You saw this guy and his beautiful lady below, but now I've finished his headshots. :]
And now the time has come, dearest readers, to reveal the next chapter of Ethan and Grace's life together. No, not marriage. Quite the contrary: separation.
Don't jump to conclusions, sillies. Beginning in mid-August this year, I will be studying in Florence, Italy while Ethan holds down the fort here at home. For four months. Yes, I'm incredibly excited; yes, I'm incredibly nervous.
I've never been to Europe, let alone for an extended amount of time. I've already been reading Celeste's wonderful little blog to pick up on the ins and outs of life as an American student abroad in Italy, but I'm curious - have you been? Did you study abroad? Any insider tips for a poor soul like me? ;]
4 comments:
I have never been out of the country. I'm horrible with being away from Rob. I had a big job opportunity to photograph super models from Thailand over in the UK. A big photographer out there wanted to hire me to help work under him when I was 19 and I said no because I didn't want to leave Rob for even a day.
I am sure the 4 months that you spend out there will go by very quickly. with things like skype and such now,, i am sure things will go just fine with being away from Ethan.
I've been to Italy- but I was very young.. but I do travel a lot! Just be yourself, and TRY! If anyone says locals are snoody, it's because they don't like it when tourists just come and speak English- if you try, they'll appreciate it~
oh grace! i think it's wonderful and brave that your going to study abroad! italy is such a beautiful place!
the summer after my first year of college i backpacked europe with one of my friends (i also studied abroad in china). so my travel advice would be to try things! (couldn't agree more with the comment above!) try speaking the language, the strange dinner in front of you, hiking the alps if you have the chance...just try everything!
of course be safe and aware of your surroundings...
i'm so looking forward to hearing about your adventures!
Grace! This is Erin Lafferty. I've spent two summers abroad in my young life. One was in Cuernavaca, Mexico where I stayed with a family, but was with many classmates from my school. The other was in Avila, Spain where I stayed in a dorm and studying at La Universidad Catolica de Avila and went without knowing a soul!
The best advice I can give you is to just soak it all up! Don't worry about the language or cultural barriers - those are part of the learning experience and they always work themselves out. Do everything. See everything. Experience everything. You never know when you'll get another chance to do something like this.
Oh, and make sure you prepare for traveling on the weekends. I didn't really think about that until I had already gotten there and didn't have an appropriately sized bag for a weekend. It may sound silly, but it was quite an inconvenience. Also on the topic of traveling while you're there - don't be afraid of hostels! They offer a lot of opportunities to make new friends from different places and basically just experience a really youthful subculture of Europe. A really cool experience. Plus, they're super cheap and usually not that gross. :)
I hope that helps at least a little!
Love,
Erin
Post a Comment