Ciao, my name is Lucy Ross. I am in my junior year at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in accounting. I am working towards my CPA and will hopefully be attending the Macc program at Pitt in the future. Currently, I am studying abroad in Florence, Italy through the Pitt Global Business Institute program. Unfortunately, there are no accounting classes in the Florence program. However, this opportunity is allowing me to explore other fields that I may have not gotten a chance to back at home. I am hoping to expand my knowledge regarding international business, specifically the finance aspect since that works in correlation with accounting. Also, I hope to let my more creative side develop with art classes. Overall, I am hoping to expand my connections and meet new people, while immersing myself and learning about so many different cultures.
The program that Pitt partners with, here, is CEA CAPA. The institution has two academic buildings and an art building. Both are less than a ten minute walk from my apartment, which is super convenient. The program offer many diverse classes that I would not be normally taking back in Pittsburgh. The classes are much smaller than classes back at Pitt. My biggest class only has a little over twenty students. In comparison to Pitt, a lot of my professors have different backgrounds. Two of my professors are from the United States, and the others are from Italy and Germany. The staff is very open with communication and are usually available to not only ask academic questions, but anything regarding the city or travel. Both in a professional and academic sense, the program in Florence has very similar expectations to expectations set at Pitt.
The city of Florence has so much enriching culture and there is something to see around every corner. I live in a really busy part of the city, in the Piazza del Duomo. I live with seven other girls who all go to Pitt. Our apartment is right outside of one of the main monuments in Florence, the Duomo! There is always a line of people waiting to tour the Duomo that we can see right from our living room window. Our apartment is centuries old, there is literal art on the ceilings. There are bidets in all of the bathrooms and we don’t have a dryer. It is super humid in Florence, so we have to open our windows for ten minutes each day so mildew doesn’t grow! Everything is super walkable in Florence. The streets and sidewalks are super tiny, so there aren’t too many cars around. Around our apartment, there are so many shops and delicious places to eat. Panini Toscani was one of the first places we tried, we were able to sample all the meats and cheeses before we made our sandwich. It is one of my favorite places! I quickly adapted to my new apartment, we have such a central location and are surrounded by so many amazing things. I am used to living with a lot of girls so there was no issue adjusting to living with a total of eight girls.
