The classes I am taking in Florence are similar yet completely different from the classes I was taking back home in Virginia. The biggest difference that has caused me to enjoy my classes abroad is how hands-on the work is.

One of my classmates who decided to model for our social media promotion for FLY (styled and shot by me).

The information I have learned thus far is relevant to my major and applicable in real life situations. Teachers here at FUA assign their students projects with real world problems that we can solve by applying the information that we’ve discussed in class.

A photo of my classmates and I promoting FUA’s fashion vintage boutique, FLY.

The class that I find most interesting is Visual Merchandising and Display. My professor has ample experience in the fashion industry; her family owned their own luxury accessory brand for three generations! Her personal experiences give her a level of wisdom in fashion that I also hope to achieve one day. In addition to being wise and experienced, my professor is also extremely caring and goes well out of her way for her students. I am positive I would not enjoy the class nearly as much if I had a different professor.

A beautiful statue in the Ferragamo museum from the 1900’s.

So far in this semester, I have been able to work with a team to create the visuals for a vintage boutique, researched target markets, learned the necessities for a cohesive brand image and visited museums just to name a few activities. I personally learn and retain information best when I am able to do it myself or see it applied to real situations. I know that once I return back home from studying abroad, I will definitely still have a good understand of visual merchandising.

My classmate and I modeling vintage coats to help promote FLY on social media.

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Detranelle is a Fall 2017 SAI Florence student from Virginia Commonwealth University.