Hi everyone! I am a current college junior looking to study abroad next fall. I think I have narrowed down either going to Stockholm, Sweden or Florence, Italy, but I am 100% open to other options as well. I am studying Communications, English, and Gender Studies, but I am looking to also take classes in Child Development/Psychology and Education, as I want to work with children as a career. I am not super thrilled about taking another language course, but I took four years of Italian in high school and remember most of it, which is why Italy feels very appealing. I also think the idea of teaching English to children could be a great option abroad, or somewhere with lots of opportunities for community engagement and getting to meet locals. For some info about me, I am very interested in the arts, literature/poetry, writing, music, and I love spending time outside and going to cafes. Ideally, I would like to be in a medium-sized city, and I am also openly bisexual and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, so I need to be somewhere accepting, inclusive, safe, and with a good social scene for queer people. I am not a huge partier, but would like the chance to go out and have a quiet drink with friends or to a bar/live show and have lots of things to do at my disposal. I do have anxiety/depression and tend to be more sensitive, so a city with a more welcoming/warm vibe would be preferred, and I don’t have a preference for weather honestly. Can anyone speak on behalf of studying abroad or visiting any of these two places? Thank you so much and I’d appreciate any input.
LGBTQ in Sweden as a whole is a non-issue. But do not expect many LGBTQ venues; the Swedes never felt the need to create a gay ghetto.
While the public has become more accepting, politically, Italy as a whole remains a relatively conservative Catholic country. However, Florence, like most major Italian cities, has an active LGBTQ community with some rather fun gay venues.
Both Stockholm and Florence are wonderful cities and I don’t know how being bisexual would affect the type of socializing you’re interested in. Probably not much is my guess. I’m more concerned with your depression and the lack of winter light in Stockholm. SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is a problem in the northern countries and I know many people that suffered through Swedish winters. Maybe look into it a little more. Florence on the other hand is further south and the relative decline of daylight hours in the winter is not as pronounced.
Both the Italians and the Swedes are lovely people in general and both cities have many international residents. Good luck!