I was a hestitant to Study Abroad, but it was so worth it. No regrets. Past Review
By Anne M (Sociology., Providence College) for
Fairfield University: Florence - Semester or Year in Italy
I learned a lot about myself and about Italian culture. Such a valuable experience. Definitely go abroad, but maybe consider another city if you don't want a really Americanized experience.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was not hard- definitely more geared to learning through culture and travel. Some of my courses were difficult/ boring because it was hard to understand some of the professors. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Our apartment was nice and in a great location, but somewhat small. We had everything we needed when we moved in there. It was very safe. A big problem that we ran into was internet- some apartments already had internet but we did not- we had problems setting it up and after paying for it, it didn't even work, so we didn't have internet in our apartment. The program should definitely arrange to have it set up for the students upon arrival. |
| * Food: |
The food is amazing, of course. Great restaurants and we did some cooking in our apartment too. I wish we had had some food vouchers for restaurants like other programs do. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I enjoyed the trip to Siena and all the other Italian towns. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
There is not a lot of violent crime, but pick-pocketing is prevalent. Especially when traveling to other cities, watch your bags and wallets. The pickpocketers are clever. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Internet was an unanticipated huge cost for us. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
Yes, most people in Florence do speak some English. I was pretty frustrated with learning and practicing Italian. I was probably at fault for not trying to practice it more, but a lot of Italians will just automatically speak to you in English, or speak back to you in English if you try to speak Italian. Also, our Italian classes included a lot of grammar, but not enough conversational Italian, which didn't help the situation. I wish we could have focused more on key phrases and words used in conversation. It's frustrating, but definitely possible to learn/ improve your Italian if you are persistent and go out of your way to try. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | As much as I loved my experience in Florence and don't regret it at all, the amount of Americans and lack of cultural interaction may lead me to suggest other cities to study abroad over Florence. It was great and I was very comfortable there, but sometimes I wish I was pushed outside the box a little bit more. |
