I can’t believe this semester is coming to an end. It has been an amazing experience and I never could have imagined it to go the way it did. Over the past few weeks I have taken a deep dive into the art of the Renaissance time period in Florence for my art history class. I have learned more about the city of Florence and its surrounding neighborhoods in my urban studies class. I have learned the basics of a new language in my Italian class, and I have even learned about supply chain management but from a global perspective. As a supply chain major it’s has been very beneficial for me academically to take this class abroad. My professor has his own successful business, and we were even able to do a site visit to his office and warehouses. That was personally one of the best field trips I had ever been on since I got to know my professor and my classmates on a more personal level and learned first-hand about a international logistics company works. I also was able to travel to London, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Barcelona, and Split Croatia. I even got to travel all over Italy to places including Venice, Milan, Bologna, the chianti region, and all the villages of Cinque Terre.

Altogether this experience has helped me gain a lot more self-confidence. I learned to navigate a new city and to travel on my own. I also feel a lot less nervous doing things by myself now. I had to do a lot outside of my comfort zone, so I am a lot more willing to try new things now. These are important skills professionally as well because I will feel more confident starting new things and will be more willing to try things outside of my comfort zone.
It has also made me more confident in general as I had to communicate with Italians who didn’t know English well. While I did take an Italian class there were a few instances where the language barrier led to some misunderstandings, but I realized that most people are very understanding and if you are also nice there’s nothing to be scared of when talking to new people. Overall, this experience really brought me out of my shell, and I was able to make so many new friends along the way. I made unforgettable memories and learned so much in Florence.

I am very grateful I had the opportunity to study abroad in Florence as the experience surpassed any expectations, I had coming in. It was truly the best decision I made in college.