If you would’ve told freshman year of college us that we’d be studying abroad together in Florence, Italy we probably would’ve all shrugged. Now, as our time studying abroad commences, we are leaving a piece of our heart within our new favorite city. We didn’t just take with us new souvenirs and photos- we are carrying something much bigger with us. This is what we learned throughout our time studying abroad in Florence, Italy:
- Always say yes
- The people make the place
- Be present, live in the moment
- Immerse yourself in different cultures
- Try new foods
- Learn to travel independently
- Enjoy every moment
Always say yes
When you start saying yes to everything your life immediately expands. There’s more opportunities and more chances. Once we started saying yes more we experienced the best restaurants, most adventurous activities, new hobbies ,and new friends. Everything we said yes to abroad allowed us to grow. It is so easy to just say no, but we couldn’t imagine all the adventures we would’ve passed up on while abroad. Caroline learned to say yes when paragliding off a mountain in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Amanda learned to always say yes to go out to dinner even if it was the 5th night in a row eating out. Other Amanda learned to say yes to skydiving out of a plane with her best friend from home. Ally learned to say yes to a 15 hour bus ride into the Sahara Desert. Without saying yes we wouldn’t have been pushed out of our comfort zones to enjoy these amazing adventures.
The people make the place
Something that we have learned is that it is the people who make the experience. The memories we have made together are what is going to stay with us the longest. What gave our experience so much life were the 5am travel days as roommates, sharing an apartment together, unexpected friendships with bartenders, and traveling the world with our other Penn State friends.
Be present, live in the moment
It can be so tempting to plan the next trip, be caught up in what is happening back home, and be immersed in your phone to get the perfect instagram story, but we have learned that this experience is once in a lifetime and we must live in the moment. We have learned to embrace every feeling– from homesickness, to being completely speechless at the sight of the Eiffel Tower, we learned that it is so important to let yourself be present throughout each experience you embark on.
Immerse yourself in different cultures
We learned how important it is to step out of our comfort zones and immerse ourselves in other cultures different from our own. We saw the world through a new lens and our perspectives immediately expanded. It’s in the quiet moments– sharing a meal with Moroccan locals, celebrating St. Patricks day in Dublin, Ireland, eating tapas in Spain, and drinking wine with every dinner in our home city meant that we truly learned how to live in other people’s shoes.
Try new foods
One of our favorite parts of studying abroad was the food. Each week we’d scroll through tik tok restaurant recommendations in the cities we were traveling to. We learned to not just try foods that satisfy our hunger, but embrace the unknown foods we’d hadn’t tried before. We learned that pizza in Italy tastes nothing like it does at home and that breakfast may be a croissant, or a sandwich, a soup, or a salad depending on where you are. Sometimes we went a little too out of our comfort zones and didn’t love our meals but it was worth it in the end because fortunately we tasted our favorite meals ever while abroad! Our bank accounts may be empty, but our stomachs are certainly full!
Link to Caroline’s food recommendations around the world!
Learn to travel independently
Something that we learned was that traveling is never perfect and it’s tough to set expectations. There is so much more that goes into traveling than just booking a flight on your laptop. We learned how to navigate trains, trams, ubers, and taxis. We were taught the importance of being on time and being responsible with our belongings. Although there were times we might’ve over packed and had to pay an extra 75 euro for our bags, we were taught the importance of adapting and understanding that things don’t always go our way. Although we stuck together most of the time, we discovered a different version of ourselves and each had our own main character moments.
Enjoy every moment
When we say this was the fastest 4 months of our lives… we mean it. Time flew by when we were abroad. Enjoy every single moment– the awkward ones, the challenging ones, the homesick ones, the happy ones, and the fun ones. Time flies and plans change but the memories we made are unforgettable and ones that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
Ciao Firenze,
You were worth every moment ❤️
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