<p>hey all</p>
<p>I'm looking into study abroad programs for my junior spring semester of college and I want to go to Italy but I'm a little hesitant about somewhere like Florence or Rome. I want to interact with locals, etc.. not be completely surrounded by Americans 24/7. I did a program during the summer with BU in switzerland and london which was wonderful except I was only around americans and we had absolutely no interaction with the locals/the academics were mediocre at best. Any other cities you'd recommend in Italy or even any other places in Europe? I know Italian and Spanish.</p>
<p>I’ve been to Florence and Rome as well as a few other places in Italy. Any place that’s popular or well-known is going to have tourists so it’s hard to recommend a small town or unknown location that won’t have a lot of Americans. I think you can go to Florence or Rome without interacting with a lot of Americans though. I know it’s hard to believe but if you really enjoy it and try to talk to the Italian people, you won’t focus as much on the Americans. Americans are unavoidable but you can sort of zone them out in some situations. It worked for me. By speaking Italian to the shopkeepers et al. you can enjoy the experience more. If you’re interested in history or art, going to Florence or Rome would be 100% worth it and you wouldn’t regret it. Even if you don’t like history and art, they’re both still amazing. If you really don’t want to go to Florence or Rome though, Naples is a big and popular city but I’d recommend it as well. Also, the Amalfi Coast is beautiful (and also popular, though not as popular as Florence or Rome).
The key is to also find places in the big cities that are worthwhile but won’t be slammed with tourists. Though Florence’s cathedral is beautiful, there were so many tourists that a line stretches around the side of the cathedral. I enjoyed Santa Croce more. Though there were tourists, there weren’t as many as you would think. Maybe I just went there on a good day.
Another place I really liked in Italy: Assisi. If you can find a program there you might be interested in looking at that. There are tourists, but they are visiting the city for religious purposes, and they mostly stick to the church. I walked around the city and it was completely quiet. The streets are very steep in some places and it’s not a hustling and bustling city like Florence or Rome, but it’s lovely in its own way, and the Umbrian landscape is beautiful.</p>
<p>Going during the academic year is vastly different than summer. Switzerland is so different than Italy will be. Would the Florence or Rome programs put you in a hotel? Or with a family?</p>