Academic Travel

        
For my first academic travel at Franklin I chose to go to Tuscany, with the main city focuses being Florence, Lucca, and Siena. Honestly since this was my first academic travel I had no idea what to expect, maybe some tours and sight-seeing. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least!

     The first town we went to was Siena, which was about a 4 hour drive from Lugano. On the way we stopped in a town located on the top of a hill named Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is surrounded by a large wall to prevent attacks from other cities. It was pouring rain but I couldn't help but be in awe of the city's natural beauty. That night we arrived in Siena. While still pouring rain we walked to dinner, which took us an hour and 45 minutes because our professor was lost. At this point I was ready to go home. Then we arrived at dinner, and it was the best meal I have had in my life. The restaurant continued to put more food in front of us until we were full, and then a few more courses. The next day we went to San Gimignano, another town surrounded by a large wall. There we went to a torture museum and a death penalty museum, like all medieval towns have.

     The next day we left Siena and headed towards Lucca. On our way we stopped at Castello di Verrazzano, which was my favorite stop on the entire trip. We took a tour of the wine cellars and the castle faculty fed us lunch and we tasted the most delicious wine I have ever had. I even bought a bottle to take back to the states for Christmas break for my family to try!

     A few days later we went to Torre del Lago, the town where Puccini lived, and Pisa! Of course in Pisa I had to take the classic photo holding up the tower, and then a more creative one where my friend pretended to be a dinosaur and pushed the tower over onto me, the poor villager.

     Our last stop was Florence. My favorite part about Florence was going to La Accademia, where Michelangelo's "The David" resides. How did Michelangelo create such a fantastic sculpture? I may never know, but I appreciated how much time and effort was put into it.

     I know that is not a very detailed description of my academic travel, but what I found most important were the bonds I made with the people on the trip. I cannot believe how lucky I am to go to a college where it is required to travel for two weeks per semester to graduate. I feel very grateful to be given this opportunity! :)