By Simone Onnis, Cuisine & Conversation Instructor, Abbey Road Florence Staff My name is Simone Onnis and although I am Italian by birth, I now live in New York City. I would like to begin by saying what a great pleasure it has been for me to guide the students participating in the Cuisine & Conversation course. The whole group ...
by Sara E. As the week ends, we all realize the best trip of our lives is also ending. This week lead to some of the most amazing memories of my life and I don't know what we're supposed to do without each other after Tuesday. Even though Italy lost, the Italy vs Uruguay game was awesome! We dressed in our blue t-shirts to support our newfound ...
by Sara E. On Thursday, we took a tour of one of Firenze's most amazing leather schools. We all stood around the gilder, as he stamped in the gold patterns of his imagination, in awe. The most amazing part is how many foreign students they take in, train, and create careers for every year. Their creativity is what makes the workshop (not ...
Florence Session 1 is off to a fantastic start! From the moment our students turned the corner onto the picturesque little cobble-stone street that we call home for the duration of our program, everyone has been in awe of the history and beauty that surrounds us in our neighborhood! Our group has become a family very quickly, bonding over ...
by Sara E. On Sunday we traveled by bus to fiesole, a city in the mountains. We hiked a huge mountain to prepare for our lunch and games. During our picnic, we learned more about each other by playing "two truths, one lie!" Lots of secrets came out there... During night activities, we played pictionary and learned even more about each other's ...
by Sara E. June 12-14, 2014 The excitement continues as we are just hours away from being in Florence! We all met and said our hello's at JFK while buying overpriced snacks for our amazing upcoming 10-hour journey. The staff greeted us with an amazing dinner as soon as we got to our gorgeous and spacious apartments. Our teachers gave us a ...
by Carrie Osborn, Abbey Road staff I know, I know. You hear "Italian fashion" and think "Milan," right? You wouldn't be wrong - the international northern Italian metropolis has been home to Italy's couture shows for several decades. But before Fashion Week in Milan, Florence played a huge role in the development of the Italian ...
by Carrie Osborn, Abbey Road staff As with any language, sometimes the Italian that you hear spoken on the streets of Florence sounds like something entirely different from the simply structured, polite phrases you've memorized in your textbook back home. Just think about how many phrases we use in our everyday lives that we'd probably ...
by Carrie Osborn, Staff Member Florence is a city that does not allow you to ignore art. Regardless of whether you cross the threshold into a museum, you are constantly sounded by masterpieces. The façade of the church that you walk past every morning was probably designed by one the best architects of the Renaissance. The Loggia dei ...
By Carrie Osborn, Staff Member Having lived as an American student in Florence two years of my life, I got pretty good at spotting the obvious “do’s & don’t’s” when it comes to blending in with the locals. We’re all familiar with the common traveler’s cliché: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, the same can be ...