My semester abroad starts and I am allowed to study at the renowned Fashion University Istituto Marangoni and it’ s in the beautiful Italian city of Florence.
Finally. The journey I’ve been eagerly anticipating has finally begun. My semester abroad starts and I am allowed to study at the renowned Fashion University Istituto Marangoni and it’ s in the beautiful Italian city of Florence.
Accordingly, I would like to share my first experiences and impressions about the first weeks in Florence, both about the university but also about life in general in the city.
The Istituto Marangoni is located in the luxury area of Florence. So you get the inspiration of the countless luxury brands on the way to the university even before class. At the entrance a security man is waiting for you to take your temperature because of the Corona regulations and also partially check your student ID. Security is a top priority here. The interior design of the university is modern and state of the art. The lecturers are all from the fashion industry and explain very practically. Pretty much all the lecturers I have worked for the big luxury brands, such as Prada, D&G, Rick Owns, Gucci…
It is also worth mentioning that as a student you have access to a Vogue Archive and can view all editions of the magazine, in addition you also have access to the website “WGSN”, an online service for trend forecasts and insider information from the fashion industry.
Due to the fact that we are only 4 students from Macromedia, we also partly have our own lecturer and therefore have a very intensive and personal contact with the lecturer. The disadvantage of this is that social contact with other students is more difficult. In general, it is not easy to get in contact with the Italian students because they like to be among themselves and some of them do not speak English well. Nevertheless, you also get to know students well during a coffee break in front of the entrance of the Istituto, because many go to get a cappuccino in the cafe across the street during the break. By the way: It is a very posh cafe, but the cappuccino costs only 1,50€ to go, for students of the Istituto Marangoni and always saves us from our afternoon slump. In general, it is important to be open and communicative abroad, and just jump over your shadow and approach people on your own.
The way to the university takes only a few minutes, because our apartment is very centrally located. I live together with my fellow student, who also studies at Macromedia, in a nice big apartment that we found through the online platform housinganywhere.com. In general, it is recommended to start looking early enough, because Florence is not a cheap city and the prices for apartments are relatively high. It is also worth mentioning that you should rather avoid cafes in tourist places, because a tea can also easily cost 9€. Initially, I have to say that you need a certain amount of time to know where the young people hang out and to find the local spots. It’s all a bit hidden, but once you’ve figured it out, there are really a lot of nice cafes and bars where you can just chill out. Regarding public transportation, there is not much to mention as I never use any. Florence is a city that you can explore very well on foot and also in daily life you can reach everything easily by walking. Therefore, it is really an advantage to look for an apartment that is very central, as it makes your stay so much easier.
At the moment we are always diligent on the weekend to explore the nightlife of Florence. There is more to read about this in the next blog post.
One last thing I would like to mention is that the weather in Florence is just gorgeous and although we are in Florence from October to March, you can escape the cold German winter a bit. Until mid-November there are quite days when it has 20 degrees and beautiful sunshine.
