spotlight on honors

honors students abroad

jESSICA - Florence, Italy

Sophomore, ENGLISH EDUCATION major

I am going to be studying in Florence, Italy.  I will be finishing my history minor there.  I choose Florence because I am going with a friend, who is studying art, and this college offered us both the most opportunities.  Florence is reasonably priced and not far from the heart of Europe for traveling.  I plan to do a lot of traveling.  I look forward to studying abroad and know that no amount of day-dreaming will be equivalent to what I really experience while in Italy.

FEBRUARY 2012

Florence is a beautiful city and a great place to study abroad.  The city is rich in history and art.  I am finishing my history minor here.  Having classes meet only once a week has advantages and disadvantages.  Meeting for two and a half hours for one class seems like the class will never end.  Then, the next week it feels as if you have not been in the class for months.  Keeping track of assignments is much harder, too.  But, I love all of my classes.  They are very interesting and offer a different view of history that I would never gain in the United States. 

Studying abroad has made me realize how comfortable I am in the US.  Who knew that doing laundry or buying shampoo would take at least twenty minutes just to understand?  How hard is it to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit?  Very Hard.  I also miss how much America is concerned with time.  Italy does not have enough clocks.  The trains are late a lot. 

Who can say they have been in three countries in as many days?  I can!  Studying abroad has its ups and downs, but you have to make the good things outweigh the train that is 155 minutes late or the sign you don’t understand. 

The first weekend I went to Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia.  As you can see it was freezing and snowed the whole time.  The cold did not stop me from travelling.  This picture is from the top of a castle in Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

The second weekend I went to Prague and Auschwitz.  If ever given the chance, everyone should go to Auschwitz.  No one can ever really understand the impact the Holocaust had on the world; however, a tour of Auschwitz makes the event a little more concrete.  I also suggest going in February.  As you can see, it was freezing, which gives you an even deeper understanding of how hard it really was to survive. 

I have a goal, which is bordering on unrealistic, of traveling to at least fifteen countries while here.  So far, it seems possible.  Most of my free time is spent on trains.  My main purpose for studying abroad was to travel and I am determined to fulfill my goal.  I’ll let you know what the count is in a couple of weeks.

MARCH 2012

Well, March is over and I have to admit it went really quickly.  It is finally warming up here and I have the privilege of being in Italy during one of the worst droughts they have ever experienced. 

School is still going well, but who really wants to talk about studying and going to class.  Spring break is what everyone is really interested in.  Spring break is one of those priceless breaks from school that every student looks forward to.  Spring break is reserved for trips to new or loved places.  Studying abroad did not change this tradition.  I, like a lot of other students here, went to other countries for the week.  My roommate and I went to Paris, London, and Dublin.  All of which were really fun.   I included some pictures of popular stops in these three cities.  I also threw some other pictures from other countries in too.

I have also been very blessed to be able to travel every weekend as well.  I have been in Italy for two months now and I have been to thirteen countries.  My goal is to make it to over twenty.  I will let you know if this happens in April.  Studying abroad is done for several different reasons.  My purpose was to see as much of Europe as I could, while still earning my degree.  I want to prove that that is possible.  Even though I miss home very much and am ready to go home now, I know that April will go too fast and I will go home still wanting to see more.  I think that anyone who has the opportunity to study abroad should take it for any reason.  Studying abroad will make you see the world and yourself differently.  I tried to put in varying pictures to show that Europe is a big place and you can study anywhere and get so much different knowledge that can not be offered in Indiana or even the United States.  I have learned so much from cities, historical sites, and mostly people. This is the most important advantage of studying abroad.

Another point of studying abroad that will have to be decided by the individual is the food.  I, personally, love food and have come to realize that I love American food far more than any other.  I have a list of food to eat when I get back already.   Studying abroad is an adventure, including meals.  Everyone loves food pictures.  Part of the fun of studying abroad is eating “mystery” food.  Don’t worry, I don’t know of anyone who has suffered from this.  This meal was good.

For more information about studying abroad, please visit ISU's Study Abroad website or contact Janis Halpern, Study Abroad Program Director, at (812) 237-3427 or Janis.Halpern@indstate.edu.