Dear pre-departure Reilly,

You are about to study abroad in Florence, Italy!! This has been a dream of yours since high school. Get ready for one of the most exciting and developing experiences of a lifetime! This entire journey has improved my life, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it. During my time abroad, I have grown in many different ways.

One of the ways I have grown and which I was hoping to achieve was independence. I considered myself independent before coming abroad, but in certain situations, like traveling, talking in a different language, and going places alone were activities I would rather have had my family present. When I first arrived, all of these activities were very stressful for me, and I would try to avoid talking to anyone as I felt weird speaking English. Now, I have had multiple experiences in which I have been able to grow my independence in these situations. For example, there was a train strike in Italy when I was returning from Berlin and arriving in Bologna, in which I needed to take a train to get back to Florence. The trains were canceled, so I had to think quickly on my feet and schedule a last-minute bus to get home that night. In the past, I would have relied on my parents to figure out what to do next, but I had to do it alone. It has been a significant learning experience with all the travels that I have had alone, and it has grown my independence to feel like I am capable of doing anything on my own.

Furthermore, one thing that I wish I had known before the beginning of my program was the size of the Florence airport and to learn some Italian. I had no idea before arriving that the Florence Airport was so tiny. I knew I wanted to make many trips over the weekend, some in Italy and some in different countries. However, traveling to various countries took much work. The flights out of Florence were too expensive, so we had to fly out of Rome or Milan, where we would have to take a train to the airports. This made a day of traveling very exhausting. Also, I wish I knew more Italian before stepping into Italy. I knew nothing, not even hello or bye, making communicating very difficult at the beginning of the trip. Now that it is towards the end, I know some more due to my Italian class, but I wish I had been more educated before coming.

The most surprising part about my global experience was how close my roommates and I became. I came to Florence with one of my best friends at Pitt and another girl I was friends with. I did not know much about the other two girls. Therefore, I was nervous that living with some girls with whom I was not familiar would cause some problems. However, I was fortunate that we all got along super well. Once we got to know each other after the first month, we all had a blast with one another in the house, traveling, and going out. I am so thankful that I will get to leave this experience with four best friends.

Your experience was everything you hoped for and more! It was an experience that will be remembered forever, and friendships will last a lifetime.

From, Reilly