Category: 2021 Summer

2021 Summer

Zac Richman: Post 4

Zac Richman: Post 4ISA 2021Florence, Italy A list of advice for studying abroad1. Do it! The experience is more valuable than any dollar amount.2. If you fail, try again. I had 4 programs cancelled before my Florence study abroad worked out.3. Learn a little of the language wherever you are going. As Italy was my 5th choice, I learned almost no Italian before I went. Studying on a plane doesn’t actually work out so great when you sleep through most of it. 4. Get out of your host country at least once. If you can’t, get out of your host […]

2021 Summer

Zac Richman: Post 3

Zac Richman: Post 3ISA 2021Florence, Italy I tried a lot of new foods while I was studying abroad. Even though I was in Italy, a lot of traditional Italian dishes as we imagine them are not traditional at all. First, meat and pasta almost never go together. They’re served separately as primi piatti and secondi piatti. No spaghetti and meatballs and very light servings of sauce, the pasta shouldn’t be drowning in the meat. They also don’t cut your pizza. Some very old school Italian pizzerias don’t cut your pizza here either and that’s how it’s done in Italy. This […]

2021 Summer

Zac Richman: Post 2

Zac RichmanISA 2021Florence, ItalyAugust 7, 2021 My commute to class every day was filled with history that I sometimes ignored out of habit, as I became more familiar with the city. My bike ride from Via Venezia 2 to Via Ricasoli 21 became much more routine, after I learned to stop taking the bike down the 600 year old cobblestone roads. My bike was a rental I usually picked up from my walk to the city center, which I did most days. I had Florence to myself, until 3pm every day, so there was plenty of time to grab brunch […]

2021 Summer

Zac Richman:Post 1

Zac RichmanISA 2021 Florence, ItalyJuly 27, 2021 When on the plane to Rome, I thought that my time in Florence would be set at a breakneck pace, running around all over the city to see everything. After walking around 10 miles the first day and sleeping in till 11 the next, I was frustrated at myself for wasting my precious and valuable time abroad. However as time went on, I realized I can’t worry about taking time to myself and sleeping in. I like to explore the city when it’s cool at night and stay in doing homework or checking […]

2021 Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 4

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 2021June 29, 2021 This will be my final blog post from my trip to Spain. Overall, I’ve had a truly wonderful time, and my final weekend here will be one that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Toledo, one of the most historic sites in all of Spain, and Valencia, a beach city on the Mediterranean with a rich history, killer gastronomy, and beaches that are to die for. My program took us through a guided tour of Toledo, […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 3

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 2021 June 20, 2021 My two favorite parts of every city are the museums and the hiking. Alcalá de Henares (and Madrid) have both in spades. The three biggest art museums in Madrid are the Reina Sofia museum, the Thyssen Museum, and the Prado Museum. When in Madrid, I would recommend going through all three. While many of the museums have restrictions against taking pictures in certain wings or exhibits, much of the Reina Sofia can be photographed. One of the most famous paintings in the Reina Sofia museum is the painting I’ve […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 2

Taylor McGeeInstituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 20216/7/2021 One of the things that has come to hit me pretty hard is just how different things are in Spain than in the states. The first thing I really noticed was the birds. For as long as I can remember the birds have sounded more or less the same, but in Spain they have a very different set of birds, which make different, and sometimes truly disturbing, noises. For example, the city of Alcalá de Henares is well known for it’s storks. The University has storks on its crest, there are massive stork […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 1

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 20216/2/2021 June 2021 The trip to Spain was less than ideal. Besides the baby screaming on and off during the 8 hour transatlantic flight, the air crew nearly forgetting to load 1,000 pounds of fuel into the plane (which feels like my flight almost ended up on the news), the Delta agent who insisted that only people with Spanish passports could enter the country, and shifting my sleep and meal schedule has been exceptionally difficult. Thankfully, I’ve got a really cool host family, made up of a single father who’s daughter is off […]