Firenze Dopo Gli Studenti

I stayed on in Florence for about a week after the students left, and things just weren’t the same. The streets, even though they were teeming with people, seemed somehow empty. Early in the week, the AIFS staff moved their offices out of the building on the Piazza della Repubblica, so even my home base was suddenly gone. I was alone.

I walked the streets of Florence a lot during that last week. Interestingly, new groups of students appeared, presumably to take part in summer study abroad programs. But they weren’t our students, and that made all the difference.

On Wednesday I was walking near the school and was overjoyed to run into one of our students, Maria Christina, who had stayed on in Florence for a few days. She too noted how empty the streets seemed without her friends and classmates around.


I figured that she would be the last student I would see in Florence, but I was wrong. On my last day in Florence, Sunday, May 13, I was walking in the Santa Spirito neighborhood, on the other side of the Arno. And on some back street, I just happened to run into Jason and Amelia. So it’s official—you two are the last students I saw in Florence. Enjoy your final days in our magical city!