I’m leaving for Florence in exactly a week and I’m feeling unprepared. Finals are next week and I haven’t even considered when or what I will pack. My weather app shows Evanston in the 60s and Florence in the 90s. How can I be ready for this change? Even more worrisome than my physical preparation is my mental preparation. With only six weeks in Florence, I don’t want to forget anything. Am I ready to absorb everything I see and everything I feel? Will it be hard to switch gears from the cold and stress here to the heat and freedom I’ll find in Florence? Only time will tell.
Luckily, I can already tell that I’ll be studying abroad with a great group of people. They’ve started a Facebook group, “Florence! Whoohoo!”, alive with posts about potential weekend trips, pictures of Michelangelo’s David, and exclamations of excitement. One of my roommates sent an email introducing herself and we had a great conversation of why we chose to go on this journey and what we hoped to get out of it. Everyone can’t wait to meet each other, and I know we’re all going to help each other have the time of our lives living in Florence. With people already making friends, it’s impossible to imagine how much these friendships will grow.
Jenni Antane is a student at Northwestern University and is blogging from her summer abroad with the Italiana Langauge and Culture in Florence program, in Florence, Italy.