Study Abroad Student Alex Ciniello Shares his Experience

Alex Ciniello

With over 70 JCU students who have already signed up and begun visiting Italian high schools, the JCU Outreach Cultural Exchange Program is going from strength to strength. On Thursday, March 15th, several program volunteers came together in the Gianicolo Residence Social Room to share their experiences with this program.

During this second meeting of the semester, volunteers talked about how their understanding of Rome, Romans and Italians has expanded through their experiences at John Cabot University. Study Abroad Student Alex Ciniello (pictured below) visited with students from Carla Mummolo’s English class at Liceo ‘Dante Alighieri’ and reports meeting an enthusiastic group of students, very interested in learning more about what it’s like to grow up in America and what motivates a young person to take a period of time to study in Europe.

A student from Rutgers University in New Jersey, Alex was particularly surprised to learn about some of the differences between high school in New Jersey and in Rome, especially how differently a day in a teenager’s life is structured. This shows how students are gaining unique insight into what it means to grow up and study in Italy as well as what it means to have an international experience while studying abroad.