Student Journals: AIFS in Florence, Italy

Allison Bender
Arizona State University
Richmond in Florence, Italy

This is by far my favorite picture of my whole study abroad experience.

I came here alone, without knowing a single other person studying abroad. I'm not Italian; in fact, I don't have one drop of Italian blood in my family, I have never heard a word of Italian spoken except for the waiter at my favorite Italian restaurant describing the night's specials, and eating spaghetti with marinara sauce is about the most Italian thing I've ever done in my life. To be honest I was not the one to suggest studying in Florence, it was my friend who was supposed to be here that said we should go to Florence.

Leaving your family and friends is never easy, especially when it is to move to a foreign country completely alone. For someone who hates walking to class without a friend by my side, getting on a plane to move to Italy for four months took a lot of personal convincing.

I was supposed to have a good friend come with me, but she backed out at the last minute. I knew I had a choice, come alone and hope for the best or stay at school never knowing what could have been. It could have been my parents or the several other people telling me this would be one of the best experiences of my life, or it could have been the many people who thought I would come to Italy, miss my friends, and hate being away from home and crumble, whatever it was I decided to go with AIFS to study abroad in Florence Italy for the semester.

I thought if I could just make one semi-close friend I would be ok, I would survive and most likely even enjoy myself while here. I have AIFS to thank for making that one hopeful friend turn into eight amazing best friends. From the second day in Rome until now, I have been inseparable with a group of these eight wonderful girls. I was fortunate enough not only to get by here, but to have the time of my life here.

I made friendships with eight other amazing girls and I gained so much more than plainly just getting by, I made memories and friendships that changed my life. I know how cliché and corny this must sound, but I simply have no other way to put it. There are no words that come to mind that would enable me to express what this trip has meant to me. I feel the only way to even remotely describe the memories and friendships I have gained is through this picture. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.