Ruth

Ciao! My name is Ruth, I am a junior at SDSU studying Business Finance. As my time in Florence has come to an end, I’m thinking about all the new experiences, friends, and memories I've made. This has been an experience of a lifetime.

ETRUSCAN LIFE

During this time I learned about the history of Florence starting with the Etruscans and ending with the end of the Renaissance period. It was engaging applying the material we learned in class to the museums we would visit. It made the material easier to comprehend. My favorite part was going into the Etruscan tombs and seeing the artwork they handmade centuries ago; it was fascinating. We learned about the archaeological ruins of the ancient Etruscans and Romans to the exploration of art, architecture, literature, and history of medieval and Renaissance Florence.

FOOD

The best part about living in Florence was definitely the food! Pizza, pasta, gelato, cappuccinos, croissants, you name it I never thought I'd eat so much Italian food that I'd get tired of it; but I'll certainly be missing all this food really soon. They have a particular steak they make in Florence called "Bistcca alla Florentina" - as you can expect, it was delicious. We also did a few cooking classes where we made ravioli, soufflé, pizza, and tiramisu. We also did wine tasting during our last week where we tasted different samples of Chianti wine and had a nice lunch after.

WEEKEND TRIPS

As cool of a city Florence is, we still wanted to take advantage of the cheap flights and trains within Europe to see other parts of Italy! We did a few weekend trips to Cinque Terre, Pisa, Venice, Elba, and Rome. Outside of Italy I visited Lisbon, Portugal and actually got to explore two cities due to delayed flights: Copenhagen, Denmark and Cologne, Germany.

LIFE IN FLORENCE

Our apartment was near the Santa Maria Novella Church. It had it's pro's and con's. The pro was that it was close to the train station and it was one of the quietest squares so there was not much noise on the streets at night. The con was that it was a pretty far walk to school. We were the furthest ones from school so that meant waking up earlier.

Going into all of the museums and churches in Florence was fascinating. It's amazing to see so much culture and history in a small city like Florence. My favorite views were the Piazzale Michelangelo view and the view from our apartment balcony. Being able to see the whole city from a top view is always breathe taking. As we walked through the city streets, we w=would come across Blub's artwork which has and underwater with goggles theme; it soon became a scavenger hunt to try to find all his paintings on the city streets of Florence.

Overall, my experience learning about Florence, the cultural flowering of the center of the Renaissance, was amazing. I am privileged to say I expanded my worldview and gained an open perspective of the world around me. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned; you get jet lag and need several naps, your luggage gets lost at the airport and you miss your connecting flight home, but all of these are experiences that you learn from and grow as a person. I would definitely encourage others to come out of their comfort zone and study abroad; especially in a city as amazing as Florence! I can't wait to come back.