“LA VITA È UN VIAGGIO. CHI VIAGGIA VIVE DUE VOLTE.”

Translation: “Life is a voyage. Those who travel live twice.”

Life has certainly felt like some kind of adventure or voyage in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which grounded our study abroad programs since we brought groups home from Cuenca and Florence in March 2020. With vaccines and more knowledge available about COVID, the Mount has reinstated its Study Abroad program with a winter break trip to Spain, led by Dr. Diana Rodriguez-Lozano and a spring semester trip to Florence, Italy led by Dr. Alejandro Cañadas.

The return of our semester-long program also means that our blog space will come back to life! This semester, we have six student bloggers enrolled in COMM 301: Travel Blogging who will share their experiences abroad with us. On Mondays, we’ll hear from Kaitlin who plans to reflect on her weeks studying and traveling from different cafes around Florence. On Tuesdays, Brayden will show us some of the tourist spots that the group visits and talk about the deeper theological and philosophical themes associated with famed places like the David and Dante’s residence. Wednesdays will bring us different works of art that fine arts major Aubrey encounters during her stay, while on Thursdays, Kayla plans to tantalize our taste buds by reviewing many of Italy’s finest gelatos. On Friday, we’ll have posts from two students: Rachael will focus on foods (primarily pasta) for a true #FoodieFriday vibe, and Meghan will offer reflective posts of the sites visited and lessons learned from the variety of classes being offered to our students. Suffice it to say, we are in for a treat with all that our bloggers plan to share in the coming weeks!

Make sure to check back frequently this semester as our students share their experiences abroad. Student posts begin the week of February 7! If you want to learn more about studying abroad with Mount St. Mary’s, visit our Study Abroad page. And make sure to follow us on Instagram – @msmutravels.