting flashbacks from freshman year move in being nervous meeting people in my hall. But it’s so important to put yourself out there, and CIMBA makes it really easy by providing us with a lot of events to get to meet everyone. Try to talk to a lot of people and be your most extroverted self; that’s what I did and I met a great group of friends I got to study with, explore campus, go out to eat, and travel together during our travel weekends. I loved getting to spend my month in Italy with my friends, and everyone was so friendly everywhere. On the last day we all cried saying goodbye to each-other. I am so glad I put myself out there, because of this I made close friendships that I continue to consider close despite the program being over.
How were your program academics similar or different from taking classes at UW-Madison?
I took two classes: Marketing Strategy and Event Planning/Experiential Marketing. The professors are professors from other U.S. universities, one of my professors taught at University of Iowa and the other from University of Nebraska. So, the teaching style was very similar to the classes at UW. Typically the professor explains the curriculum and teaches and then towards the end of class we discuss in our groups or work on an assignment together. The classes are smaller than lectures, typically 20 students in each class. The workload was very doable, and we were given a lot of class time to do group assignments and projects. What was different was the length of the classes, the classes are a bit longer with each one being 1 hour and 30 minutes.
It’s so important to put yourself out there, and CIMBA makes it really easy by providing us with a lot of events to get to meet everyone… I loved getting to spend my month in Italy with my friends, and everyone was so friendly everywhere.
What is a custom, food or tradition from your host country that you are taking forward?
What I admire about the Italian culture is the emphasis on leisurely activities and free time. In the U.S., it feels like we are always busy with work and never have time to relax and take time for ourselves. In Italy, some things I notice that are different is a lot of restaurants and stores close midday, typically for about 2-4 hours, then reopening at night. This is known as a “riposo”. This is to give the workers free time to relax, go home, spend time with their family, or go to eat. I admire this because it is important for workers to have a break after a long day of working, and to be able to recharge. Also, the service at restaurants is a little slower because they believe eating with your peers should be leisurely and not rushed, so its a less fast paced environment compared to restaurants in the U.S. I want to continue this type of practice because it is important to slow down and take free time.