Christine Staton came to Florence back in 2017 to start her study abroad experience with ISI Florence. Her academic passions brought her here – however, her Fall semester in Florence ended up being not just a mere educational experience but a turning point in both her professional and personal life. In fact, she found herself coming back to Florence for various reasons in the following years, and the skills and contacts she gained here proved fundamental for the rest of her career and life.
In this article, she looks back at her time in Florence and reflects on how this experience impacted her professional and personal development:
Florence represented a convergence of all my academic interests: art, history, cultural heritage, literature, and, of course, Italian language. A study abroad experience would certainly affect the rest of my life, personally and professionally, but as I prepare to take the next step in my academic career, I just now realize what a profound and direct impact my semester at ISI Florence had on my professional journey. Since that time, I’ve returned to Florence three times – as a tourist and as a student –, worked at major museums and universities in the Northeastern United States, and have forged a path that will allow me to continue returning to Florence for the rest of my life.
I landed at Peretola in August 2017, a senior at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where I double majored in Art History and Italian Studies and minored in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. I took courses in art and architectural history and Italian language, and spent my free time getting to know Florence. I stayed local for the most part, only venturing as far as Milan and Venice. I did not leave Italy until the semester ended. I discovered my favorite restaurants, bars, libraries, museums, and attractions – a list that only grows with each return visit.
The first inclination to continue my education with a master’s degree in art history found me during this semester as well. I voiced my aspirations to Professor Silvia Catitti, who introduced me to the MA program at Syracuse University’s Florence campus. In fall 2019, I started the program, and we arrived in Florence in January 2020 to begin a year-long residency there. As you can imagine, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this plan, we returned to the United States and I completed my degree from the home campus. Nevertheless, as my time at ISI proved, experiences beget experiences. Attending Syracuse opened doors and forged connections that empowered me to apply for teaching positions and later, doctoral programs. And I am thrilled to be starting a PhD in early modern European history at Rutgers, New Brunswick, this fall – exactly ten years since starting my bachelor’s there. And I look forward to a career that will bring me back to Florence again and again.
Christine Staton