The Best Time of my Life, Ciao Firenze! Past Review
By Ryann N (Business Administration, Management and Operations., Providence College) for
Fairfield University: Florence - Semester or Year in Italy
Beyond worthwhile. I gained a worth of knowledge and the ability to be patient and accept and appreciate the small things in life. Life in Europe is lived. Everyone appreciates the smallest experiences such as going on a stroll or having dinner under teh stars. It is a less stressful and fast moving life. Everyone is happy. If we could combine the American lifestyle and the European lifestyle,everybody would be happy!
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The work load was about the same, I had a midterm, a final, one or two long papers 7-10 pages long about and a quiz in each class. It was a lot of work but manageable especially since we were traveling so much every weekend and seeing the city. I never felt like my work load took away from my experience and found the grading to be fair. Being an Art History minor was especially amazing in this program because I was able to take classes that lectured me for one hour of the class on Renaissance masterpieces then actually brought my class out to the museum where the famous piece was housed, so this was the best part of my academic experience. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program was great. I loved everything about it. I think the orientation could be improved a bit so that people can have more time to make friends in th program. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The housing was unbelieveable. I had a great apartment, supreme location, and living in the student apartment full of students in my program made my experience that much better! They only thing was I was put with a girl from my host school when I did not request a roommate because I wanted to meet new people from different schools and felt if I lived with a random roommate from a different host college, I would have had a better time because I felt a lot of people lived with and only hung around with people from their host schools which was hard for someone like me who came not really knowing anyone and wanting to meet new people. It took me a few weeks to meet people who were willing to find new friends but when I found my good friends, I had the best time and will always stay friends with them! |
| * Food: |
The program provided no food deals and only a few free meals at a restaurant that worked with the school. I think we should have gotten some kind of meal deal but hey we were in Italy so no one could complain about the food! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I cannot just pinpoint one experience since every day was my favorite while abroad! I will say picking Florence as my host city was the best part of my trip because I did not have to travel somewhere to find something new or see something I have never before, I just had to walk around Florence and I could find something new and beautiful on every corner. One say I was walking home from class and took a different route and walked past a church that I decided to go into and it turns out to be the most beautiful church I have ever seen in my life and my dream church to get married in! |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Florence was not that unsafe but I also used caution and never walked around alone and watched my bag alway! |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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? | Traveling is very, very expensive especially when you are paying for transportation, hostels, food, and souvenirs. If you are traveling after the program is over as I did, get a eurail pass. It is so worth it and I was able to see 10 countries and about 25 trains for the cost of my eurail and some reservation fees for the train tickets. Flying maybe cheap with ryanair but we only had a few days in each city we visited and ryanair did not go to all of them. |
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? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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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? | Do it, don't think twice, don't be afraid, attack this experience with excitement and thrill, be adventurous, go out and see a new part of the world every day, enjoy every minute of this experience you have never had before and probably will never be able to get again. It is seriously the time of your life and I wish everyone can study a semester abroad because it was worth every penny and the 2 journals I have filled with my memories of my trip will always remind me of this amazing time that has changed my life forever! |
