Life Changing Experience, for the Better!

Encapsulating my study abroad experience is nearly impossible. The time, experiences, people, and places I had the honor and pleasure of meeting and visiting were bountiful. Words could never possibly capture the human experience however, as a creative writer, this is truly something I attempt to perfect with every poem, essay, and short story that leaks out of my fingers and onto a white pixelated screen.
Firenze, Italia was my home for only a few months and yet I know the changes I experienced have taken residence deep within my new persona.
In order to fully appreciate Italy, I made conscious efforts to try and eat different regional dishes (made easy and affordable with the meal plan provided by The Social Hub), visit different cities small and large. Such as Prato, the most important manufacturing town in Italy, an experience provided to me by CISAbroad. But I also went on my own excusions too, like visiting Rome and Milan. I took an Italian class offered by my chosen university to make every attempt at conversing with the locals when ordering a meal or asking for the price of a cute handmade trinket.
I made sure the classes I attended at FUA (Florence University of the Arts) were specific to trades or passions of Italy. Examples of this were Wine Marketing and Fashion Marketing to satisfy marketing electives for my Marketing Major. And "Florentine Literary Walks" and "Love Letters by Great Men and Women" to satisfy English electives for my Creative Writing Major.
CISAbroad provided mentors to guide me. Like gifting me advice on which grocery stores to buy food from, where to buy hangers or notebooks, where to buy authentic leather, and which bars to avoid sleazy men. My program coordinators created activities to keep me busy and introduce me to other study-abroad students in my same program and new experiences, such as visiting small towns near Florence, local pastry shops, and even the Gucci Gardens!
Another activity I was super happy to do in Italy was to attend a concert. Something I'd highly recommend trying to experience if you chose to study abroad. I saw Pinguini Tattici Nucleari (a super popular band in Italy that had over 35 concerts within Italy that all sold out!) live in Bologna and Alfa (He does a duet with RosaLynn from the song Snap, I'm sure you have heard of it) in Florence. Just a 30 minute tram ride from TSH. As someone who has been to over fifteen concerts in the United States within the past two years, one of them being Taylor Swift, let me just say the Italians know how to 'concert' properly. It was the grandest experience to be so wholly immersed with natives and their language and culture at full height.
Italy was such a delightful life-changing experience I still cannot believe I was so lucky to experience it.