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)

Well, I hope everyone who followed me during this adventure enjoyed it, because I sure I did. I will be posting more pictures on my Facebook soon.  

Well, before I start crying I will leave you with this. 

Thank you so much for reading, 

Flor in Florence goes back to the states. 

L I V I N G L A V I D A I N F I R E N Z E

Hey Everyone!

I know I said I was gonna stay on top of this blog but blogging about your experiences in a different country, going to classes, and visiting different places while having a lot of fun is really complicated. 

Better late than never though, as my departure is getting closer I can't help but get emotional because I have had a great time here, but it's time to get back to the real world and be a "grown up". My time has finally come and I feel more ready than a semester ago. This honestly has been one of the best experiences I had and I wouldn't have changed anything. I realized that I sort of see Florence as my home, every time I go on trips I'm always happy to come back home, I'm definitely gonna miss living here and my roommates. :'( 

During the last few months I've visited places I never thought I would go to, I have so many cool stories that I will be happy to tell when people ask me about my experience abroad. I discovered so many new things about myself. Although, I love being here in Florence, visiting different places and having a busy lifestyle; I'm ready to get back home to my family and friends. I'm sure I'm gonna miss Florence and the life I had here but I'm also ready to start working on my dream career and start building my future. 

**A suggestion for every one who is reading this**

Go abroad, get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Yes, it is pricey but I wouldn't put a price to new experiences, traveling, and making new friendships. Take advantage of the opportunity while you're in school. 

Well, I will sign out before I get too emotional, but honestly if anyone has questions, or would like to know more about partying ;), studying and living abroad feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to share my experiences with everyone who wants to listen!

Thank you for reading,

Flor in Florence

S P R I N G B R E A K

Hey everyone!! 

After finally being done with midterms I can begin my spring break in peace! So I had a really busy week, I had 3 midterm projects due on Tuesday and Wednesday and as the procrastinator I tend to be, I ended up pulling all nighters since Sunday night!

School is more challenging than I thought it would be, for some reason I thought my classes were going to be super easy and I wouldn't have a lot of work but it's not like that at all. I guess I just need to come to terms that I'm here to study essentially rather than on vacation. So I probably need to invest more time in school daily rather than waiting until the last minute!

Here I'm sharing a picture of one of the projects I did for one of my classes, I was really happy with the outcome, I guess it was worth the 29 hours I put in the day/night before it was due! :P

I've been having a really good time lately, and it's about to get better too! :) I had the chance to visit Siena this past weekend and it was absolutely beautiful, the city is just how I imagined Italy would look like. 

  

Something different that I recently noticed is that people here don't usually carry water bottles, and I haven't seen water fountains either. I saw one in Piazza del Campo in Siena, and it was like a really low to the ground fountain. I wish I took a picture of it. 

Again, if you would like to see daily updates of my time in abroad, follow me on instagram @flohernandez3 or  snapchat @flohernandez3

Now it's time for me to pack and get ready for my Spring Break Trip :D!!!

Thank you for reading,

Flor in Florence

U P D A T E

Hi Everyone!!

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I just haven't found the time to do it, but I promise I will be on top of it this time..

Up until this month I didn't really feel anything different. For some reason my mind was just thinking this was a temporary situation, more like a vacation rather than what I'm actually doing here. So yeah, it took a little while to get used to living here.

A month has passed by and but I still have a couple more months and I'm excited of the new experiences and things I've learned during this trip!

I took this picture when we went to the "Bacio al Piazzale" 

Kiss at the Michelangelo Plaza 

The following are a few things I've learned while being here! I hope this gives you an insight of how its like to live in a different country.

C U L T U R E

▬ It's actually pretty rare to see people wearing sporty outfits/workout clothes on a regular basis(unless they're actually working out)

▬ You don't really tip people for their services here, but some restaurants/bars/cafes have like a cover fee

▬ People don't eat an actual breakfast here, they usually have colazione which is a pastry and a cappuccino

L A N G U A G E

▬ Italian is more difficult than I thought it would be

▬ I came thinking that it would be more similar to Spanish, and some words really are, and I may understand some, but when it comes to actually speaking I'm lost...

I'm gonna keep this post short because I don't want to bore you, but I promise I will be back with more. I will be updating this blog every Wednesday so feel free to come back for more!

For more pictures feel free to follow me on my Instagram account or Facebook!

Thank you for reading,

Flor in Florence

I N T R O

Hi everyone! 

I'm senior at Illinois State University (GO REDBIRDS!!) currently attending Florence University of the Arts in Florence, Italy. 

I've been wanting to study abroad since my sophomore year in college, and up until the end of my junior year I decided that I needed to start planning if I was serious about it. So I did, I started attending the informational sessions in school and I decided I would attend the last semester in school! I'm not going to lie, the process was exhausting and very tedious, but it was all worth it in the end. 

As an Interior and Environmental Design major, I knew that the best location to study would be Italy, Florence, specially because all the history of architecture and design that this city has. Even though I've only been here for a little over a week I can already tell that this experience would be amazing. 

The following posts will focus more in my experiences and adventures while abroad, for any questions or suggestions feel free to contact me through my email, Facebook or Instagram. I promise I will try to stay on top of everything so I can share pictures and stories with everyone who wants to read!

Thanks for reading,

Flor in Florence