Hi, thank you for welcoming me into this space in advance of reading my first blog post! I’m so grateful for this opportunity and excited to share this experience with everyone.
My name is Logan Skelly, I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I started attending the University of Pittsburgh in August 2021. I am in my fourth year at Pitt and anticipate graduating at the end of next semester, Spring 2025. I have a major in Human Resource Management with a minor in Italian. I am also collecting a certificate in International Business. I’ve held part-time positions while my academic journey here at Pitt. I became a Pathfinder (Admissions tour guide) during my first year. I have also had the opportunity to intern with the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid in the Marketing department and my old high school Pittsburgh Brashear Highschool as an Italian Student intern Most recently I had the opportunity at the American Eagle Outfitters’ Corporate office to intern in the Learning and Development team, a part of Human Resources.
I applied to Pitt primarily because of Pitt Business and its global experiences. I knew Florence would be the location I wanted also because I have a background in learning the Italian language. During my time here in Florence, I hope to fulfill the remaining requirements for my minor and certificate as well as immerse myself as much as I can in Italian culture by practicing my Italian and traveling to as many towns around Italy as possible.
The program I’m with is the Global Business Institute: Florence Fall 2024 through CEA CAPA. It is a pretty small program with about 300 students from around the U.S. I was able to get to know a lot of people in the program quickly through the 3-day orientation to the city. The city of Florence is very familiar to me though I’ve never been here before. Since I lived in a city growing up, it feels very similar to what I’m used to. Though there are many differences between Pittsburgh and Florence, I still found the process of adjusting from city to city very easy! I love how walkable the city is. I live in the neighborhood of San Marco which is north of the city center and the Duomo. It generally takes me 10 minutes to get to my study centers which is similar to my housing experience back at Pitt. San Marco is a very quiet and higher-end neighborhood here in Florence. I share an apartment with 7 other guys and indirectly 8 girls. Our apartment is one huge apartment, split into 2 big apartments. So far, things have been alright living here with some minor issues of cleanliness and noise but the entirety of the roommates at our apartment “La Marmora” has a designated family dinner every Thursday night! I live with some great people who are all from either The University of Pittsburgh, like me, or California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
I think I have gotten my footing here in Florence. I found my preferred cafe, grocery store, and my favorite restaurants. I still have so much more of this city I need to explore and I’m excited to add these to my favorites list.
In my image carousel, I have some images from my first days with friends in florence after our orientation, after dinner, and a trip to Lake Como!
