This has been one of the best months of my life. I?ve never felt more myself. My day consists of waking up for class, getting lunch, and then wandering the streets of Florence or studying at the most beautiful library. I am obsessed with Italian Fanta (outranks any other carbonated drink I?ve ever had), kiwi and limone gelato, and the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum. I also found out I like tomatoes (maybe Italy just does tomatoes better)!
Of all the places we?ve visited I would say my favorite cities are Florence, Positano, and Venice are my favorites. One thing that surprised me is that the more places I visited the more I realized how much I loved Florence. It really is the perfect blend of everything that sets Italy apart from every other country. It has fashion, finance, fine arts, food, and enough history to fill many books. I would highly recommend to live in Florence if you visit Italy for an elongated period of time. I know I?m definitely going back.
I know that I want to do international business now. I love learning about people from other cultures, but there?s a difference between watching a YouTube video and visiting the country. Being able to live in Florence I got to see how important family is and was surprised to find out most businesses in Italy are family owned. About 80% of the businesses in Italy are family owned. I could see the great pride Italians took in their work and that one of the most important things when doing business with them is trust. Being in Italy has encouraged me to want to learn the Italian language and be able to make it back there to do some sort of business.
The biggest takeaways I had from my study abroad is that being away from my phone is nice, I can do anything I set my mind to, I want to travel the world more, I want to work in fashion, and that I should always ask questions.
