Your alarm goes off, you slowly turn it off and prepare for class. However, when you get outside, you are not looking at the Quad but rather the third largest cathedral in the world. Its sheer mass is studied by hundreds of tourists every day, but it’s your new backyard.
This was the life of just one out of the 309 Fairfield students who studied abroad last year – if you’re not a nursing major.
While many praise Fairfield’s study abroad program, other students such as nursing students cannot fully take advantage of the program due to a strict course schedule. Ireland is the only program available to nursing students, where they may attend during their junior year.
“This is the first semester we have been able to offer this,” said Susan Fitzgerald, director of the study abroad program. “We have worked long and hard with NUI [National University of Ireland] to get this program off its feet.”
Nursing student Casey Coleman ’06 is skeptical about the program.
“I don’t think I’m going to go because you have to do the clinical that you missed over the summer,” she said.
In the mean time, a two-week summer program in Padova, Italy may prove to be the best option for nursing students who are interested to study abroad.
Florence, Italy has always been the hot spot for Fairfield University students. Susan Fitzgerald, director of study abroad, said that about 35 percent of of all abroad students go to Florence.
Lorraine DelliCarpini ’04 went to Florence for a semester and did not mind that Florence seems like “Fairfield in Italy.”
“I met kids from Fairfield that I never would have met, and now we hang out all the time,” she said.
Francesco Fralliciardi ’04 was in Florence and lived with two of his best friends from Fairfield.
“It definitely helped with the culture shock at first,” he said. “It’s nice to be with people you know when you’re in a different country speaking a different language. I think it is also good for security reasons, especially for girls because some of the people can be sketchy.”
Florence may be the top option for students, but Fairfield’s Study Abroad Program has been making improvements in their already established programs in Galway, Ireland and Brisbane, Australia.
“We really just cemented our relationships with those schools,” said Christine Bowers, coordinator of the study abroad program.
Fairfield’s Study Abroad Program has been making vast improvements in their already established programs in Galway, Ireland and Brisbane, Australia.
Students receive Fairfield University grades and credits, and Fairfield has representatives who are available at each school for help. The program in Australia began last spring, but its popularity is already rising. One attractive feature of the Brisbane program is that students have a chance to intern while abroad.
“One student worked at a bridal magazine,” Bowers said. “She went to photo shoots, and they flew her all over the place.”
Fairfield’s study abroad program is also a popular program for students attending other universities. Last year, 159 students from other colleges across the United States participated in Fairfield’s programs in Galway, Brisbane and Florence.
Chris Walsh ’04 lived with two students from Boston College and two from Indiana University.
“It was a great experience because I got to meet some great people from outside of Fairfield too,” he said.
Chris Pitaro, one of Walsh’s roommates from Boston College, praised the Fairfield program.
“They had great trips planned and really offered some great classes to take,” he said.
DelliCarpini also enjoyed the classes offered.
“I took a Writing of Self class where we had to keep a journal which I would’ve done anyway,” she said. “I also took an Intro to Communication class that I never would’ve been able to take here because the Communication major is so big.”
The study abroad program is also affiliated with other domestic and international programs that give students a variety of other options to choose from including China, Japan and Brazil.
If a student doesn’t want to travel outside the country, he or she can study and work in Washington D.C. or in the Biosphere II in Arizona and should contact the study abroad office.
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