LPD Student of the Week: Kiera Eriksen-McAuliffe

Name: Kiera Eriksen-McAuliffe

Age: 19

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Year: Sophomore

Major/School: History/Politics, CAS

Local Recommendation:

The best panini place I’ve eaten at in Florence so far is Panini Toscani, which is right behind the Duomo. They let you sample each item before it goes in your sandwich, which is pretty unique, and you get to create your own sandwich. It's kind of like a fancy, Italian version of Subway.

Cultural Moment:

On my first day in Florence, I went to the grocery store and got very confused by the names of the foods. I was particularly overwhelmed in the tomato sauce aisle, where there appeared to be 50 different varieties of tomato sauce, each labelled with an Italian word that I didn’t understand. I grabbed one that I thought looked good, and subsequently discovered that the word “tonno” means tuna, not tomato. I am still trying to figure out who likes to eat tomato sauce with tuna in it.

LPD Reflection:

On the first day of classes, I attended the LPD talk on Italian Politics because I wanted to gain a background on the local political landscape. From this talk, I learned not only about the strange political state in Italy, but also about the current political trends in Europe as a whole. With all the chaos of American politics, I realized that I had been ignoring the rest of the world, which, quite honesty, is currently just as chaotic. Ultimately, I'm glad I got to learn about a different political perspective and thus become more aware of what is happening in the country I’m living in for the semester!