One of the best decisions I’ve made in my time at UMass was to study abroad. During the spring semester of my junior year, I studied in Florence, Italy at Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici (LdM) through API. I knew I wanted to go to Italy pretty early on in the decision process, but also had the goal of traveling throughout Europe as much as possible. After working with the abroad office, LdM, and API to look into the best options for my goals, I was able to curate a schedule with five classes over just three days a week. With that schedule, I could balance having interesting classes, experiencing Florentine culture, and traveling almost every weekend.
I got to experience everything Florence has to offer by taking classes that helped me learn about local foods, art, and traditions. LdM offers a multitude of courses that satisfy transferable major, general education, and elective requirements. In addition to elective courses, I needed to take at least two courses that would satisfy both of my majors; Communication and Digital Design. The classes I took were Web Design, Florence Bites, Wine and Cheese, Global Media Strategies, and Oil Painting. Classes like Florence Bites and Wine and Cheese introduced me to local foods and traditions, while Oil Painting allowed me to experience a studio environment. Each of the regular classes at LdM meets once a week for two and a half hours. Studio and lab-style classes, such as Oil Painting, meet once a week for about five hours. My schedule began on Monday afternoon with Web Design and ended Wednesday evening with Oil Painting, which gave me Thursday through Sunday to travel.
Going right from a busy week of classes and exploring your home city to traveling to a new one for a short period of time was stressful at times, but absolutely manageable and worth it. The most important thing I learned was that planning ahead is your best friend and that using your time in your home city wisely makes a huge difference. To get all of my schoolwork done during the week, I tried to combine exploring Florence with doing my homework. I would pick a new coffee shop, library, or park to take my work to each week. As the weather got warmer in the spring, one of my favorite spots to go was the rose gardens under Piazza Michelangelo. This gave me the opportunity to explore Florence while being productive and keeping me on track to have my weekends work-free. If I still had work to get done on the weekends, the travel days were actually the perfect opportunity. From Florence in particular, I found it easiest and cheapest to fly out of the Pisa airport. I could comfortably get to my weekend destination by Thursday evening or Friday morning and return to Florence by Sunday evening.
While studying abroad was one of the busiest four months of my life, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Managing classes and traveling was extremely important to me, and it was completely doable with the right schedule and a willingness to do homework while sitting outside the airport or on the train from Barcelona and Madrid. I was able to experience Florence as a home, take classes I never would have at UMass, and travel nearly every weekend. Even if you’re nervous about balancing everything that studying abroad entails, there are absolutely ways to prioritize both academics and adventuring. The UMass study abroad office and the professors I met abroad were resources I could rely on throughout my entire experience. Having this support allowed me to create a schedule that worked for both my degree requirements and my travel goals.
