Published October 26, 2025
Postcards From NYU Florence: A Presidential Honors Scholar Abroad
Landscape photo of NYU Florence's campus.
The TL;DR
- Curious about pursuing research? Look no further to the College Of Arts and Sciences' Presidential Honors Scholars Program!
- Showcase initiative, leadership, and adaptability on a global scale.
- Starting in your first year of the program, you will have the unique opportunity to travel to NYU Florence.
A New View From Florence
A Postcard From The Beginning
The air in Florence feels different. Maybe it’s the smell of ice cold gelato in a cone drifting down the narrow cobblestone streets, or the way the sunset glows tangerine over the Arno River, turning everything into a golden hour for just a few minutes. I still remember my first evening there, locals pedaling home, church bells echoing in the distance, and feeling the world stretch wider than I’d ever known.
Standing there, surrounded by centuries of art and history, I couldn’t help but think about how my path had led me here, how a simple email from NYU opened the door to this view. Along with my acceptance letter, the College of Arts and Sciences had sent me an invitation to join what is known as the Presidential Honors Scholars Program. I didn’t know exactly what it meant for me or my career, but I knew it was something special. Drawn by its emphasis on intellectual curiosity, leadership, and global initiative, I decided to join during my first year. At the bottom of that same email, one line caught my eye: An opportunity to study away as early as our first year, with free airfare and accommodations through NYU Florence. It sounded too good to be true. Soon enough, I packed my bags for Italy.
Beyond The Classroom Walls
This isn’t your typical travel diary, rather a collection of postcards: short reflections on how this short trip taught me to think, learn, and live beyond walls. As a Presidential Honors Scholar, I’ve always been encouraged to think expansively, not just within academics, but personally. In Florence, that journey began, somewhere between history and curiosity, between lectures and laughter, between who I was and who I was becoming.
What Is The Presidential Honors Scholars Program?
When you apply to NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences, you’re automatically considered for an invitation to the Presidential Honors Scholars Program, a community that recognizes top students in CAS and supports them through mentorship, research, leadership, and global learning opportunities.
For instance, first-year Scholars can spend a week in Florence during January intersession, with airfare and housing fully covered. The program also hosts biweekly faculty-led seminars that spark exploration and connection.
Each year builds on the next, from developing research fundamentals and engaging with New York’s cultural landscape to studying abroad at NYU Global Sites and completing an independent senior project.
If you didn’t get into the program your first year, no worries! You can apply for the program during your spring semester of your first year to be considered for Sophomore year!
Postcard 1: Learning Without Walls
Where Dinner Becomes The Classroom
Before heading to NYU Florence, I was surprised when one of our classes met not in a classroom, but over dinner. Instead of slides and research notes, we met at an authentic Italian restaurant tucked away in Greenwich Village. The air smelled of truffle oil and fresh basil, and for once, the “lesson” was about taste, not theory. Between bites of pasta and the professor’s stories about Italian food culture, I realized that learning here wasn’t limited to books or technology. It lived in every flavor, every conversation, every shared laugh that blurred the line between student and traveler.
A Taste Of What’s To Come
Three months later, during January intersession, we went to the source. My days at NYU Florence began on Thursday morning, with sunlight spilling through the villa windows and across my notebook. After arriving on campus, I chose two sample classes from six options. I picked the ones that felt distinctly Florentine, Elementary Italian For Survival and Medieval Renaissance In The Dark Arts.
That morning, I took Elementary Italian For Survival, taught by a local professor whose energy filled the room. With every “Ciao” and “Grazie,” I felt myself stepping a little closer to Italian heritage and to the heart of Florence.
In the afternoon, I joined Medieval Renaissance In The Dark Arts, a course unlike anything on our New York campus. We explored witchcraft, philosophy, and the dark corners of the Italian Renaissance, a strange but weird combination of history and imagination straight from a Dan Brown novel.
That’s the beauty of the Presidential Honors Scholars Program, it values curiosity as much as knowledge. It pushes us to ask deeper questions, connect across disciplines, and see how the local becomes part of the global. In Florence, classroom walls didn’t exist. Every corner of the campus became a historical monument reminiscent of new and old, a dialogue between past and present.
Postcard 2: The Everyday Florence
Lessons From Streets, Stories, And Small Mistakes
Not every lesson came from a textbook however. Some of those came from getting lost on narrow streets that twisted into hidden courtyards, or laughing with friends while trying to order the right coffee at a local cafe.
One of my favorite memories was learning from our faculty. Among them was an NYU PhD student in Art History who led us through Florence’s Renaissance masterpieces. Standing before Botticelli’s Primavera in the Uffizi Gallery, she spoke about symbolism, politics, and art as storytelling. It was a rare chance to see how history breathes through paint and color. To stand face to face with the artwork that makes Florence ‘The Jewel of the Renaissance.”
Florence taught me humility and humor. I learned that blending into another culture means embracing the small, awkward moments too: the mispronounced words, the wrong train stop, or the sudden awe of the hidden courtyard.
The Presidential Honors Scholars Program often talks about perspective: That true understanding isn’t only found in books but in how we live, observe, and connect. In Florence, those “little discoveries” made me realize that learning doesn’t always look like studying, but rather it can look like slowing down, listening, and always being present.
Postcard 3: The Scholar Abroad
Finding Independence In Connection
Somewhere along the way, Florence changed me. It taught me independence, how to navigate a new city, plan a trip, and challenge uncertainty with confidence. It ultimately taught me the essence of patience, to walk slower, think deeper, and see culture not as something to consume, but understand.
As we spent our last nights in Florence, a few friends and I went on short day trips to Pisa, Siena, and Rome. Each city had its own vibe. Pisa was calm and simple, Siena felt timeless, and Rome was just pure chaos in the best way. Those trips made me realize that independent and collaborative learning often intersect no matter whether you’re lost at a train station, attempting to figure out where to go next, or sitting with your friends in a cafe just watching life go by.
As a Presidential Honors Scholar, I came to see that the program’s goal isn’t just to develop strong students, but also empathetic global citizens. Studying away at NYU Florence in J-term made me realize how connected learning really is, how economics is tied to culture, how curiosity leads to understanding, and how every experience adds a new layer to who we are.
Being abroad reminded me that being a Scholar isn’t just about grades or goals, it’s more about how you move through the world. For me, it means looking at things with open eyes, and trying, every day, to keep an open heart too.
The Final Postcard: Arrivederci For Now
A Farewell Written In Light
As my time in Florence came to an end, I returned one last evening to the Arno. The sun was setting, turning the Ponte Vecchio into a silhouette of gold and shadow. Notebook in hand, I thought about how this journey had unfolded like a series of postcards, each one a new memory, a new piece of myself.
Florence reminded me that learning isn’t a destination, it’s a lifelong journey. The Presidential Honors Scholars Program gave me the tools to see that path clearly: curiosity, connection, and courage.
So, arrivederci for now, Florence. Thank you for reminding me that discovery often begins the moment we step beyond what we know. And though the postcards may end here, the story continues, across continents, classrooms, and an endless horizon of curiosity.
Athens, Buenos Aires, Berlin, anyone?
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