CAPA WORLD

Meet Chris Reidy (he/him), an official CAPA blogger in Florence, Italy for Spring 2022:

University: University of Miami
Major: Economics
Study Abroad Location: Florence, Italy

What are you most excited for during your study abroad semester?
I think I am ultimately most excited to explore Florence and the surrounding parts of the country. I have never been to northern Italy despite constantly hearing about its beautiful scenery and culture, and getting to truly learn the city and this region of the world will be my main goal while abroad.

What are three of your hobbies and interests?
I am really into watching films and television and will no doubt be continuing this trend while abroad with whichever show I end up binging in the spring, along with an Italian film class I plan to register for. I also like to hike and camp a lot, and although it may be a little too cold throughout the spring for me to do any camping (I’ve gone warm-blooded living in Miami), I’ve heard there are some great hiking trails throughout Tuscany that I fully intend to explore. Besides those things, a majority of my time is spent hanging out with friends and family, so I’ll be looking forward to hiking those Tuscany hills and exploring the streets of Florence with the people I’ll end up meeting while abroad.

What’s one personal goal you hope to achieve while abroad?
I’ve recently been getting into cooking, and one thing I know Italy is really well known for is its food. I’d like to be able to learn to cook a few different types of local dishes while I’m abroad so that I’ll be able to recreate some of my experience in the program while back home.

What’s one professional goal you hope to achieve during your CAPA program?
Learning some of the Italian languages will be an important goal I’d like to achieve during my time in the CAPA program. Even just an elementary understanding of another language is a really valuable skill in the business world, so I’d like to get to a proficiency level I would be confident in mentioning on my resume.

What can we look forward to seeing in your blogs?
For me, traveling is all about experiencing the people and culture in whichever location you end up. I intend to center most of my posts around local culture, whether that be politics, sports, or things to do and everything in between. I want to fully submerge myself into the social atmosphere of the city and region to try and convey a message of what it’s like to genuinely live in Florence throughout my posts.