Olivia was selected as an SAI scholarship recipient and blogger for the Spring 2016 term. She is a current student at Baylor University studying at Florence University of the Arts (FUA) in Florence, Italy during the Spring 2016 term.

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT OLIVIA

1. I am a Junior Speech Pathology major at Baylor University, which I absolutely love. A passion of mine is working with special needs children, which I hope to do after I graduate.

2. I love the outdoors, hiking, swimming, running. I was on the cross-country team and swim team in high school, which has made me even more active and passionate for the great outdoors. I am not good at most sports though, so don’t ever try to get me involved in a game that requires hand-eye coordination because it will not turn out well.

3. Every summer I teach kids ages 2-12 how to swim which is an awesome experience. I’ve done it for the past 4 years now and every minute of it is always exciting and different from the one before.

4. I am very close to my family! I have a younger 18-year-old brother who I am very close with, people say we look like twins but I don’t see it. Then there are my parents who are amazing! I am very close to my cousins as well which is nice cause we do a lot together when I am home for breaks.

5. I love cats. I have two rag-doll cats, both boys, named Joey and Smitty. They are the most handsome and precious cats you will ever see. They are very very fluffy, white, and HUGE. Why have a skinny small cat when you can have a fat fluffy cat to cuddle with?

6. I am a great whistler and am constantly whistling whatever song is stuck in my head.

7. I am from Los Angeles but I go to school in Texas. I love California a lot and plan on going back after graduation, but Texas has grown on me more than I thought. The people are great, the BBQ and chicken is amazing and Baylor makes Texas ten times better.

8. I love to sing and dance. I don’t show off my singing and dancing skills because really I’m no better than anyone else, but when I get in the car and that music is turned up, there is no stopping me. I own the game Just Dance, which I am constantly playing and have gotten all my friends and roommates addicted to. I wish I were talented enough to be in musical because that would be the dream.

9. I LOVE good food. This is one of the main reasons I am studying abroad in Italy, for the food. Growing up in LA there are many different ethnic restaurants all of over the place which great because you are able to try all kinds of authentic food just by driving 20 minutes. Italian food is my favorite though.

10. I love to travel and wish that traveling was a profession because if it was I would be the best at it. Surprisingly though I have never been to Europe so this is going to be an exciting adventure for me. I have been planning this study abroad trip for the past year now and am so excited to be going to Florence, Italy!