Editors note: This blog is from our study abroad program in Florence in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the program was suspended, but finally, four years later, we are going back to the amazing city with our Spring 2024 program. In this blog, you can read about one of the students who participated in the 2020 program as she looks back at her time in the city and the traveling she was able to do. Originally posted May 12th, 2020.
Well it seems as though studying and living in Florence was a lifetime ago. After my study abroad program was canceled at the start of March, many of the friends I made in the program decided to keep traveling. A dozen students were able to meet up in Amsterdam, I wasn’t able to say goodbye to them in Florence, so this was our last big hurrah. We went to museums, checked out local spots and ate tons of fries. With no school for a few weeks (as it was moved online) we were handed all this time to travel with no warning, a blessing! At first I was a little stressed, to be honest, then I realized how freakin lucky I was to see Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Barcelona at my young age and super-fun new friends! We traveled as responsibly as one could at that time.
As the world has been changing rapidly in the prior few weeks, our plans changed by the hour. We were going to meet in Dublin for St. Patty’s Day, then Madrid for a festival, then Athens. But then, one by one, my friends decided to go back to the US. There was too much uncertainty. Sadly, I never got a real final goodbye. I didn’t really have anywhere to go back to and I had friends around Europe from my last stint abroad with whom I could crash. At that point, I had no intention of returning to the US for months. Then Europe started to shut down. Everything was closed to the public. Even the hostels were closing. I realized it wasn’t smart to stay and I reluctantly got a flight to the US.
Then, I started to feel symptoms of Covid-19. They were so mild I hardly noticed them. At this point, I was in Porto, Portugal traveling solo. I got tested for the virus at the local hospital as a safety precaution before getting on a plane home. I ended up testing positive and, as I was contagious, quarantined in the hospital for three weeks until I tested negative and only then was I able to go back to the US.
Now I’m back in the States, safe and healthy, social distancing, meditating, knitting and cooking. I don’t look back on the past few months and feel upset at all. As I said in a previous post, it’s good to be prepared for the unexpected, and man, what a turn of events it was. I have been riding the waves of 2020 as they come. I will forever cherish my time in Florence. It feels like it was a dream. The small group of SBCC students made the program so special to me, navigating the experience with my “Florence Friends” is what I’ll remember and cherish. Going to student hangouts in the city, getting pasta, checking out art and fashion. I won’t be able to get that particular perspective on Europe again as an American student with not a care in the world.
I miss Florentine architecture and espresso (my mom will explode if I complain about the weakness of her coffee one more time). Side note: embrace being that kid that got back from studying abroad and won’t shut up about it, at least for a little while. I have brought back mediocre knowledge of Italian grammar (my Italian final is tomorrow, wish me luck)! I’ve brought back fun conversational points about Renaissance art and the power of the Medici family. I hope to find a way to study abroad again in the future, preferably on a longer program that lasts the full tenure. But one can never know what may arise. A few of us have made promises to travel together again, once all this is over, and once we have the money to do so! I have many more nooks and crannies in Italy and elsewhere calling me to explore them.
If you are thinking about studying abroad, it is a great way to see new places, get new perspectives, meet new friends, figure out how to travel (cheaply!), and eat weird and wonderful foods. SBCC helped me find great scholarships and offers much more affordable programs compared to other institutions. I will definitely be looking into studying abroad with SBCC again in the future. I would be happy to answer questions about Study Abroad -- just shoot me a message!
I hope everyone is staying home and is happy and healthy in this bizarre time in our world history!
Italian phrase of the month: “buona fortuna” -- Good Luck!
If you are interested in heading to Florence in the spring 2024, check out the SBCC Study Abroad program HERE.