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<\/p>\nStudying abroad in Florence, Italy was such an amazing experience that I will never forget. Before leaving to study abroad one of the things that I was most nervous about was not knowing anybody in my program. I was lucky enough to meet so many amazing people there, and formed such a close bond with them. Specifically, my roommate and I were inseparable from the moment we met each other, and spent the semester exploring Italy and traveling all around Europe together. One of our favorite things to do was take the train to a nearby city and spend the day taking in all the differences and new cultures. My favourite day trip that we took was to go horseback riding in Siena. We got to fully immerse ourselves into Italian culture and spent the day learning about farming in Italy!<\/p>\n
Another way that we got to explore more of Italy was through the day trips offered by our school. This is an aspect of the program that really stood out to me, and took away so much of the stress regarding planning trips. All we had to do was sign up and everything was taken care of for us from transportation to guided tours!\u00a0 Our school also planned two weekend trips for us to go on. These trips were to Rome and Venice. It was so helpful to have our professors with us to show us around and give us tips on how to navigate the bigger cities. These trips included transportation, lodging, tours of the cities, and some meals. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/center-for-global-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2025\/12\/IMG_0380.jpg\")
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My favorite aspect of the program was definitely the meal plan. We were given vouchers that were accepted at many of the local restaurants and cafes around the city. Additionally, we were also given gift cards for the local grocery store. Being able to go to the grocery store and pick what we wanted made it feel less like we were tourists and more like we were living in the city. The gift cards also gave us the opportunity to try so many new food items. Learning the different ways that grocery stores operate outside of America was super cool and definitely helped us feel more prepared when traveling to other countries. Additionally, the meal plan allowed us to be able to try so many different and new foods that we had never tried before. Furthermore, we got to experience the Italian way of life by getting together every night for a meal while enjoying the company of the people around us. It is emphasized in Italy that meals should never be rushed, and should be enjoyed slowly which is what we did every night. These experiences allowed us to connect with locals who owned or worked at the restaurants we dined in. By the end of the program, we had become good friends with the owners of multiple restaurants. They would frequently come sit at our table with us and talk to us about local culture.<\/p>\n
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On the last night of the program, our school planned a special dinner at a castle in Florence. We got to dine with our friends and professors for the last time while enjoying authentic Italian cuisine.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/center-for-global-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2025\/12\/IMG_1307.jpg\")
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Florence was extremely easy to navigate due to the fact that everything was walking distance. When it came to housing, we were all placed in different apartments that were scattered throughout the city. Every apartment was walking distance to all of the restaurants on the meal plan, as well as to the school. I loved going over to my friends’ apartments and seeing how different the part of the city that they lived in was from mine.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/center-for-global-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2025\/12\/IMG_1469-2.jpg\")
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Overall, studying abroad in Florence was such a life changing experience. I personally feel like I grew so much as a person there, and brought back so many life skills and lessons. Additionally, the friendships that I made while in Italy were so special, and I still catch up with my roommate often despite her living in a different state. I would 100% recommend studying abroad anywhere to anyone who was debating on it, and can\u2019t wait to keep travelling the world!
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/center-for-global-education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2025\/12\/IMG_0306.jpg\")
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Daliah Amarshi<\/strong><\/p>\n Major: Political Science Minor: Psychology<\/strong><\/p>\n Semester: Spring 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n Location: Florence, Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n University\/Program: AIFS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Studying abroad in Florence, Italy was such an amazing experience that I will never forget. Before leaving to study abroad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5185,"featured_media":1904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n