New York University

My study abroad semester at NYU Florence was my first time ever in Europe, and it was an absolute dream come true. Florence is such a gorgeous city, with amazing architecture, people, and food. The NYU Florence campus is beautiful, with a fascinating history as well. The community itself is small & tight-knit, bringing me friends that I got to travel around the continent with. My favorite part of my semester in Florence was how easy it was to travel to different countries every weekend and experience new cultures.

Because the program was six weeks with less than 30 students, we did not have many events or excursions organized by the school. The class size was small with less than ten students, but this allowed us to learn more about our professors. In regards to course materials, they were flexible with time, workload, and content because they understood that it was a short program. Also, the professors encouraged us to explore the city and get the most out of our stay by organizing in-class excursions and recommending sites we can visit and events we can participate. Byron Court (residence) was located in a safe and accessible area as it was at the center of London, surrounded by other colleges including UCL. The professors and staff members were all helpful, and I am grateful to have had the chance to spend my summer there.

I never really thought I would be going to Madrid, but after going and spending a year there, I fell in love. The city itself is beautiful, the metro and other public transportation is clean and easy to use, and traveling to other parts of Spain/Europe is just so much cheaper and convenient. The student life team at NYU Madrid was super friendly, and they really tried to make a lot of opportunities even though with COVID there were still some restrictions that made it hard. Being able to actually see the material we were learning about in class, and use the Spanish we were learning in daily interactions was really helpful and cool!