Using field trips to explore even more

USAC Verona student used her time on field trips to explore even more of Europe.  

By Avery Lovell, USAC Verona, Summer Session II 2024

I learned — and grew — so much during my time abroad. Being able to have these experiences opened my eyes to a whole new world that I wouldn’t have had at home.

Academically, studying abroad was a perfect fit for me and my academic path at the University of Nevada, Reno. While in Verona, I took one class, Marketing Principles, which was taught by a visiting professor from Arkansas.

Because my class was so small, I was able to really get the one-on-one help that I needed as well as build a relationship with my professor. She made the classroom educational, but still fun as we got to talk about places we wanted to visit and the foods that we’ve gotten to try so far.

This was my first time taking a business course and my professor made the transition easy and gave me the tools I needed to succeed in the class. She also didn’t make the workload on the weekends very large because she knew that the experiences we got outside of school was very important. 

Being in class was just as important exploring the area. USAC sent us on two field trips in my time in Italy. The first trip was to Venice.

Venice is only a short hour train ride between the two cities, which makes for a perfect day trip. When we arrived, we were greeted by our walking tour guide who was a Venice native. She guided us through the city showing us all the well-known architecture as well as lesser-known spots.

After we concluded our walking tour, we were given time to go explore on our own. My friend group and I walked around the city, looking at the different restaurants and shops.

Being able to try the different cuisines was also one of my favorite parts. Because Venice has access to the ocean/lagoon their food is more seafood-based than Verona’s. While in Venice we all had to try it.  I got pizza ai frutti di mare, which is pizza with seafood. It might sound weird, but was very good!

Shopping in Venice was also a very new experience because there were many shops filled with Murano glass — the kind that is only made in Venice.

Even though that was all amazing, my favorite part about Venice was the gondola ride. It was a bucket list item I got to cross off that weekend!

The next week was the trip to Lake Garda. During my session, they took us Sirmione, which is considered a commune in the province in Brescia.

We woke up early that morning and hopped on a bus with the rest of the USAC students living in our residence. Even though the lake is only a 30-minute train ride, it was nice to be able to spend time with the other students.

When we arrived, we were once again met with a walking tour guide. She had never been to the U.S. and was as interested in what we had to say and was asking us questions about where we were each from.

As she showed us through the city, she was very knowledgeable and showed us all the historical churches and best beaches. The city was such an interesting place as the entrance to it is a castle with a drawbridge. I would not have known about it or made a trip to that town if it wasn’t for the USAC field trip. Because of the central location of the lake and Verona in general, my friends and I were able to go straight from there to our planned weekend trip. 

The weekend trips didn’t just teach me about each city, but they taught me valuable lessons about budgeting, booking excursions, contacting Airbnb hosts, and finding the best places to go in a city I’ve never been. On top of that, it made me work through having a language barrier.

The first weekend, my roommates and I booked a train to Florence, which is only an hour and a half away. We were able to tour churches, shop, and eat a lot of pasta and gelato. We met up with some other USAC students who were also there that weekend and went to watch the sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo one night.  

On the other we got to see the Duomo in the middle of the night … with no one there. It was breathtaking.

The second weekend was the weekend of the Venice field trip. After the first Friday in the city, we took short day trips for the rest of the weekend. Saturday, we went to Milan and got to see the Starbucks Roastery, the Duomo di Milano, and Piazza del Duomo. On Sunday, we had a beach day with all our friends at Lake Garda.

Both of these day trips were super easy and cheap because Verona is so central — which was ideal for all of our travel plans.

After our Lake Garda field trip to Sirmione, two friends and I hopped on trains heading to Cinque Terre to meet up with the rest of our group.

I had to opportunity to stay in two towns, Riomaggiore and Monterosso, and filled our days with beach activities. I got to cliff jump, swim, and we all did a boat tour around the coast.

On our last weekend in Italy, we decided on a big trip. Nine of us booked a large Airbnb in Mykonos, Greece. We hopped on a flight to Athens to spend one day there. That night we went to this rooftop restaurant and saw the Acropolis lit up in the night, which is something I’ll never forget. The next day we hopped on a ferry and spent the rest of our weekend on the beaches of Mykonos. 

Saying goodbye to my European summer, friends, and most importantly Verona was so hard. But I know the memories, friendships, and lessons will always be with me in my future and I wouldn’t trade my experiences abroad for the world. 

About the Author: Avery Lovell is on track and set to graduate in 2027 with a nursing major and business minor from the University of Nevada, Reno. She hopes to work as a nurse esthetician and work closely with the business administration side of a clinic or practice. She is passionate about traveling the world and exploring new cultures.  

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