Hey Guys!!

The Gonzaga in Florence Program always has an opening tour for it’s students once they arrive in Europe. For this semester, our opening tour was in ROME! I was so excited to finally see the city that I have learned about as a kid! We visited the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain, Michelangelo’s apartment, the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Villa Borghese Museum! It was a FANTASTIC trip!! Even though we were constantly busy, we were able to learn a lot of incredible facts about Rome and the history behind the sites that we visited! Just being able to see all of these incredible sites was so overwhelming! Here are some of the pictures I took while I was in Rome!

Two Words to Describe My First Few Days in Florence: CULTURE SHOCK!

Our first day in Florence was quite interesting. Me and a friend decided to travel together so we didn’t have to go through all of the stressful airports alone. We arrived at the bed and breakfast which was right next door to my pensione. A pensione is basically like a hotel run by an Italian family that the Gonzaga-In-Florence students live in while being abroad. But being at the bed and breakfast was difficult because none of them really spoke any English…We were definitely out of our comfort zones! But we got checked in and went to the room only to fall sleep 5 minutes later. The 9 hour time change was more difficult to get used to than we thought! We were exhausted! We slept for a few hours and woke up a few times. The next morning we got our luggage together and went to find out where we were going to be living for the next four months!! To my surprise, my pensione manager Massimo, is literally the nicest guy I have ever met!! He was so welcoming and helpful with all the questions that I had. And best of all, HE SPOKE ENGLISH!!! He was wearing a Seattle Mariners t-shirt too, which made me feel right at home! It feels great to feel right at home in a foreign country!! Florence is absolutely beautiful and even though I haven’t been here for very long, I know for a fact that this is the opportunity of a lifetime and that I cannot waste a single minute of it!!

-Savannah-