You may still be panicking about receiving your visa or how much shampoo to bring, but I promise you it will all work out. Every anxiety and uncertainty will work itself out one way or another, but the only thing you can do is experience it. Each part of this journey; traveling, navigating a completely new city, starting an internship in a foreign country; will all make up one of the most unique experiences of your life.
I have grown more in character than I could have ever imagined; I feel more prepared to enter the workforce and am excited at the opportunities to work internationally, because I now know that I am capable of it. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to intern abroad and feel that it will be one of the most impactful experiences of my being here; and don’t worry, you’ll be able to travel! Learning how to budget, plan trips, create itineraries, and organize logistics will stay with you for the rest of your life and will be key tools in traveling abroad in the future as you know there are lower-cost options.
Since arriving, I was surprised how much I appreciated the amount of student from Pitt that are here along with me, experiencing this together and being open about the ups and downs of studying abroad has made every obstacle all the easier to handle, and trust me, there are obstacles! Living abroad is not simply a vacation for four months; you will still exhibit the day-to-day struggles of adjusting to a new country, exhaustion from workload and travel, and maintaining a healthy and balanced routine in a completely unknown environment. This is something that will take until close to the end of your abroad experience to truly understand, however at the end, it will make you appreciate Florence all the more. Every step has been a journey; no part of studying abroad will be for nothing. I wish I would have known how hard it was at the beginning adjusting, and how those feelings are only temporary, everyone goes through it or something similar; you are not alone.
Learning and prating my Italian has been on eon my favorite aspects of living in Italy. Having learned Spanish for the past 3 years, yet not actively being able to use it unless in class, it was a welcome change to be truly and completely immeshed in the language; I feel so overjoyed to be able to recognize words and am surprised how fast it was to learn it when I was completely surrounded.
It’s true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Growing up in Pittsburgh, I had never really left for an extended period of time, which is an aspect I could not be more grateful for now that I am away, however I feel that I have established a second home here; I am now and will always looks back on the Florence streets as those I have had some of the best of times roaming and exploring, and my apartment with its small fridges holding some of my favorite memories with my roommates.
Ciao for now