Abbey Road High School Summer Program in Italy

For me as an anxious parent, the best part of Abbey Road's program was the "pre-trip" assistance from the Abbey Road's staff. Sean answered every question I had, and I had many- and they were all answered in a timely and honest manner. I truly appreciated that support. He went above and beyond to help me feel comfortable with the whole trip. When it came down to the trip, I was ready for her to embark on her adventure. (She was always ready!)
As far as the trip itself, our goal was not to have her fluent in Italian, or able to poetically describe Michelangelo's David. Our goal was to have her spread her wings while traveling with her peers. We wanted her to grow as an individual while absorbing a foreign experience. And she returned meeting those goals and then some. She came home; happy, safe and with a different view of the world than when she left. She came back with wonderful memories, new friends from around the world and slightly sick of Italian food. But she also returned with an appreciation of home; America, California and us. It was truly a bonus we didn't expect.
All in all, we would sign her up for another Abbey Road's experience. I had written to other programs, and researched options, but Abbey Road's organization and staffing truly caught my attention. Thank you for a great summer!

My experience in the Abbey Road Florence program this past summer was INCREDIBLE. I found Abbey Road on google and decided on a whim to go with this program. They were VERY accommodating to me, because I had a complicated summer schedule with existing plans and they worked right around them. For the month long program in Florence, I attended 11 days of it (due to existing other plans in the middle of the month of July). My 11 days there were AMAZING, but I will forever regret not staying the whole month. Here is a breakdown of each element in my experience:

THE STAFF: We had 4 staff members accompany us for this trip. Each one of them were extremely knowledgable about Italy and it's lifestyle. They were so helpful in getting us acquainted with Italy, without making us feel like tourists. They really wanted us to feel like locals and we did! I bonded with the staff very quickly. They were all smart, dedicated and truly caring for each on e of us. I still keep in touch with one of the staff members, because we made such a close bond.

THE RESIDENCE: We stayed in an apartment complex outside the main square of the city. It was the perfect distance to walk anywhere we needed to go. It was a very nice building, true Italian style. It was very safe with two locks to get into the building as well as locks on each individual apartment. The apartments themselves were well equipped with everything we needed (food, toiletries, water, linens, towels, etc.(. It was really rewarding to be able to live apartment style, because it gave a glimpse of what it will be like to live on our own. We were responsible for grocery shopping, taking out the trash, cleaning, etc.

THE PEOPLE: There were 20 other students on my program from all over the US. I went not knowing anyone who was going, a lot of the people came with one friend or relative, but there was a good amount who came alone. It took about a day for all of us to start to bond. I instantly became close with my roommate and apartment mates. The staff helped to break the ice with all of us and we all got along really well. One of the reasons I was so upset to leave early was because I was leaving people who I really loved and made a bond with.

THE EXPERIENCE: The entire experience was priceless. The classes were fun and entertaining, but the best part was exploring. We were given a lot of free time to explore, shop, eat and just experience Italy in our own way. This was one of my favorite things about the program. It was very structured, but at the same time it gave us all an opportunity to experience Italy in a personalized way. Each weekend we traveled to different cities outside of Florence. The weekend trips were some of my favorite parts of the whole trip. It was so awesome to see other cities in Italy and experience more than just Florence. Florence quickly became our home and within just a fe days, we knew our way around the whole city and we were speaking Italian to the locals. I also never felt unsafe, which is a big deal to me. We always traveled in pairs, if not bigger groups.

All in all, I had the most fantastic summer of my entire life. I would repeat it every year if I could. Italy inspired me and I wish to go back very soon. This program is truly amazing and I can't recommend it enough. There were a lot of people who had never traveled even outside of their state, let alone the country, and they had the most amazing introduction the the foreign world around them.

I loved studying in florence with Abbey Road! I had visited Florence before on vacation with my family, but this is a totally different experience. I didn't feel like a tourist, the staff did a really good job making us feel like we were student residents and showed us a lot of really amazing restaurants and tiny piazzas that mostly locals like to hang out in. My Italian really improved and I loved how the classes took us out to practice in real situations in the city, like buying food at the market. The art classes were awesome. I loved sketching in the museums. I made amazing friends that I will keep in contact with forever, and the residence where we lived was AMAZING!!! It felt like I was actually back in the Renaissance.

I had the best time ever in Florence during the program, it was my first time in Italy, and to see so much luminous paintings from the Renaissance got me dizzy in joy. Florence is such an elegant and sophisticated city. We had a great dinner near the ponte vecchio at night and went up the duomo, it is so beautiful you can feel the light of the great minds of the XVI century. The Offices gallery was definetly my favorite, to see raphael, da vinci, botticelli and michelangelo next to each other, i would have spent weeks sitting in front of those paintings. It has been a real immersion into art, we were staying in a Palazo in the city center with frescoes on the ceiling. I met some other students from my area and we kept in touch after the summer. We had 4 days in Rome when the program started, it was great, but Florence holds a special place in my heart :)