Submitted by Kirsten Bayer on the 2019 summer session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences…
While being in Italy, I was able to travel to many other cities within the country as the Psychology of the Arts program had time built in to be able to do this. I took full advantage of this and decided on two different day trips to five different cities in Italy. The first day trip I went on was to Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa. In Siena, we walked around the town and got to see all of the gorgeous buildings. In San Gimignano, we saw the most beautiful views in Tuscany as well as had gelato from a place that won “best gelato in the world” two years in a row! In Pisa, we were able to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and this has been a huge dream of mine since I was in 3rd grade. I can remember doing a school project on the Leaning Tower and saying that I was going to go see it in person one day and I actually did! The second day trip I went on was to Pompeii and Salerno. Going to Pompeii was so cool because we got to see all of the ruins from Mount Vesuvius. In Salerno, we were able to see gorgeous views of the Amalfi Coast as well as shop in town. For those who plan to travel to Italy at any point, I highly recommend traveling to the different cities within the country and exploring because each city has something unique.