Reflections

I was never scared to come here. Nervous, yes, but leaving home and going far, far away was something I not only wanted to do, but needed to do for myself. Making spontaneous decisions is part of who I am and those last minute decisions tend to be the best decisions I ever make.

Ever since I was in elementary school my dream has always been to be able to travel the world and learn about the different cultures and ways of life. For some reason, I have always had a weird obsession with Italy. I always told my mom when I was little I wanted to go to Italy first. I did not know why, I just did. When I turned eighteen I got a tattoo in Italian. I am drawn to Italy. I am a strong believer in fate and that everything happens for a reason. In the last two weeks of classes this previous spring semester I realized that I did not want to be only in fashion. I love writing and always have. I knew I would regret not expanding my major to journalism. So, on my way home from work one day I stopped into the journalism office and right away they told me all the people I would need to meet with and what I would need to do. They also mentioned a fashion journalism class in Florence for the summer. Immediately after walking out of the office I called my parents and begged them to let me go. The next day I was taking money out of my savings to make the deposit. I had already had a life changing year, transferring from home to the city, moving into a new apartment, meeting tons of new people, and just being away from my family and friends that I had grown up with. But, it was not enough. I needed something to change me even more and to help me figure some things out. I felt stuck. I was still stuck thinking about things in the past that I knew deep down I could not change but for some reason still tried to think of ways to make them change. I only hoped going out of the country for a month would help all my burdens be gone, for good.

While I did get rid of all of them, I gained so much more than I ever thought I would. I made friends that I know I will have forever and be able to talk about this amazing experience with. I traveled not only to Florence, but also got the opportunity to go to Paris, Verona, the Alps, Cinque Terre, Tuscany, Rome, Milan, and Venice. I gained not only knowledge about blogging for journalism but also about the many different ways of life here including eating styles, night life, fashion, and much more. The three main things I learned about myself and life in general are three things that helped make me a stronger, better person in this last month.

1.         You are never stuck. The possibilities are endless. If you want something bad enough, you can make it happen.

2.         It is not the end of the world. There are plenty of new opportunities and people to meet out here.

3.         Appreciate what you have. Look at all the good things you have in your life instead of only thinking about the bad things. It could be a lot worse.

While I do not think I would ever be able to permanently live in Italy or anywhere out of the United States that far from my family, I do see myself studying abroad and traveling a lot more. The next time I travel to Italy I will make sure to eat healthier and not so much pizza and pasta, even if it the cultural food. I probably gained about ten pounds from going out and eating while being here. I am excited to go home and start eating healthier and not out so much. I will also pace myself with spending better. The conversion rate from US dollars to Euros is terrible. For some reason while I was here it seemed I was spending a lot more than I normally would be at home. Most importantly, I will brush up on my Italian language skills. Although they may not be perfect, the locals appreciate when you try to speak their language. Keeping all these things in mind, I would highly recommend studying abroad to anyone. It has really opened my eyes to so many places, people, and new things. Looking back to a month ago when I arrived here I feel like I have changed into a whole different person; A person who is not afraid to stick up for themselves, a person who does not go out of their way for people who do not appreciate it, a person who does not give up on things they want but knows when to let something go, and most importantly a person who loves and respects themselves.

I am extremely grateful that I got this life changing experience and would not take it back for the world. However, being away from home this long really does makes you realize there really is no place like home. I am ecstatic about going home and seeing my family and friends. I cannot wait to share all my memories and things from my trip. I will never forget all the amazing places I visited, people I met, and experiences I had in Italy, July 2014. 

Jessica Shroka

Florence Reflections
By Kelcie McCurdy

My first night in Florence, I stayed out late exploring the city with a group of girls I had just met. We wandered to places I would later become familiar with; places that would become a part of my daily routine, but at that moment were completely new and unrecognizable.

Finding my way home to my own apartment was an unspeakable challenge in itself. I have only Google maps and my iPhone to thank for that accomplishment. When I got to my front door, I held two keys in my hand. One for the front door and one for the door to my apartment. One looked like a regular house key you might find in the United States. The other was about three inches long and looked like something you might find in an antique store. It was clear that the normal looking one went to the front door, but no matter how many times I tried, I could not get it to unlock. 

Fortunately, another girl was entering the building at the same time as me. She let me come inside with her. I hoped that I would be able to recognize the door to my own apartment. I knew that it was on the second floor, and from the elevator it was the door on the far right. So I took the elevator up. There was a moment of panic as the elevator seemed to stop in-between landings. It took me a moment to realize that I had to exit from a different door than the one I entered through. I got out of the elevator and went to my door. I knew it was mine because the doorbell said Fracessini. I held my huge, antique key and put it into a lock that was at least three times as big as the key. I turned it every way you can think of. I could hear the dead bolt rolling over and over again. Nothing I did unlocked the door. I was panicking. 

I walked up and down the steps trying to figure out where I would sleep that night. I texted my friend Tricia asking if I could sleep at her place because my keys didn’t work. I decided to go back up to my door to try one more time. At that moment, I heard a door open upstairs and someone press the button to call the elevator. I had unknowingly made it impossible to call the elevator by leaving one of its doors open. An elderly woman accompanied by a cat came downstairs.

“Do you need help?” she asked me.

“Could you help me?” I asked.

“Have you had something to drink and don’t know how to open the door?”

The truth was these keys were just really confusing, and this was the very first time I had ever tried to use them! I told her that I had just moved in and I didn’t know how to use my keys. She took them from me and after several turns swung the door open to let me in. I was grateful.

Later, after I became a master at unlocking the door (it actually does have seven deadbolts which you must unlock to get inside) I would still think of that night. Mastering the keys was symbolic for me, it meant that I had adapted to Florence. I had adapted to the strange, sometimes old-world ways of this city. By learning how to unlock the doors to my own apartment, I had learned how to make Florence my temporary home. 

I loved my keys, the odd shape and size of them. For some reason, they were one of the hardest things to part with. Leaving them on the kitchen counter, the night before I left, broke my heart.

Florence didn’t steal my heart right away. At first it felt oppressive. The streets were too narrow, the buildings too tall. You could walk down an alley and the rest of the city would completely disappear. The roads met at 30 degree angles, and their names changed after every intersection. I was used to four lane roads and the grid system (a genius invention) back in Chicago. 

But slowly, as I began to make small accomplishments, like finding the train station from my apartment, figuring out how to order a latte, or buying groceries for the first time, the city felt more and more like home. I felt like I had earned it, won it the hard way, by adapting to a place so unfamiliar, so set in the past. 

To be suddenly back in America, it almost feels like it never happened. It was an entirely different world. A dream world. I don't know if it ever felt real while I was there, and I can't be sure if it was real now. Nothing here seems to have changed. People treat me the same. I came back to the same responsibilities and commitments I left behind. Doesn’t anyone realize that I just had one of the most pivotal experiences of my life? 

I'm so afraid of forgetting the small details that made up my everyday life in Florence. The clip clop of hooves as a horse drawn carriage would pass below my bedroom window, my daily croissant with cream at Paszkowski, the gong of church bells every hour on the hour.

All I can do is revisit these memories in my mind each day, and hope that they last me until the next time I can return to my medieval city.

Changed: Reflections
by Tricia Patras

I feel so changed that I don't even know where to start. I guess i'll start with the day before I left for my life-changing adventure in Italy. I was nervous, scared, and confident that I wouldn't be able to be by myself; away from the life I have been accustomed to. All I can say, is that I was so unbelievably wrong.

I know it sounds cheesy but I wanted to go to Italy to "discover" myself; and thats exactly what I did. From the moment I reached Florence, all the anxiety from the past seemed to have gone away and I felt this strong sense of comfortability. The intense comfortability that I had in this foreign country was strange to me since I had never really been alone in a place I knew nothing about. Throughout the entire trip I never felt homesick. I was shocked because I have always been one to hold on to my friends and family so tightly, and for once, I let them go in able to experience things by and for myself.

During this trip I learned and experienced many things that have already made me a stronger person. I learned how to be by myself and to enjoy it. I was lucky to have made an amazing group of friends very early within the trip so I started spending all of my time doing things with them. Although this was fun, I seemed to have forgotten that I came to Italy to not revolve my life around my friends; and here I was, doing the same thing I was trying to branch out from. Upon realizing this, I decided to balance my time equally. Two days a week, I would spend time with myself and only myself. Boy, am I glad I did this because the time with myself was the time I had found to be the most rewarding. I seemed to have built a routine for myself on these day-dates. I would explore either to the market, across the river, to the many historical museums, or to places that just seemed authentic like hidden gelato shops or boutiques. After my long day of exploring, I would go across the Ponte Veccio bridge and sit under the 5th lamp post, aligning myself with the river, just in time for sunset. Here, at this very spot, is where I did most of my learning. I brought my journal and would just listen to my surroundings. I found that just sitting there, listening to italian being spoke in the distance and the sounds of mopeds in the air, that this was how I was experiencing the most from my trip. At my routine spot, I learned many things about myself and about the world that I am so excited to carry with me forever.

Some things I had realized in comparison of Italy and the life I have been used to, is that everyone is always in such a rush. A rush to not be alone, to figure themselves out, and to jump forward to the future instead of enjoying life that is experienced in the moment. In Italy, it seemed to be that time is longer and people are more appreciative of that moment. The beauty overtakes the sense of always trying to reach for the future. Here, I learned that beauty can truly overtake anything; it can overtake emotions in a way that is indescribable. This realization makes me want to appreciate beauty all around me in a stronger and more therapeutic way. I now understood that yes, life can be sad and impossible at times, but it is always beautiful.

The only thing I am scared of is forgetting these realizations and getting lost in the strong abyss of city life. I don't ever want to forget the beauty I saw, or the life I finally started to understand; and most importantly, started living. I realized that during my stay in Florence, time seemed to had flown by but also gone so slow at the same time. Here, I understood that time should never be "too" held on to. Yes, you can appreciate and learn from the past, but it is nothing to hold on to because there is nothing more rewarding that letting yourself experience the present. Being in Italy and traveling independently to the beautiful places of the Swiss Alps, Verona, Lake Garda, Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre, and Paris, I have learned that I can accomplish anything in my life. Learning how to be so independent at such a young age of 20 years old, has gave me the confidence to accomplish anything I want to in my life. There is always room for change. Realizing that I, and no one else, had taken initiative and made this life change was so incredibly rewarding. Not only was it rewarding but it was reassuring. By taking myself out of my life I seemed to be too comfortable in and changing myself for the better, I am reassured that no matter what life struggles that might come in my way, I will always have the strength to keep changing.

Upon leaving Italy, I have started the beginning of a new, independent, and stronger self. I have understood that everyday there is something new and beautiful to discover, even if it might not seem that way. Before experiencing Italy, I had wrote in my journal the words, "I want to understand the world's limitless, kindness, and bottomless cruelty". I can say now that I am a lot closer to understanding this than I ever was before. I have nothing but appreciation for the lessons that Italy has taught me and I can safely say that my heart will always be held in the romantic and beautiful city of Florence.

TAKE ME BACK!  by Emily Clark

After leaving Italy I am having some serious European withdrawals. Spending the month of July in Europe was so most amazing month i've ever had. Not only was I able to see some of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, I gained a better understanding of myself. Jumping into an experience like this where I didn’t know the language or the culture of the place I was going very well and I didn’t know anyone else studying abroad with me I was completely terrified. I was very much excited at the same time but I didn’t know what to expect from a place I had never been and people I had never been around. What I got out of this experience was nothing but amazing life long friends and life long memories.


For me I was over Chicago, I had lived there for almost 21 years and I was ready to explore more of the world. When I first arrived in Florence after 15+ hours of traveling I was exhausted but my excitement of being in this new city quickly made me forget about my exhaustion along with all my other problems. Florence really was an escape for me, from everything that had been going on back in the states. I fell in love with the city immediately! I was ready to get to know everyone in the LDM program and all my roommates. Within the first two days of being there I had gained a close group of girlfriends and we were planning a trip to Paris for the next day! Coming to Italy I had no plans of going to Paris at all so I was extremely excited with these spontaneous plans. Paris was one of my favorite cities and one of my least favorite. Walking around in Paris was like being in a movie, every corner, every building was dream like. It was just so beautiful and cute it was a surreal place I don't think I could ever get sick of. The downside to Paris were the people. You always hear that the French hate Americans but you never really believe it until you go there and realize just how much they really hate us. They were some of the most unfriendly people I have ever encountered. We even had a cop walk away from me and my friends while trying to ask for directions. We tried to make the best out of the situation and told everyone we met we were from Canada (that helped a little). After two nights in Paris I was ready to go home to Florence.

Cinque Terre was another one of my favorite places in Europe, which is a coast along the Mediterranean sea made up of five small towns. I definitely see myself having a beach house here one day. It was one of the least touristy places i've been in Europe and yet it was the most beautiful place. All the houses on the cliffs overlooking this beautiful clear blue water. We went there for a day trip and none of us wanted to leave. It was a perfect day being able to swim with mountains surrounding us, a nice cold margarita in hand, and the sun gleaming down.

During the week when we weren't traveling around and when we were actually doing what we came there to do study fashion journalism, it hardly even felt like class. We took lots of field trips and did projects we all enjoyed doing. We had a great class of me and three other girls and an amazing professor we all had a great time together. It was definitely the best class i've ever taken. I mean what is the point of studying abroad in such a beautiful city like Florence and being stressed out?

All these experiences and sights I got to see while studying abroad are going to stick with me for the rest of my life and continue to change me. My last day in Italy while I was walking on the plane I got teary eyed, it had finally set in for me that I was leaving. It was such a sad moment because I had such an amazing time and I never wanted to leave. Of course I was excited to come home to my friends and family but Europe or more specifically Florence, Italy felt like a second home for me and to think I wouldn't be back for probably a while was heartbreaking. Now the good news, I came back from Europe a happier person and I came back feeling like I have more of a purpose with my life. Everything I do from here on out is to continue my pursuit of happiness and to constantly set more traveling goals for myself.