CHID Rome, Vienna, and Budapest: Legacies of Empires –
Power and Diversity.
In this post, I am going to focus on my time in Italy!
Rome
Ciao Bella! My first month abroad I lived in Rome. I attended classes at the University of Washington Rome Center in Campo De Fiore. I lived with six other girls within our program in an apartment in Fillipo Casini. The weather consisted of sunshine and fairly warm temperatures. During my time in Rome I literally only ate pasta, pizza, and gelato. I also toured Rome’s most popular attractions. the people in Rome weren’t the nicest. There are hecklers every 10 feet so if you ever choose to go just be prepared. I would recommend going to Rome as a young adult because there is so much to do and the nightlife is very fun.
Florence
While studying abroad I attended classes and tours Mondays through Thursdays. On the weekends we were allowed to travel wherever we wanted we just had to inform Ruggero where we were going. On the first weekend in Italy, I took a train to Florence with a group of my classmates. We stayed in an Airbnb approximately 20 minutes walking distance from the train station and just a short walk over the bridge from downtown Florence. The weather in Florence was breezy with sunshine! I would recommend to not study abroad in Florence because there really isn’t that much to do but it seems like a wonderful place to vacation with a family.
Venice
I will always remember Venice to be absolutely freezing but also absolutely beautiful. During my 3rd weekend in Italy, I took a train to Venice with my friends. I stayed at the Hilton Hotel with my roommate. Venice was really nice to see because it was a drastic change in scenery. Venice consists of more than 100 small islands in a lagoon connected by small bridges or transferable via water taxis. I had the best gelato ever this weekend at Suso. I discovered a new love for cappuccino cookies from Nino. We took a day trip to Burano. Burano is one of the many islands in Venice. The island is known for its brightly colored houses and making lace. We pretty much just walked around the islands for the entire weekend. It was fun and really pretty I would definitely recommend going during the summertime.
Milan
For my last weekend in Rome I took a train with my two roommates to Milan. We only stayed for one night in Hotelbnb. The hotel was literally a 10-minute walk max from the train station and approximately a 30 to 40-minute walk to downtown. Milan’s high-end shopping was seriously unreal. We went to Gucci, Prada, Louis Voutton, and Versace. Since we were only there for one night we didn’t have that much time to sight see so we really just walked around and shopped. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to Spontini for the BEST PIZZA EVER. It was pretty cheap, tasted incredible, and was a fat slice. Being from Seattle, and drinking Starbucks on the daily, we had to go to the Starbucks Reserve where I got the Pistachio latter which is really good. The Cathedral was cool to see, we even took the lift to the top where we got an amazing view of Milan. I would recommend going for at least few days so you can see more attractions.
Catch my next blog for more!
Lauren Michael, Winter 2020
