University of Wisconsin–Madison

Italy: Srikar Kalapala

Program: CIMBA, Spring

Majors: Finance, Investment and Banking; Risk Management and Insurance

What is the moment you are most proud of?

At CIMBA, they offer numerous opportunities to better yourself on a personal and professional basis. This includes leadership training, problem-solving training, and public speaking training. They offer programs to get certified in Kepner-Tregoe, a world-renowned problem-solving methodology, and I was able to get certified under that.

Srikar, between two people on a stage, holding up a certificate that says "CIMBA ITALY."
Getting my certificate of completion for personal development and leadership training.

How were your program academics similar or different from taking classes at UW-Madison?

Since I studied abroad in Italy, being able to go to the Olympics during a weekend was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. CIMBA, which was the program I went to, offered extended travel weekends, where we would have 4 days off. We used the first of these weekends to go to Milan, see the Olympics, and then go to an F1 track in Monza.

Srikar, at night, posed next to to an Olympic skier near the bottom of a large ski hill.
Meeting USA Olympian Troy Podmilsak after his qualifying run.
quotation mark
At CIMBA, they offer numerous opportunities to better yourself on a personal and professional basis. This includes leadership training, problem-solving training, and public speaking training.

What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared to go abroad and/or during your time abroad? How did you work through them?

One of the main aspects was the language barrier. Not being able to understand the language put me in positions where I’d have to use the Italian I learned from Duolingo or my Italian 101 class at CIMBA. In high-pressure situations at train stations where you don’t know the language, it is important to be proactive by being early when you can and remaining calm.

Srikar standing on a grassy lawn next to the Colosseum.
Visiting the Colosseum.

What is your advice for someone considering your program?

Do it! It is a small cohort of people, which resembles a sort of high school experience. You get close with pretty much everyone because of this. Most of your cohort will be people from the Big Ten, but with plenty of opportunities to immerse yourselves with local Italians and students. There are opportunities to learn pizza-making, have dinner with local Italian families, and do an Italian company tour.