Megan Adams recently spent part of her summer in Italy as part of a visual literacy course at Anderson University. This is her story.
An experience of a lifetime is an understatement. Being in Florence, Italy for three weeks was amazing. Immersing myself within the culture, traveling to see beautiful art and landmarks I have studied in my classes, as well as forming new friendships brought the entire experience together. In addition to studying abroad in Florence, one perk was that I wasn’t limited to traveling within one city. We were able to see neighboring places as well: Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, Cinque Terre, Pisa, and Prato. If you’re a bucket list person, want to travel to experience new things, or desire to learn more about yourself — the study abroad experience is for you. I once read that studying abroad leaves your speechless at first but then turns you into a storyteller.
A day before going to Rome, we all were at CAPA (the Global Education Network) where we had class), along with Professor (Tim) Speaker and Professor (Michael) Marks. They told us they had a Roman expert to come and talk to us about Rome before arriving there and to our complete surprise, (AU professor) Dr. (Candace) Livingston and her husband walk in. We were all ecstatic. It meant so much to us students that there was intentionality in planning certain things to make sure we were getting the full experience everywhere we went. Her coming and surprising us was like another piece of home arrived in Florence; AU and the professors truly make you feel at home on and off campus — that’s what I felt all the way in Italia!