Hello! My name is Thomas Jurasits. As of Fall 2022, I am a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia and I am majoring in Cognitive Science with a concentration in Neuroscience. My goal is to go to medical school to become a psychiatrist.
Favorite Moment in Florence
My favorite moment in Florence was when my Forensic Psychology class had a day-trip to an escape room! Two of my roommates were there with me but I wasn’t familiar with everyone else in the class yet so it was a really fun bonding experience to try and solve puzzles together. Half of us started the escape room handcuffed but we eventually were able to all get free, but we ran out of time while we were finishing the last puzzle! We probably would have finished with ample time but we kept dapping each other up with these fake hands we found in the escape room and dilly-dallying in other fun ways while we should’ve been trying to escape a murderer. Even though we didn’t succeed, we all had a blast and everyone in that class became good friends of mine.
Advice for Future Students
My advice for future ISI students is that you should use your time here to find out what brings you joy in life. You will have so many opportunities to travel while in Florence so it is a good idea to travel to diverse places and figure out the kinds of environments which you enjoy. On top of that, there is no need to travel places just because the people around you are traveling there and you don’t want to miss out- if you know a place isn’t your ideal vibe then it is totally okay to stay in Florence! This is a wonderful city with many things to do, I’d heavily encourage anyone to step outside of their comfort zone and try as many new things as you can, but you also shouldn’t sully your experience by adding stress (both monetary and the stress of planning trips) to your life if it isn’t a place you want to go. But if you do have the means, please do travel! Even though I love Florence, traveling to new places is such a large part of the fun in studying abroad. ISI also has plenty of staff members that can give you advice and help you plan your trips if you are nervous.