Los Rios students have the opportunity to study abroad for 12 weeks in Florence, Italy, for the upcoming semester.
The study abroad programs allow students to take transferable courses taught by local faculty while studying and traveling in another country. Students can apply to study in Florence, Italy, for 12 weeks in the spring or study in Dublin, Ireland, for five weeks in the summer.
The program cost includes a shared two or three-bedroom apartment where four to six students will stay, with many activities such as a full-day excursion to the Chianti wine region and a guided day trip to scenic Tuscan towns. The base 12-week Florence program costs $8,745, according to the Los Rios study abroad web page.
Additional fees include the airline flight, a meal plan, personal expenses, tuition, textbooks, medical insurance and three optional weekend excursions.
The semester program requires one life and culture class, one class taught by a participating Los Rios faculty member, and an additional two courses from a catalog of 10 to 12 choices.
Los Rios offers four courses taught by psychology professor Naomi Bahm: Human Sexuality, Child Development, The Foundations of Biology and Italian Life and Culture. There will be an additional eight courses taught by three other community college faculty, according to the program brochure.
Nadia Balderas, a 20-year-old communications major who attended the Florence study abroad program in spring 2025, said the application process was fairly simple. “You apply and they check your credits, making sure you have enough to go abroad.”
Balderas said that sometimes, in order to learn things, you have to be in an uncomfortable setting. “Being able to experience and study abroad does give you a wider perspective on certain things,” she said. “You learn different things you wouldn’t necessarily be able to learn in your own country and environment.”
Gregory Beyrer, the distance education coordinator and a history professor at Cosumnes River College, said he expected that his students’ minds would expand from the international experience in addition to learning and living abroad when he taught in London during the fall 2024 semester.
“I was blown away by all the opportunities that I had to make what I was teaching – to make it real for my students,” Beyrer said. “And to give them exposure to the past – exposure to the content I was teaching in a way that is impossible.”
Diana Reed, a CRC history professor and the lead faculty member for Los Rios summer study abroad in Florence for the last four years, said to enjoy every minute.
“Try to find a local coffee shop where you can go get your cappuccino each morning, make some local connections with some of the places and really just say yes to opportunities that come your way,” Reed said.
Priority applications are due on Friday. However, students can still apply to the study abroad program until Oct. 31. An informational meeting will be held online and in-person at the Elk Grove Center on Friday at 12 p.m. You can sign up for the Zoom meeting here.