March has been the most eye opening month thus far. Many of my roommates went on Spring Break while I stayed in Florence and I was feeling very homesick and lonely. I was surprised because this was honestly the first time I felt homesick at all. This feeling only lasted for about four days as everyone started to come back and I traveled a bit. During the time my friends were gone I used Facebook and networking sites a lot and I think that was a big problem. I wasn’t going out and experiencing things here like I was before. I buried myself in peoples lives back home. This is a mistake that I would like to caution future study abroad students not to make. But like I said, this homesick feeling only last for four days.

I went on a few trips with SAI and they were incredible. One of them being Siena and Chianti. Siena was beautiful! There was so much history and culture. The streets winded throughout the city, up and down hills. Not to mention I had one of the best paninos I’ve had in Italy thus far! We also got to tour a church there that was breathtaking. I have never seen something more beautiful in my life. It is safe to say that Siena is now one of my favorite cities. Next we went to Chianti. It was a wine vineyard in Tuscany. The view was jaw dropping, nothing I have ever seen before. We were surrounded by hills of the country side. We then went to a wine tasting there and ate the most amazing food. Definitely an experience I will never forget.

Shortly after I went on a trip to the Marble Mountains of Carrara and then Lucca. This trip was also incredible. We got to walking in the mountains to a quarry where we were surrounded by white marble. If you walked outside and looked up, the clouds were so close, tightly hugging the mountains top. We then went to Lucca. It was very quaint and clean. We had dinner there and went on a walking tour. Lucca is a small city but made quite the impact. We had an amazing lunch there and got some sweets for the road.

After all of this I can honestly say that I will not be ready to go home in May.

Miranda – University of Louisville