My six weeks in Florence has sadly come to an end! I’m so grateful for all of the great experiences I had when abroad. In my time abroad, I learned about oil painting and renaissance art history. Taking an introduction to oil painting class sparked my interest in painting and drawing that I lost in high school. The renaissance art history course was super interesting because of the out of class aspect of it. We got to visit numerous churches and museums which contributed to the uniqueness of taking the class in Florence versus at Pitt.
On the weekends of my trip, my friends and I got to travel all around Italy and Europe! I got the chance to visit Cinque Terre, London, Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, and Rome. Florence’s central location allowed for such quick travel around Italy. It was fascinating to see the different cultures around Italy and Europe. However, Florence was still my favorite location of them all. Florence’s culture and small-city feel was perfect for my home base in my study abroad experience.
In my study abroad experience, I experienced such a surge in personal growth. I learned all about how to adapt in completely new and unexpected situations. When traveling, you should never expect it to be perfect. I had that expectation coming into the program. Being away from my trusted support system and in a completely new continent was difficult. However, it forced me to grow and learn more about myself. As an example, in our trip to the Amalfi coast, we took a train from Florence to Naples. We had the plan of taking the ferry from Naples to Positano. However, when arriving to Naples, we were greeted with the fact that the ferry was not running that day! The weather was bad unfortunately, so they shut down all ferries. We were stranded in Naples which was not ideal! We ended up figuring it out by getting a car transfer. However, it was a very stressful situation that we would have never expected.
Being in Florence has also made me grow as a professional. Interacting with people of different cultures is crucial to being a great employee. Navigating cross cultural situations was challenging at first (because of cultural differences), but eventually I got used to it. In the professional environment, it is super valued to have experiences such as these to navigate and understand different cultures.
My major takeaway of the program is always expect the unexpected. Nothing in life is perfect, and you can never tell what you have in store in the future. Studying abroad emphasized this rule, and made it very prevalent in my life. I can bring this takeaway into my next and final year at Pitt by doing exactly as it says: expect the unexpected. I now know to look more in depth to possible outcomes in classes and post-grad life. This study abroad experience was incredibly valuable to my time at Pitt and I’m so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to participate. It allowed me to learn and experience different things that I would not have had the opportunity to in the Pittsburgh area.