Diary Entries From My Time Studying Abroad

As you may know if you’ve seen My Guide to Studying Abroad , I was studying abroad in Florence for 3 months a few springs ago. While I was in my abroad program, I wrote a few journal entries sharing my whole experience. I thought it was be a cool idea to share them with you all. I have also include some photos for those that enjoy seeing visuals of what I wrote about. If you’ll be studying abroad soon, I feel this could be an interesting read for most of you. I’m typing these out exact as they were written in my journal as I want them to be authentic and honest.

February 5th

Ciao, Italy! When first arriving to the hotel I was very shy and scared. Also very tired after the long airplane ride and having to transport my luggage around the airport and streets to the hotel. Once I got inside of the hotel room I felt a little more at ease. My roommate for the night was nice and talkative. She is not the type of person I would usually talk to, but because I was roomed with her for the night I would have to talk to her. It would be weird if we didn’t talk. The hotel room was very nice. The bathroom was Americanized and modern. Before coming here, I thought the bathrooms would be very weird based on how other instructors were talking about it. When we all had breakfast the next morning I felt really shy and didn’t know who to sit with. I felt like everyone already made friends except me. Even though I knew a few people on this trip because I have had classes with them, I didn’t see them anywhere. Luckily I saw my hotel roommate in line getting food and I asked her where she was sitting so I could sit with her. At the table there was a few girls I have never seen or met before. My roommate seemed to be getting along with them very well. I didn’t say much at the table (thanks to my extreme shyness) but I did talk to one girl who is half Russian. I thought that was really cool because I am also half Russian. After breakfast, I went to the room and packed to get ready for my next adventure of getting a new apartment in Italy and having roommates to live with for the first time.

The taxi driver drove me and one of my roommates named Annie to our new place. The other roommates were in a different taxi in front of us. On the drive to our apartment the excitement was really setting in. We passed the Duomo and designer stores like Prada. After the short drive (which also felt like forever) we all got out of the cab and waited to see the new place where we will now spend the next three months. My new apartment roommates and I were all really excited. We talked about the amazing location and how we are so close to such amazing stores. Even the street we lived on looked cool and very Italian. Like how other people would imagine any street when thinking about Italy.

Gina finally arrived to let us into our place. When she opened the front door, all we saw was a dark staircase. Finding out we were on the fourth floor was shocking and upsetting. How are we supposed to carry all these heavy suitcases up the stairs!? At first we all tried to carry our own bags all at once. But very quickly we realized we are all going to have to help each other. Two people each would grab a bag and we would take it floor by floor. It was a real struggle. My arms were hurting for days after having to carry them.

The apartment is great! When my roommates and I first saw it we were so pleasantly surprised. The instructor made it seem like the apartments would be really bad and scary. The place is nice and homie. We are all pleased and settled. 

Feb. & March Reflection

It amazes me how much time has passed since I arrived to Florence. And yet, I have been able to have so many great experiences in that short amount of time. Who else is able to say they have been to Florence (Tuscany), Venice, AND Rome? Traveling to all three of those places doesn’t happen to the average person.

Florence is a place that I now call my home. In the past, I never thought I would feel comfortable and at home in this city. I almost feel that I am unfazed by its beauty. I am getting so use to living in Florence. I have my favorite place to get a one euro caffe latte and croissant during my break on Tuesday and Thursdays; a grocery store that I can easily walk to and get the food I need; a market that I can go to on Monday mornings before class to get my fruits and veggies; and of course a few yummy Gelateria’s. Grom by the Duomo has been the best Gelateria so far (even though it is a little expensive). Something I really love about the city of Florence is how small it is and easy to get around. I am hoping that before the semester ends I will know my way around the whole city and know where almost everything is.

Venice is an absolutely beautiful city. I feel like I never turned my camera off. I was snapping pictures left and right. I have so many pictures from that weekend that I wouldn’t know what to do with all of them. Venice was also easy to get around because of the waterbus pass that I had. But it’s extremely easy to get lost. On the Saturday that I went, I decided to go explore the city on my own. It was a bad mistake. The streets in Venice are very confusing and it’s extremely difficult to retrace your steps when you have to make so many turns down streets and go over bridges. Luckily, I found the bus stop after 3 hours and got back to the hotel. Shopping in Venice is also really fun.

Rome was a place I had always wanted to go to. And just this weekend I finally got the chance to go. I loved Rome so much that I wanted to stay for the rest of the week. The city was amazing. Beautiful famous buildings and architecture was everywhere. There is so many places to see and visit in Rome that it was overwhelming. I am disappointed I never got the chance to go inside of a museum. Hopefully one day I can go back with my family and do some more tourist things. But while I was in Rome I got the chance to go inside of catacombs. It was really cool and surreal. Me, Tyler, Annie, Kat, Jen, and Julian all walked there from the Vatican City. It was a long walk but we walked by very nice parks and farms with cute animals that made up for my sore feet and back. Something I didn’t like about Rome though is how huge it is. It’s not as easy as Florence to get around. But the metro and the city buses saved me. Another thing I didn’t like about Rome is how crowded it was with people. I don’t like being surrounded by large groups of people and being in busy places. Making Rome a difficult place to enjoy. I am surprised how many people were actually there when it was raining all the time and it wasn’t even tourist season. However, I loved Rome and the hotel we stayed in a lot. The 4 star hotel was really nice, comfortable, and had a great breakfast selection. I also really enjoyed my roommate that I had in the hotel. We shared many laughs and great experiences.

April 1st

During spring break Ali and I went to London, England, for our spring break vacation. Getting all our tickets and reservations was very stressful and confusing for us. At first we wanted to take a train to Paris, France, and spend all day there. After doing some research on train tickets, hotels, and planes, we realized a day & night in Paris would cost us way more than we were willing to spend. By this time we already had our hostel booked for 5 nights, but since we were no longer doing Paris, we needed a hotel and flight for London. The flight was easy to find because we knew we wanted to leave on a Friday and wanted the cheapest flight. However, choosing a hotel in London for two days was not an easy task. We would spend hours every few days looking at hotels and couldn’t find any that were exactly what we wanted. The longer we waited, the more expensive & difficult it was to find a hotel. Five days before our flight Ali recommended we stay in the hostel that we almost booked before we went with The Walrus instead. Because we had waited so last minute, the first night we booked a private room for the two of us but the second night we were going to have to be separated. 

The Friday of the flight and first day in London was extremely stressful. The taxi driver that took us to the airport was not a calm driver and we think he was cursing at us and everyone else on the road. We made it to the airport just in time but had one huge set back once we made it to the check-in desk. The woman told me my bag was too large in size (not weight) so I needed to pay €48 to check it in. I was upset and very angry. I never check bags in, and to have to check it in because it was an inch too big seemed ridiculous. Being under so much pressure, I gave in so I wouldn’t have to miss my flight. When Ali and I got to our terminal we saw that it was delayed and overbooked anyways. Because it was overbooked, they said that some people will not be able to get on this plane. Ali and I were worried but luckily we were fine and made it on.

Once we arrived to the Heathrow airport and went through (the very confusing) customs, I needed to get my checked bag. I stood around the luggage conveyor belt for about 15-20 minutes until it stopped and my bag and no one else’s bag on my same flight showed up. It turns out that all our bags were left in Florence because most of the employees working at the airport were on strike & never put my stuff on the plane. I was furious that the woman at the counter had me check in my luggage knowing that they were having a strike. I must have spent an hour in the airport waiting in line to fill out a delayed luggage form.

London was amazing! Our first hostel we didn’t like. It seemed like a college party dorm and we like a lot more privacy. The second hostel (The Walrus) was great! The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. At this hostel we had a 10 bed room. Which at first we were really worried about, but it ended up being fine. In fact, we even made some friends from Germany, Milan, Brazil, Texas, and Australia!

London was the experience of a lifetime. We went to the Westfield mall, British Museum, Harry Potter Studios, and so much more! Ali and I even had the chance to meet up with Aidan and Tyler for the 3 days they were in London. Oh! And I saw the Queen of England! Crazy! I loved London so much that I would be willing to go back in a heart beat. Even though I spent my whole trip without luggage, even that couldn’t change how amazing England was.

P.S. I finally got my luggage back. 3 WEEKS LATER!!

April 4th

It’s hard to believe how fast time has flown here in Italy. I feel like just last week I arrived here and was slowly adapting to the new culture. I didn’t think these three months would go by so quickly, but they really have. Before coming to Florence, I was worried about how I will survive in a foreign country for three months without seeing my parents. Now that the semester is almost over, I feel like I need more time here.

As the semester is coming to an end, I am realizing how much I still need to do. There is so many touristy things I still haven’t done and no time to do them. With all the assignments being due in the next few weeks, it’s hard to fit in everything I want to accomplish and experience. I am hoping to get the time to go inside all the museums & churches that are free and included with the Uffizi Pass. I also need to do some more souvenir shopping!

If I could go back in time and start this trip/semester over, there are definitely a few things I would change. First off, possibly what a push over I was when it came to the rooming situation. Who you room with can really affect your experience in college. Next, I would change what and how I spent my time in the beginning. (Even though looking back I didn’t have much time anyways). I would try to do homework and reading assignments as soon as they were assigned, not let myself take naps, go to sleep early, or get distracted by roommates. I would also go to the museums during any free time that I had (because now the streets are filled with tourists). The next thing I would change is probably my shyness. I would try and force myself to talk and make new friends. I didn’t start doing this until a few weeks ago and I quickly made two new friends just by opening up and not being so quiet. The last thing I would change is probably my luggage situation during spring break! It would have been a lot better if I opened my suitcase and put a change of clothes, Invisalign, medicine, toothbrush, and makeup in my purse just in case my luggage got lost. Which is what I usually always do when I have checked in my bags before. I think the stress of the trip, not expecting to be checking in a bag, and having to pay €50 made me not think properly about what I was doing.

Overall, spending a semester studying abroad in Italy is one of the best decisions I have made. It has been an amazing (and stressful) experience but so worth it.

-Ayla♥