The term “tourist” was always odd to me. With how negative of a connotation that word has garnered over time in the States, you’d think American travelers are verbally berated with it every time they step foot outside in a foreign country, that it is used with the same level of malicious intent that motivates…

On paper, it would seem that assimilating to Italian culture would not be too difficult as Italy is a rather westernized country. Nowadays, English is widely spoken among both locals and otherwise, especially in tourist hotspots like Florence. With that said, I find that assimilating to Italian culture has definitely still proven to be an…

Prior to committing to the University of Pittsburgh for my freshman year of college, I already knew that I wanted to major in bioengineering. I had spent a good fraction of my teen years reading research papers about genetic engineering, medicine, and the like while writing articles about them for my school newspaper, so it…

On the first Sunday of each month, museums in Florence extend free admission to all patrons and, still being full of energy on our second day in Italy, my roommates and I elected to wake up super early and see Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria dell’Accademia right when it opened. Thanks to our advanced planning,…