Sydney Manson

Before studying abroad, I didn’t think about how time-consuming travel planning would be. Even at home, sometimes it can be hard to juggle everything that comes with being a student. But being a study abroad student comes with a whole new to-do list: homework and studying for exams, making new friendships, maintaining relationships with your friends and family back home, AND planning new trips each weekend. Not a lot of downtime if you ask me. So, if you’re thinking of spending a weekend in Florence, I’ll take one thing – a travel itinerary – off your plate. Because I just had the most amazing weekend in Florence, and I feel it would be a disservice to study abroad students everywhere not to share my advice.

I left the Venice Santa Lucia station with high hopes for the day. My group and I had just spent the past hour on the train discussing our plans: find some Venetian street food for lunch, take a highly rated walking tour through Venice, visit St. Mark’s Basilica, eat supper at a hole-in-the-wall authentic Italian restaurant, and then catch our 8:00pm train to Verona. To me, it sounded like the perfect day in Venice. Little did we know what the next eight hours had in store for us.

I’m currently two days into my semester at CIMBA, and I’m feeling very excited for the upcoming semester. Although I haven’t been on campus long enough to share any exciting travel stories, I do have a few tips for a smoother arrival to campus.