It's almost finals time..

After living in Florence for about three months, it's strange to think that we'll soon be leaving this place. I am now very well adjusted to the lifestyle and can call my apartment here my home. Not only have I been experiencing some amazing places, but I have also been able to make some lifelong friends. Being thrown into an apartment with five other people whom I had never met before can seem like a challenge at first, but after traveling throughout Europe with them it becomes very easy to bond. These are people that I have traveled through not only Italy with but all the way out to Germany, Barcelona, Spain, Switzerland and even more.

This photo is from the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, which I can easily say was the most beautiful place for me. And also being able to stand only a few feet away from death was pretty exhilarating too. These cliffs really gave me a sense of what beauty the world has to offer and makes me want to continue to travel more throughout my lifetime.

Being in Florence has also given me many artistic opportunities that I may have not been able to accomplish or maybe even just realize back home. One project that I have been working on here has to do with bicycles, and their importance here in Florence. When half of the people around you, or maybe even more, are using some type of transportation other than a car it makes you quickly distinguish yourself from the people who live here, myself in particular as I need to take my car any where I want to go. But being a photo major, I saw this as a great place to start an ongoing project. I have begun to photograph not only bikes that are left alone on the street waiting to be ridden again but also owners riding their bikes throughout the city. Everybody has a place to go and a different expression so photographing these people is really interesting to me.

When I get back to Uconn, I want to photograph students and others biking around and see what the similarities and differences are if any. While I'm not fully ready to go home yet, it will be nice to get thrown back into the real world. I have been enjoying every moment here and am not ready to let that go. Florence has become my home and I hope that the next group to come here will enjoy it as much as I did.