Charles Garabedian (CCRI '01) spent his summer in Ireland studying Irish reading and Creative Writing: Poetry and
Fiction. During his free time he did some sight seeing and was exposed to the Irish
brogue. The most rewarding part of his semester was the exposure to a different culture
through the friendships he formed with the country's natives. Mr. Garabedian stated,
"not to study abroad would be a decision to regret. The values that another culture
can offer are an asset to the personal growth of character." Mr. Garabedian would
visit Ireland again.
Darachaiden Chey (CCRI '01) spent her fall semester in China.
Lisa Gualtieri (CCRI '00) spent her fall semester in Florence, Italy. She studied Italian and art. After her
experience in Italy, she decided to keep studying abroad and has been accepted to
Parsons School of Design in Paris.
Letticia Alvardo (CCRI '00) spent her summer in Switzerland, taking courses in Italian and Art History.
Virginia Watson (CCRI '00) spent four weeks in London and Bath studying Shakespeare's Human Comedy. Ms. Watson
found the course work, grading system, professors' expectations of students and their
approach to teaching very similar to the United States. During her free time, she
visited museums, went shopping, dined at restaurants and did some sight seeing in
London and Bath. The most rewarding part of her semester abroad was visiting The Jane
Austen Museum in Bath and also the experience of being around English and European
people. The local spoken language is English. If given the opportunity Ms. Watson
would visit England again.
Matt Hull (CCRI '99) spent his fall semester abroad in Nanjing, China, taking courses in Chinese language,
history, culture and literature. He reported that the work is more difficult than
he's been used to, but he maintained his 4.0. He spent time in Hong Kong, and visited
Beijing for nine days. Matt is now applying for next year at a university in Hong
Kong where he hopes to learn a different spoken Chinese dialect. After one semester,
he was able to get around, buy food and carry on basic conversations with the people
in Nanjing.
Jessica Carsten (CCRI '98) spent her spring semester in Florence, studying Italian language and history, oil
painting and opera. When she wasn't studying, she was traveling, hiking in the Alps,
taking the train to Prague, and sightseeing in Germany. She said that the experience
of studying abroad gave her confidence in every aspect of her life. "If I can find
my way around when I'm struggling with the language, and don't know where anything
is, who knows what else I can do", she said in an interview with the Providence Journal.
Ms. Carsten summed it up well in her Journal interview - "This is the only time in
your life when you'll be able to do something like this."
