I wish I could say CAPA had been a fun experience. In fact, I wish I had one single compliment to bestow upon CAPA, so that this post didn’t come off as angry rants, but the fact is I have been trying since the day I came home to write a post in which CAPA sounds decent and I have failed every time. London itself was something of a dream, but my advice to any Rollins student wishing to spend a semester abroad is to disregard CAPA and find another program to explore the world through. Explore Europe, explore London!
I don’t think there was any fault in my expectation that I be treated fairly. I made my needs clear to CAPA staff again and again, but my efforts were fruitless. If they feel uncomfortable or unable to take on a student with my needs, then I recommend they simply don’t do it next time, rather than telling me halfway through the semester that they think I ought to go home, because “study abroad isn’t for everyone.”
They’re right, it isn’t. But I had decided it was for me, and was making my best efforts to participate in the experiences they offered. Their only job was to support me and keep me safe, in order to make sure I could academically succeed, and CAPA failed miserably. If CAPA had been honest or upfront about the physical requirements of their classes, I would have made a different choice in which program I attended.
London, however, was divine. I cannot stress enough how different the city and the program were from one another. I had so much fun enjoying the location of my program, but not the program itself. As an aside, it’s worth noting that when I say the program I am not referring to the courses, as the teachers CAPA employs are top notch, but the program staff themselves, though there was one professor whose racist, queerphobic, and ableist comments made every Wednesday morning hell.
The main thing I learned is that people are alike everywhere. I am not going to go somewhere else and find that people are more inclusive. If I want a space in the world, I’ll have to carve it out.
Cheers,
L.