Ciao!

In my first two months in Florence, I have started to finally feel at home. The streets have become more and more familiar and challenging myself to navigate the city without a map has been an adventure in exploring and I feel very accomplished to have found my street every time. So far, I have enjoyed facing the new challenges that come along with living here, however my perspective has changed along with my level of comfortability within the city. With the presence of tourists increasing as the warmer months approach, it has become clearer the difficulties faced by small business owners to hold onto the cultural values upon which their business was built, as it could put them at risk to lower levels of attendance as they are not catering to the tourist crowd. Despite writing about the downsides of tourism in my initial application letter, I had not understood the long-standing implications of such on the local community. In attempts to change the narrative of American tourists and support local businesses, I have only shopped and recommended small shops in less central parts of the city. As I am getting more comfortable, my level of uncertainty has diminished significantly, however I still encounter situations within both the classroom and my internship that have left me with questions. As the culture of Italy ranks much lower in terms of uncertainty avoidance, tasks assigned within the classroom from my Italian professors are much more ambiguous and leave room for much versatility, therefore it has been quite an adjustment to have more freedom when crafting presentations and writing essays. This is an aspect I was completely unaware of prior to studying abroad, however is one that I intend to utilize in the future, as the increase in diversity and variety in presentations has allowed me and my peers to express our creativity. Within my internship, I have much more creative liberty than I could ever have imagined, therefore I have really enjoyed completely finishing my projects without having to check in with every step. This also has given me much more confidence within my internship as I feel my supervisors trust me with their business ventures. Outside the classroom, I have loved exploring Florence and attending the different events around the city and provided by CEA CAPA, including the Santo Spirito Sunday flea market and CAPA cooking class that taught us how to make homemade pasta!

Arrivederci!