After only a month of living in Florence, I have learned so much about my host city and the norms of studying abroad. Here are five things I have learned so far while studying abroad that have helped me adapt and immerse myself in a new culture! Attempting to speak your host country’s language goes a long way! I came into this program knowing very little Italian other than some…
The class I took abroad was titled: The Future of Humanity in a Technological Tomorrow, where we explored many topics relating to how AI and bioengineering continue to drastically change our world. The unique thing about our class was that we were able to discuss how different countries are dealing with technological changes, and we were able to see how Paris has decided to adopt different strategies as our societies…
I really enjoyed my time studying abroad! Not only was it a great learning experience but it made me learn how to be way more independent when it comes to traveling and meeting new people, I made a lot of new friends, and I am so happy that I went on this trip! I truly recommend future students to study abroad, it opens your eyes to a lot in the…
After a few days of anticipation in Paris, we boarded our train for Nice, France. I have always dreamed of being able to travel to the south of France, but I was severely unprepared (in the most wonderful way) for what I was about to experience. Firstly, the actual train ride to Nice was unbelievable. We got to see every part of France, from the city, to the rural vineyards,…
On my first day in Italy, the other students on my program and I had to walk to the local grocery store, called the COOP, to get groceries to get us started. As soon as I entered the grocery store, I did not notice any immediate differences except the everything was written in Italian. As I made my way through the aisles, starting in the refrigerated food section, I started…
It has been a couple of weeks since I started living in Florence for my study abroad program. I have witnessed many cultural differences in the brief time I have been here. I have interacted with locals and attempted to go to the outskirts of the town rather than staying in the more tourist areas of Florence. After discovering new areas, I realized there is a drastic difference in central…
If I had any advice to give another student planning to study abroad, I would let them know it is unwise to enter the program with any sort of expectations. No matter where a student decides to go, this advice would be helpful in the grand scheme of things. This is because, if something doesn’t go as planned (or even catastrophically wrong), that student will be unable to blame their…
After going through Andalucia and being back in Trujillo for a few days now, I think I’ve caught up on enough sleep to go over just how immense some of the historical sites were. Starting with the last place first, the Mezquita in Córdoba was a wonderful example of just how powerful the Catholic church was. Originally, it was a Hispano-Roman basilica that, in 784, had a mosque built on…
Towards the last leg of our journey, we went to Geneva, Switzerland to visit the World Health Organization and United Nations. As a Public Health major, I was so excited to see the World Health Organization headquarters and further my understanding of global health. We arrived in Geneva via train. The train ride was equally as beautiful as our train ride to Nice as we were able to view the…
I really loved the experience inside the schools, it’s so cool to learn about how the education system works there. For starters I loved the message that they promoted about letting kids be kids. Inside pre-schools and even the middle schools they allowed them to be more outside and play… Also comparing that to American schoolings we only have lunch/recess for 20 minutes before we must go back to class.…
