Istituto Lorenzo de Medici (IDM)

Most of the housing offered in relation to the ISU program was 2-4 times as expensive as my apartment.

It would be difficult to say...things change faster than one would think in a city the size of Florence! Borgho Antico in Piazza Santo Spirito has wonderful Risotto! Try a "Caprioska alla Fragola" at any bar! There was always something to "wander into" in Florence - festivals and the like.

-Women: leave purses at home! Italians have a special verb for purse snatching. And it happens A LOT. -Bring comfortable shoes (that still look nice!) - the cobblestones are pretty, but can be hard on the feet (I still can't figure out how Italian women wear stilletto heels on them). -Bargin for anything. -Clothes dryers are difficult to come by (and expensive to use when you do), so bring light-weight, quick, air-drying clothes that still look nice. The Fiorentini DRESS UP, even if it's a trip to the bread shop downstairs from their apartment. -When shopping for bread, ask for "pane con sale" (bread w/salt) as the bread in Florence is quite tasteless. -There is a bakery on Via Faenza near the school (Il Fornaio?) that has amazing fruit tarts.

As I previously stated, I had a wonderful experience taking Intensive Italian for the entire school year, and my study was easily supplemented by making Italian friends (some of whom didn't speak English!).

I used my home ATM card to withdraw foreign curreny. Once when a visa connection of some sort was down for a couple of weeks, I got a cash advance with my AMEX card from the AMEX office in Florence. It's difficult to find household items, for example, hangers (people generally get them in Italy when they buy clothes & there's no Target to run to for cheap household goods). The school has limited Internet access in their library as do many Internet sites around the city. Most "textbooks" were cheap photocopies of textbooks and/or readings, depending on the teacher. I didn't spend nearly as much on books in Florence as I did at home in the States.