My first surprise was how many people speak english and how easily it is for florentine locals to spot an american. Near many of the famous squares and museums are restaurants geared towards americans.3 cognitive learning styles they have menus written in english with pictures, english speaking waiters and higher price that suggest a soak-the-tourist strategy. Even when my friends and I try our best to adapt different aspects of italian culture and dress as the locals do, we are often greeted with “hello” instead of “ciao” (I guess having blonde hair and lugging our backpacks from class around doesn’t help either).3 cognitive learning styles many americans seem uninterested in trying to adjust to different ways of life. I am determined to break this stereotype. I am going to embrace the italian culture, avoid tourist traps and use the italian I am learning in class as much as possible.3 cognitive learning styles

The location of our apartment – far from the heart of the city – also adds to the amount of walking we have to do. And let me tell you, italians walk EVERYWHERE.3 cognitive learning styles the streets are small, cobblestone and filled with pedestrians, making it inconvenient to drive. Walking has given me a greater appreciation for the city because I have stumbled upon some cool places I would have otherwise not found.3 cognitive learning styles I also get to see the beautiful art and architecture of the city up close. But wow my legs are sore. Each day I have walked over 10 miles which I guess is how they burn off all the amazing food they have here (for a closer look at my meals follow @laurrbakes_eats_abroad on instagram for daily food pics with meal details).3 cognitive learning styles

Study abroad experiences are often just a small piece of a student’s extraordinary collegiate career. “at the time this was taken, I had just spent the last year trying to get involved in ALL THINGS MARINE MAMMAL!3 cognitive learning styles I changed my major from criminology to wildlife ecology and conservation. I started volunteering at the @fwcresearch marine mammal path lab, the UF vet school’s aquatic animal health program, and the @usgs wetland and aquatic research center for the sirenia (manatee & dugong) project’s photo ID program. [through the latter], I had the opportunity to go out in the field and photograph manatees in their natural habitat, but most of my time there consisted of working at a computer sorting through manatee pics, identifying individuals by their scars & matching them to existing individuals in the database or creating a new individual ID if they were not matched.3 cognitive learning styles we can keep track of manatee populations by their scar patterns, which is amazing and innovative, but sad because it shows that’s how often they are struck by boats.3 cognitive learning styles after doing all of that, I participated on a study abroad program in belize where I was able to get up close and personal with a manatee IN THE WATER & THE WILD…just amazing.3 cognitive learning styles shortly after I returned from my program, I accepted a position as a research assistant for @seaworldorlando doing dolphin hematology (bloodwork) data entry for a 20 year life-history study on seaworld’s dolphins in captivity.3 cognitive learning styles that research paper is still in the works, but when it gets published, my name will be included on it!” –nylah haney, UF in belize - marine ecology and conservation, summer 2017