Grace Morgan, Pitt in Florence: Early Childhood Education, Summer 2026
My biggest piece of advice for future Florence participants is to not compare your experience to others. I think this is something that is so easy to do because of how much content we are constantly consuming on social media.
I was in Florence for just one month as part of the early childhood education program. Meanwhile, many of my friends were abroad for the whole semester. It was hard not to compare. They were traveling to a new country every weekend and exploring every bit of Florence. Scrolling through their photos, I sometimes felt like I was missing out.
But about halfway into my program I came to the realization that a month and a semester are simply different experiences. I wouldn’t be able to do everything they could, and that was okay. With a shorter program, I had to be more intentional. Instead of trying to see everything, I focused on what mattered most to me, whether that was exploring Florence, learning about early childhood education in an Italian context, or traveling when the weekends allowed me. Once I stopped measuring my month against their semester, I could appreciate my own experience.
Another element of this was learning that it is okay to rest. Study abroad can come with an unspoken pressure to be doing something every moment especially when you’re trying to cram lots of experiences into a month. But traveling, navigating a new city, and staying engaged in a program is tiring. Some of my favorite moments were the slow ones exploring Florence. Rest doesn’t mean you’re wasting your time abroad. It means you’re taking care of yourself so you can enjoy the rest of it. It was helpful of me to think of the fact I would never complete so many things at home without being exhausted. I was still able to make so many great memories and have slower days when I needed it.
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