Italy Bound

I could not be more excited to announce that I will be spending my last spring break in Florence and Rome studying international public relations with the IU School of Journalism travel course. This course was offered when I was a freshman but I sat out on it then, assuming it would come back in future years. After sophomore and junior years passed without offering the course, I began to get nervous. But the School of Journalism brought it back for spring 2014 and I just cannot contain my excitement!

I traveled to London a couple of summers ago and it is crazy to think I'm going back to Europe. Another stamp on my passport. Eeep! Can you sense I'm just a little excited? And did I mention that we will be visiting a vineyard while we are there? I will be heaven. Between the wine, pasta, pizza and gelato I figure I will gain 20 pounds, but it will be totally worth it!

And as you can guess, I'm already planning my outfits and I'm sensing a shopping spree is in order. Another excuse to shop? Count me in!

Besides the amazing sites, shopping, and food, I am truly looking forward to learning more about tourism communications on an international scale. Public relations campaigns are increasingly becoming multinational and understanding how to reach your target public worldwide is imperative in the global communications industry. I can't wait to learn about how Italy creates global campaigns to draw more than 40 million tourists to the country a year. And with the amazing sites below, it is easy to see how they do it!

Il Duomo, Florence

Colosseum, Rome

Trevi Fountain, Rome

What would you pack on an Italian adventure? Any tips for learning Italian? Ciao!