Florence: First Thoughts

July 11, 2017

I have just recently arrived in Florence yesterday and as soon as I had stepped off the bus that headed towards the city center, I was amazed by how old all the buildings were. There was an overwhelming amount of history that I could see with my eyes just based off looking at these buildings. Also, July seems to be a popular time to visit Florence, as there are so many people in the city. It does have a quaint vibe during the very early or evening hours – which is a great time to walk around and soak everything in. I attended orientation today, and there was a lot of useful information I was given. It was a medium sized group of students ~70, and it was held in an old theatre. It was fairly casual, the administration I’m guessing knows that we’ve been through orientations before so there wasn’t a need for an all day orientation. There was a lot of general information given out about safety while being abroad, following the laws of a foreign country, and medical sources. It wasn’t as in-depth or intense as a regular university orientation, like the one I participated in at northeastern, but it was certainly tiring nonetheless. Some things that stood out to me were the fact that the orientation was held in these extremely old, ornate buildings. To think I have class in these is mindblowing to me. Also, we had a small tour during the presentation and the campus is scattered throughout the city, which is something I’ve never had to experience. Northeastern is an urban school, but it still has a campus community, while Lorenzo de’ Medici is sprinkled throughout the city and it should be very exciting to walk past the duomo on the way to class, or run into a pastry shop nearby on the way to a morning lecture. Lastly, I was surprised by how strong of a presence the Dean had during orientation. Usually, I would expect the Dean to be present for a speech, or talk briefly about who they are, but the Dean of LDM made his presence apparent. There is a lot of fewer students in the summer session of this small school, so it allows for more personable relationships to form. This orientation session has showed me a lot about what the next few weeks in Florence are like, and I’m looking forward to seeing what lies ahead!

Written By

Noor Hamid

I'm doing a Traditional Study abroad during summer 2 at the Lorenzo De' Medici school. I'm in the college of science,and graduating in spring 2018. My goals while studying abroad are to experience an extremely different culture from what I am used to, as well as meet a lot of new people from around the world. A fun fact about myself is that I've had 3 pairs of my front two teeth grow naturally. I chose to pursue this program because I want to see what studying is like in other places, and how other communities are in contrast to the one I am from. I really wanted to study abroad so I could experience a new culture in a country I have never visited. I believe my interests of Food, architecture, discovering new spots in cities will appeal to a lot of those around me!