Florence – The End

August 15, 2017

As my time abroad in Florence has come to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on the past 4 weeks and evaluate my experience. Personally, I feel like I have changed from before the semester started. I realized, when leaving America, you realize that english and other common cultural aspects in America are trumped by all the other cultures and things going on. It’s very humbling to realize that english is not everyones first language, since it seems that America is the center of the world when you’re living in it. Removing yourself from that makes you realize that the world has so much more to offer and you can then appreciate all the things that make every country and city so different. My academic goals have remained the same this whole semester. It was nice to take classes that weren’t directly related to my major, but I still would rather continue taking classes in the sciences than in the arts. With that being said, I was surprised when I did get more into the arts during my time in Florence. Before this, I was always indifferent to museums, and history, however, I have a new-found appreciation for the arts and that is something I’m very thankful for since I believe it will make me a more well-rounded person. I had some apprehensions before I left for my study abroad, whether or not my classes would be interesting, or even what if I don’t like Florence? These fears were just something I had to drop and I had to trust that this will be a great experience. When I worried less about these things, I didn’t have these crazy standards and expectations, which I believe really let me enjoy the experience to the fullest. Now that I’ve studied abroad, I feel as if my view of the world has changed. I appreciate the copious amounts of culture and language that’s prevalent in the world. Each city I visited had its own personality and was very unique, which made me appreciate the diversity the world has to offer and that is probably the greatest benefit of studying abroad. Whilst abroad, I really enjoyed immersing myself into the culture, and that means speaking the foreign language. I took an Italian language course while I was there, and it allowed me to speak a little bit of basic Italian in my everyday life, which I found as a great, unique experience. I would definitely study abroad again if I had the time, it’s a great opportunity that I believe everyone should try. I felt like this gave me a great time in Europe, so next time I would love going somewhere new and completely different, like Japan. To those who partake in this particular study abroad in Florence, I would just advise to prepare yourself for some crazy heat, but also prepare for living in an amazing city with so much to offer, because it will be an amazing experience.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/maelick/19889992661/in/photolist-wiBpRX-7ceaMZ-pcnkvg-ekv79k-CV5UtM-dHM9Ce-Ejur2Z-dLxy52-6uQawq-yewtt3-DFKr4X-q6P5sp-5S4QGN-dEeDxF-o4cUUd-jyq3o7-f6472A-pywyLj-nziiRf-5ZWtdo-zEAome-EDRATs-g1HvLN-Ve56kp-4cT3BS-8NuyHn-uwtXpo-Fqg857-FLvMsJ-FXbDLW-af4zjT-zvnkb9-anU7J2-9U8Jag-oTkB3B-Hfo6Sq-y89SgE-k2Atxx-pw5X15-piBRKA-ovTjAq-aj4a3c-7UxkEf-pdD1Kc-5kBnYi-qGanEB-h5Zd4P-Nc6BiL-rraXps-Ke8mVn” title=”Florence Sunset”>

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!