I’m Karli Siptak, and I am currently studying abroad with the Italy Business program. We are staying in Florence, Italy (also referred to as Firenze). While we are in Italy, we are taking business law and a global leadership course. I am really excited to dive into the culture here in Italy and learn more about how it differs from the United States.
Luckily, most people speak English here in Florence. This has been a huge help when doing daily tasks like getting food or coffee. Some of the differences from the US that I have noticed can be seen through how Italians live their daily life. Italians eat dinner around 8 or 9 pm. This has been nice for us study abroad students because we can go to dinner a little earlier than that and have no trouble getting a table to eat. Also, Italians commonly drink just straight espresso shots. In the spirit of opening myself up to the culture, I tried one of these. It was not as good as it looked or smelled, so I personally recommend putting at least a packet of sugar in beforehand. The city of Florence is also a lot different from what we are used to in College Station. We walk everywhere and easily get 15,000 steps a day. This satisfies our exercise for the day and allows us to get gelato very often! When you’re in Florence, you’re never more than a 5 minute walk from a coffee or gelato shop which may be my favorite thing about Florence.
I am personally ready to see what our classes have in store for us. We will be visiting many famous landmarks around Italy that hold such a rich history. Being able to visit these sites while learning about this history of Italy is something I am so excited for. I hope to gain a greater understanding of what it means to be a global leader and learn how to use this understanding in future applications. In addition, I am so excited to make some great friendships with the other students on the trip!
Ciao!!
