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STUDY ABROAD

Summer Study Abroad in Florence: A Day in the Life of a Study Abroad Student

posted by Kyla Porcellini

Piazzale_Michelangelo.jpgLast summer I spent three weeks travelling, learning, and eating all throughout Italy. I went with seven other LIM students who I (for the most part) hardly knew. Professor Lueders, the new head of the Visual Merchandising department, also met us there to teach Art History.

In addition to the Art History class the group took with Professor Lueders, we also took one class at Florence University of the Arts. I chose to take a class called "An Italian Journal" and everyone else took a class called "Food, Culture, and Society." 

I’d wake up in my apartment on Via San Cristofano, get ready for class, and (unfortunately) use Google Maps to walk to class at FUA. It took me about 25 minutes to get there, if I remember correctly. On my way I’d pass women in skirts riding bikes and speeding motorcycles.I’ll take you through a typical class day I had while in Florence.

In class, Professor Dario would ensure we were pronouncing words like ‘"grazie" correctly." About half of his class was spent on the Italian language, which I was nervous about at first, but realized it was the most useful thing I could be learning in Italy.

Once we did our language lesson, we then had our culture lesson. Sometimes we went on field trips around the city. One that really stood out to me was when we went to the market—it was huge and only sold fresh food. Upstairs you could find a food court and this was where one of my classmates made me try her fried rabbit. It was…interesting.

Once I was done with his class I’d head back to my apartment for a quick lunch. From there I’d go to the SAI offices (which is the program LIM students study through in Florence) for Art History with Professor Lueders and my LIM classmates.

We would typically go on field trips to museums and churches during class time. My favorite was the first one we went on, actually—Palazzo Vecchio. (See the photo above!) We saw incredible works of art in this former palace and even got to make our own frescoes!

After class I’d be forced to work on homework. (It’s studying abroad, after all). However, the prospect of dinner and gelato always motivated me to get everything done.

I’ve sat down so many times and tried to write this blog post. When I look back at all of the memories I made and experiences throughout my time in Italy, I’m overwhelmed. I went to 17 different cities, nearly mastered the Italian train system, and was able to walk to class without using Google Maps in the end. Molto bene!

If you would like to learn more about studying abroad at LIM College to to our Study Abroad page. 

Topics: study abroad, Italy, Florence

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