Ciao! My name is Haley Schantzenbach and I will be participating in the Global Business Institute in Florence this summer. I am originally from Allentown, PA and am a rising junior majoring in Accounting with a certificate in Leadership and Ethics. On campus, I am involved in Gamma Sigma Sigma, a service sorority, and serve as the Vice President of The Imagination Project. I am super excited to be documenting my experience taking classes and living in Florence for 6 weeks!

I picked this program because Florence has always been a place I have wanted to go and I am really interested in learning about the culture of this beautiful city. My goals for this trip are to step out of my comfort zone and be able to immerse myself in this city for 6 weeks. I want to go beyond the surface and really see the best that Florence has to offer. I think Florence will be the perfect place for this because it is a smaller city that you can really learn your way around, but the locals will tell you that there are always new things to find and see.

For the GBI in Florence program, I will be taking two classes, International Marketing and Analyzing & Exploring the Global City of Florence. The marketing class will help fulfill one of my electives for my certificate in Leadership and Ethics. I also need 150 credits in order to take the CPA exam, so all of these credits will help towards that. I think both of these classes will help me achieve both my academic and explorative goals for this trip. They will deepen my knowledge of both business and Florence and help me engage more with my host city.

Since arriving in Florence almost a week ago, I have met lots of people in my program, both at Pitt and not, which has really helped me feel welcome here. We have had a couple days to settle in and begin to familiarize ourselves with the city. We did a walking tour with CEA CAPA to see the Duomo and Piazzale Michelangelo, which were both breathtaking. They offer multiple days trips that happen throughout my time here, so I cannot wait to go on those and continue to see other places in Italy. I cannot wait to keep updating you as I begin my classes and continue to explore this beautiful city!