I’m currently sitting on the floor in my room (with a bag of Tostitos and guacamole from the Village Market of course) after finally finishing up packing. Its hard to believe that in less than 24 hours Pam and I will be sitting next to each other on the plane jet-setting off to Florence! I felt like this day would never come. We began planning our abroad experience last summer and were very picky about our program, ultimately choosing a program at Florence University of the Arts. While Pam applied to the program the second the Fall 2010 application came out, I had a different journey consisting of petitions and meetings with the dean in order to get the “non-Vanderbilt program” approved. After a relentless fight, I was approved to study in the program of my choice! Best. Day. EVER.
Swiss Air has allowed us to bring 2 duffle bags of a maximum of 50 pounds each. This was quite the feat for the girl who always stuffs a large duffle bag, usually over 50 pounds, for a 5 day vacation. With this ratio of 10 pounds of clothes per day of vacation, packing for 4 months of my life and 2 seasons seemed nearly impossible (Sorry for that math, John). Using Pam’s packing list (this girl should go into business), I began by making piles in my room of everything I wanted to bring. Although I had to part with several pairs of my beloved Nike shorts (supposedly work out clothes aren’t acceptable to wear to class in Italy – sorry Vandy), I managed to keep my two duffles under 50 pounds and save my dad overweight charges at the airport tomorrow. My carry on is filled with plenty of goodies and weighed down by the 5 pound September Vogue to get us through our 8 hour flight to our first stop: Zurich!
I’m going to be taking 4 classes in Florence: Fashion Marketing, Public Relations, Business Strategy, and Italian. The classes only meet once a week, allowing us more free time to “do as the italians do,” or sip pinot grigio from our balcony and eat gelato on the steps of the Duomo.
xx B
