Category Archives: Caitlin Pacilio

The World Is My Classroom Too

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Incorporating travel within my education beginning my Freshman year was something that I will always be proud of myself for doing. Taking an upper-level course with upperclassmen during my Freshman year so that I could travel over Spring Break, was something that most first-year students shy away from. Since taking that leap, I have been non-stop on the go and wanting to see the world as much as I can. From the Netherlands, to Australia, to Dubai, and to Florence, Italy, I have learned so much about myself and about the world around me that I had not known before. Continue reading →

Reflecting on a Semester

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As the months and the weeks wind down, I am starting to prepare to head back home to America. It has been a whirlwind of a semester in Florence, Italy this past Spring. From the first moment I saw the Duomo from my upstairs apartment balcony, I knew that I had chosen the perfect place to be living and studying for the following four months. Turns out, I was right.

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A Visit From Home

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This past week I was lucky enough to have a visitor from home – my brother! Although my parents were unable to make it out to visit me due to work commitments, my older brother managed to make it all the way to Florence for a week long holiday! My brother, John, had planned to visit me since before I even bought my own plane ticket to Italy last semester. It was nice to have something to look forward to and to remind me of home! Having a piece of home with you while you are abroad is always a little bit comforting. During the first part of the week, he visited his friend that is stationed in Vicenza and went to an Italian Serie A soccer game with him. This first part of the week, I was still in Paris, but once I returned we made plans to visit Rome, Pisa, and Cinque Terre for the remainder of his time in Florence. Continue reading →

My Last Month in Italy

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33 days left in my time studying abroad in Florence, Italy! It was not until one of my roommates pointed this out this past weekend that our time abroad has been flying by! It is unbelievable how fast time goes when you’re having some fun. Studying abroad is intriguing, nerve-wrecking, exciting, and leaves you speechless, all at once. Although I am now biased towards studying in Florence, studying abroad anywhere will change your life and I highly suggest it!

In the next month that I am still here, my brother is coming to visit, I have multiple presentations and papers to submit, and I also have a few more places to travel to before I head home for the Summer! Continue reading →

Traveling Alone: The Amalfi Coast

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Have you ever traveled alone? If not, me neither until this past weekend! The amount of solo female travelers that I follow on Instagram, inspired me to try traveling on my own for once as well! I knew that if I wanted to keep traveling as much as I possibly can, my friends or family may not always be able to join me in my adventures, therefore; it was time to try a weekend of solo traveling! I decided that my first solo trip should be to somewhere that I can still have data and service on my cell phone, in order to make it a little bit easier on myself at first. Going to a new country and having limited data capabilities and trying to find destinations on your own is extremely difficult, so I chose an in-country destination. I decided to travel to the Amalfi Coast, in Southern Italy to explore this weekend!

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Spring Break: Greek Edition

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I have reached the time in the semester where I was filling my days with studying and organizing notes to prepare for Midterms over an entire week. Luckily, I am only in four classes so I only had to prepare for four separate exams! The unfortunate part about that is the fact that I have three of those classes within one day, so I had three exams in the course of eight hours! It was a rough day! This was different to me than from Marymount’s Midterm week due to the fact that sometimes my classes would not even have midterms! Often times, the midterm exams would consist of submitting a paper or even the exams would be short and simple. This was not the case at Lorenzo de Medici – there was a Midterm week and every class had an exam! It was quite the challenge! Continue reading →

Exploring Your Own Country

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Although traveling to a new city and country to study abroad for a semester can be exciting and thrilling, you need to see more than just that one city. When studying abroad, it is almost imperative to explore more than just a couple miles within your apartment building! As I have written about before, I have traveled out of Florence and to Venice for Carnevale, which was such a fun experience and one that I would want to do again! Although I have not traveled for any specific celebrations since, I have been on small day trips to three other areas within the region! Continue reading →

Home Sweet Home

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I have now been living in Florence for just over a month! Throughout that month my roommates and I have been traveling around Italy to see all sorts of different popular sites! We went to Venice, as I wrote about before! We’ve been to Pisa, Verona, and the Italian Riviera. It was not until recently that we traveled outside of the country! Our first trip was to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. It was such a great time to see a culture that is so much different than Italy’s. It was especially great for me since they speak German there and I am proficient in German as well! Typically, my roommate helps me out with Italian, so this time I got to help her out with German; it was a lot of fun! Although we spent the weekend traveling through Austria, we did miss Florence quite a bit. Continue reading →

Carnevale Celebrations

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Carnevale is a typical Italian celebration that has been kept a tradition for thousands of years. The word Carnevale stems from the Latin words carne (meat) and vale (farewell), thus this tradition is in light of the Christian celebration of the beginning of Lent. According to the Christian tradition, Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter when meat is not consumed. Typically this festival involves a celebration of large groups of people and even parades where people wear masks, resemble elements of circus environments, and take to the streets!

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Florence Finds

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Now that I have been living in the beautiful city of Florence for two weeks now, I have done quite a bit of exploring in this sector of Tuscany. Luckily, I only have class three days a week so that gives me two free days to wander around and get lost. Throughout the past week and a half I have been finding the most interesting places to eat, viewing beautiful pieces of art, and finding the best sceneries of the city.  Continue reading →

First-Week in Firenze

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The first few weeks in a new place are always a little confusing and hectic, but also exciting. All of these emotions are filling your entire body at the same time because all you can focus on is being in a new city in a new country on a new continent with new people – what an exhilarating feeling. These are all the emotions I am currently feeling too. Although, I have traveled quite often recently, I have grown more accustomed to the quick changes than someone who may not be quite so used to it. We all have to go through these cultural differences in order to make the absolute most of our time in a new and exciting place!

In my first week living in the Italian city of Firenze (Florence), I have just begun getting to know my FIVE other roommates – yes there are six of us! Continue reading →