FLORence, Italy!: C I A O F I R E N Z E

Hey guys!

Well, my time has come and it's time to go back. To go back and start my adult life (finally) to go back and get a job, and start working on my career. I'm excited, I don't know if I'm ready, but I'm looking forward to whatever is coming my way.

This past few months were unreal, truly. It was an experience that I won't ever forget, although it seems like I barely got here, I've learned so much about myself in the last 4 months. I'm going home with a different mindset, with a lot of stories and adventures, and I'm so happy I got to experience all these with really cool people here in Florence.

Attending school in a different country is always scary at first, but you get used to it. I definitely thought that school work was more difficult and time consuming here. Piece of advice for everyone... Unless you really need to, don't take a lot of hard classes.. Balancing homework, school, fun, and adventures at the same time while trying to visit new places during the weekends is definitely challenging. I'm so happy to finally get my diploma, and become a Redbirds alumni, special thanks to #roamingbirds and the study abroad department at Illinois State University for the help during this process, I will be forever thankful for the generation study abroad scholarship I was awarded, without it this experience wouldn't have been possible.

Go out and get out of your comfort zone, try new food, experience different things, and be open to meeting people and having adventures, it will definitely make your time smoother and more fun. I've visited a lot of different places this past semester, saw breathtaking sunsets and sunrises, ate until it was physically painful, enjoyed my independence while sharing an apartment with some pretty cool roomies. Visited the ER for an allergic reaction, got lost so many times, specially while taking public transportation, visited some of the most famous museums, had some of the best wine and food, went horse back riding, climbed the Eiffel Tower, swam in the Mediterranean, went to a Fiorentina soccer match and many other different adventures, but I'm ready to go back.

Special shoutout to Kayla, Lizzie and Sierra for making this experience so much better, I'm gonna miss eating for hours in our kitchen table, and making fried everything, specially those fried Oreos. I'm gonna miss complaining all the time while walking to places. I'm even gonna miss Sierra's alarm going off every morning 😂 and the loud people on the street. I hope this is not a good bye but a cliché "until next time" we have to come back to Europe in 5 years and do it all over again! (BTW, we don't have a picture with just us 4)