Senior Alaina Ferguson traveled to Urbino, Italy this summer to study Italian Renaissance for a month. While in Italy, she also studied Renaissance period art history, Italian language, and renaissance period literature and philosophy.

1. What was your favorite part of your experience?

My favorite part had to be the history we lived in and walked through every day. Nothing had been built in the town we were staying in since the 16^th century. It was like walking through history, we were there a month and I never got used to it. It was so beautiful I still can’t believe people actually get to live there.

     2. What was your least favorite?

Definitely the 20 hours of straight travel that it took to get over there and get back. That would be the only thing that would stand between me and going back. The travelling was so brutal.

    3. What was one thing about the culture that surprised you?

The appreciation of beauty over there was incredible. Not only in their city but the way everyone dresses. Every day all the people dress like they are going somewhere super fancy even if they are just out to go to the grocery store or to grab lunch. We kind of stood out in our t-shirts and Nike shorts.

    4. Tell me a little bit about the places that you visited while in the country.

We took trips to so many towns: Florence, Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Ravenna and a lot of people went to Rome on one weekend. Florence was crazy because it was the largest city I visited and it poured down rain almost the entire time we were there. We saw Brunelleschi’s dome there which was incredible and way bigger than I imagined. Rimini was a beach town I visited on a weekend trip with 2 other girls. It was so cute there were carnivals everywhere, miles of shops that we didn’t even put a dent in walking for over 2 hours, and  the most beautiful beach.

    5. What was your favorite food that you tried?

I was pretty obsessed with this thing called a panino kabab. It was made with a small, circular loaf of bread that they cut open and stuff with lamb, vegetables and sauce and I really miss it.

    6. Pick 3 words to describe your entire experience.

Surprising, and life changing. I wasn’t ready for what the experience actually was and it changed the way I look at a lot of things.