While I was in Venice, I visited many museums to learn about the history of city. This included a glass blowing tour in Murano, one of the many famous islands of the city. Glass blowing is big on this island because too many people used to blow glass on the main island and caused too many fires, so they were forced to continue this art on a different island. I visited other islands, each of which had a unique atmosphere and feel to it. Venice was by far the most crowded city with tourists, so it was also not the most enjoyable city I have visited.
My next trip was visiting Florence. On the way to Florence, I got off the train and visited Pisa for a couple of hours. This was mainly to see the famous leaning tower. Of course I had to take a classic picture of pretending to support the tower with my arms. Once I returned to the train station, I continued traveling to Florence. Here, I visited the art gallery that had Michelangelo's David statue. It was more inspiring to see in person because of the size. I previously thought the statue was life sized, but in fact it was about five times larger than an average man. The best part of Florence for me was the dinner I ate after the gallery. Two other friends and I ordered a two pound Tuscan steak, and it was easily the best steak I have ever eaten! This alone, as well as the atmosphere of the city made Florence my favorite city in Italy that I have been to so far.
Finally, going to the Formula One Grand Prix at Monaco has always been a dream of mine, so as soon as I came to Italy I purchased my travel, hostel, and race ticket. Nice was the nearest city to stay before going to Monaco, since Monaco is too expensive to stay during the Grand Prix weekend. Nice turned out to be one of my favorite cities outside of Italy primarily for the night life and culture of being a French beach city.
I planned to complete all of my desired traveling for the remainder of my time abroad during the month of May. This is because I will use the entire month of June and possibly July to study for upcoming final exams. My first round of exams will take place during June 26 through July 6, while the second round will take place July 17 through July 23. I will not have to participate in the second round of exams if I pass on the first round and am satisfied with my grade. If this happens, I will most likely continue traveling throughout Italy and Europe until my return flight to the United States on July 31.
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Mechanical Engineering major Kody Piccirilli is spending the spring 2018 semester in Italy with our U of A Exchange Program at Politecnico di Torino with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
Mechanical Engineering major Kody Piccirilli is spending the spring 2018 semester in Italy with our U of A Exchange Program at Politecnico di Torino with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
