Italy: food, wine and lots of tourists. Past Review

By Emily B (Business Administration, Trinity University) for

SAI Study Abroad: Florence - Florence University of the Arts (FUA)

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

I learned to deal with other countries. I met amazing people. I learned to appreciate little things like dishwashers, dryers and burgers. I experienced traveling in places where I did not speak the language and basically had one of the best semesters of my life.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	0-2 weeks

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	I feel like I put my entire education on hold for this experience. I signed up for 18 credit hours and I had more free time than I did at Trinity when I was only taking 12 credit hours. I'm genuinely concerned about getting back to the workload at TU because it is so completely different from the experience I just had over the last semester. I do not feel like I have learned anything that will help me inside of the classroom but I learned more outside from personal experience.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	It was extremely unorganized with everything. We also went in to ask for help on the bus and they had no idea what to do to help us. We asked which bus we needed to take to get to one part of the city and they had no way of helping us. Camilla was wonderful to work with though. We didn't have heat in our apartment until Thanksgiving but she did everything that she could to make sure it was working for us.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Our apartment was so dirty that our roommate got scabies from her bed. It was absolutely disgusting but I loved every single one of my seven roommates. We were extremely fortunate though because I heard several horror stories about living arrangements. Our apartment was in a great location in relation to the major sights, school, and local shops.
* Food:	It's Italy. Therefore, it's nearly impossible to have a bad meal.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	The open-air markets like San Lorenze, Santo Spirito, or the International Markets in Santa Croce are a lot of fun to visit.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	Florence is generally really safe. It's possible to feel uncomfortable sometimes because men are very forward with American girls but they typically won't do anything. My roommate did get scabies from her bed and the people in the program were not helpful at all.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes

Finances

* 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)
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	The exchange rate goes up around September and October so it is really expensive in general. Food is a lot cheaper and the prices are all great but the euro compared to the dollar is just tough.
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Traveling is really expensive. Some people will talk about how easy it is to just go to another country for a weekend and it is very easy but it's really expensive to get to and from. Also going out to get drinks costs a lot of extra money that adds up. People spend the most the first month that they are abroad so just watch out for that. Wait until the end of the trip to do major shopping because you have a better estimate of how much money you still have.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	Yes
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program?	None
If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?
Language acquisition improvement?

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Apartment
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Americans
* Who did you take classes with? Select all that apply	Americans

A Look Back

* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	Find another program but still go to Italy! I would only choose the same program if it meant that I would have the exact same experience that I did. I would not want to change a single aspect of the experience because it might change the series of events that have led me to where I am now.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Social Media
Course Department:	Department of Communications
Instructor:	Christie Barakat
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	I loved this class. We actually had assignments that were relevant to the material and th instructor was so much fun to work with. It was a relaxed environment where we could speak freely about what we were learning and it was overall a very positive experience. It was also a lot of fun because she was an American who moved to Florence and so we could talk to her about adjusting to life in another country.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Intermediate Classic Photography
Course Department:
Instructor:	Neri Fadigatti
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	I had a horrible experience with this class specifically because of the instructor. He was too by the book which does not mesh with photography in general. It is not an exact science. He would treat us like a beginning class and I feel like I did not get a single valuable thing from that class. It was also way too long of a class period and our teacher didn't actually teach us anything during his 2.5 hours of teaching. The next 2.5 hours with the TA were far more valuable.
Credit Transfer Issues: