Blog - February 2020 - While studying in Florence, Italy, I wrote a blog post that was published in the school's blog. This piece is about my first impressions of the city.
When I got to my apartment in Florence, the windows immediately caught my eye. They’re like the kind you see in a movie - beautiful and grand, just waiting to be flung open.
When I look out my window, I have an amazing view of the surrounding terracotta rooftops, the colorful apartments and breathtaking sunsets. I can hear bits and pieces of Italian conversations taking place in the streets. I start and end my day with breaths of fresh Tuscan air and the sound of church bells floating in through my window.
This description may sound far-fetched, and if I weren’t the one writing it, I would agree. However, the window in my room is more than a pretty picture. At home, my room window looks out over a neighborhood street with cookie cutter houses and lawns. Every time I look out the window, I am reminded of the smallness of my hometown and of what used to be but no longer is. That window represents things that stay the same. In Florence, I look out my window and I am reminded of the incredible opportunity I have been given. I see a city filled with rich history, future possibilities, culture and change.
My first thought when I looked through the window for the first time was that I felt inspired. I could see the next three months of my life in Italy very clearly. I want more of this awestruck feeling. I plan to take full advantage of the new environment I’m in and learn everything I can. I want to become fully immersed in a culture that is not my own and be fully prepared to take on any new challenges that will inevitably arise along the way. Spending three months at school in a foreign country will without a doubt allow me to grow as a person in ways I never thought possible.
Is it possible that I got all this from opening the window in my room? Maybe. Either way, I won’t mind waking up to that view for the next three months.
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