Submitted by Maisie Rama on the 2019 summer session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition…
I’m having an amazing time on this study abroad program. Being in Italy is such a dream! From when I first got here and drove through the hills of Tuscany, to venturing out on the weekend with my friends to Florence, everything has been so exciting and eye opening. For example, we went on a walking tour of Volterra which is a very historic town here. I was able to see and take pictures with the last arch left of the Tuscan wall. This wall held off the Romans for five years! I think that is incredible and it’s a piece of history I was unaware of. I gained a lot of knowledge from the whole walking tour of Volterra, including how the word “malaria” came about and the different parts of a Roman amphitheater. We also got to see a demonstration from an alabaster sculptor, which I feel is a big part of Italy; historic sculptures and art!
Being able to visit Florence this last weekend with my friends was lots of fun. We saw many famous sites such as the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. Being on our own was quite the culture shock because we were in some parts of the city in which no one really spoke English. We tried to get a taxi driver and it was extremely difficult to communicate with him due to Italian being his native language. However, there have been many people who do speak English, either very well or pretty broken up. One of my favorite things we did this weekend was go to the famous sandwich shop All’ Antico Vinaio, and I tried their most popular sandwich. It was delicious! Overall, this program has met all my expectations so far and I can’t wait to see what the next two weeks hold!
Ciao!
