Fantastic Experience!

Spending a year in Florence through AIFS is easily one of the best decisions I've made in my life. I chose AIFS over my own university's program because they offered more choice in enrichment activities, living situations, and classes. You can choose to live in an apartment with other students, or with a family. I chose an apartment with other students, and was placed in a great area of town within walking distance to both school, restaurants, bars, and other activities. Our apartment was a good size, clean, and had everything we needed to feel at home.

The academics are obviously a part of the program, but they are not overwhelming, and I left the year feeling like I had learned more than I had in most of my regular courses at home, but without as much stress! You can choose among a good variety of classes that include language, literature, art history, fine arts, and many others. The classes are interesting and the instructors were very personable and easy to understand. My art history courses were focused on both local and international art, and we took frequent field trips to see in person what we were learning about, which made the course seem so much more relevant to my actual life.

The program also offers a lot of extra-curricular activities that you can choose to participate in - wine tasting, cooking, museum trips, weekend trips to Rome and Venice, soccer games and concerts to name a few.

I found it very easy to make friends in this program, which was great because I came into it alone. In the first few weeks the program hosts multiple gatherings at restaurants and bars to help you meet other students. I have kept in touch with many people from the program, and some have become my closest friends. We had ample time to travel (most weekends are 3 day weekends) and I felt like I had the perfect balance of education and adventure.