An Le, CIEE: Kyoto, Japan Summer 2025
The scariest part of participating in my study abroad program was not knowing what to expect. Unfortunately, Pitt in Japan was cancelled this year due to low enrollment and I had to find a new program instead. CIEE is a Pitt Recognized Program, but there was still relatively little information about it from Pitt or online. I knew people who did Pitt in Japan and saw videos about the program on PittGEO’s website, so I had a general idea of what to expect.
This is a post signalling a green light on these third-party programs. Not only did I meet Pitt and CMU students who found CIEE’s program to be a better fit for their goals, I also met so many kids from other colleges who I would have never befriended without this program. I know several people, including myself, who had anxiety about meeting people outside of their campus. Yet, we all ended up making lasting friendships and memories just by taking that risk.
On an organizational level, CIEE was fantastic in Japan. CIEE is actually one of the largest study abroad organizations in Japan and the staff even upgraded their office to a much larger space in Kyoto while I was there. Their communication about arriving and departing was consistent, and I always got responses to my questions from my study abroad advisor at CIEE at a reasonable time and manner. The program itself was also well-structured in terms of housing and scheduling classes of relevant interest. Even when I did run into minor issues, the staff was very responsive and accommodating in solving them. I do wish I could have found more information about this program before enrolling to lessen the uncertainty, and I hope a future student who is reading this will feel more confident about their decision.
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