Health & Safety

"I got the opportunity to see the residence where [the students] will be staying and I was very impressed - not only because of the beautiful building, but because of the security that was involved. I felt so safe when I was walking around, so I knew I could leave my daughter there to walk around. We've taken other tours in Europe and they were never this intimate, never this detailed, never this well-organized. Everything was fabulous. I just can't say enough." - Maggie Blossfeld

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othing is more important to Select Study Abroad than the health and safety of our students. Safety is covered in detail both before students’ arrival and during the program. As students of Lorenzo de'Medici (LdM), all Select Study Abroad students receive LdM pre-departure guides, attend LdM academic and safety on-site orientations, and have access to 24-hour assistance on the LdM emergency phone line. In addition, Select Study Abroad provides students with our own pre-departure guides, on-site safety orientations, 24-hour assistance on the Select Study Abroad phone line, international student health insurance, as well as on-site directors who stay in the residence and personally lead every weekend trip and activity.

For a comprehensive list of the safety and health details of our program, please see below. If you have any further questions about how seriously we take safety, please do not hesitate to contact us.

• Select Study Abroad Directors are available around the clock to help students with any health or safety issues. (They are available to act as translator, provide moral support or simply play the role of temporary mom or dad whenever needed.)
• All directors are American, but studied and trained in Italy and speak Italian fluently.
• Students and directors live in a residence together, which we have found is incredibly beneficial to the student experience and above all – safety.
• The residence (a dorm/hotel hybrid) importantly features a reception desk and two separate doors that require a key access, in addition to the individual rooms keys.
• The residence is located in the Oltrarno neighborhood meaning "other side" of the Arno River from the main sites and in a generally quieter part of the city.
• The residence includes air conditioning (which is extremely rare and very important during the summer months) and ceiling fans. You can read more about the residence here.
• All students receive medical insurance from GeoBlue (the recognized leader in student health insurance) and have access to English-speaking doctors, as well as local medical clinics and the Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, Florence’s main hospital.
•All students have access to a 24-hour emergency assistance line through Lorenzo de’Medici (LdM).
• All students have access to 24-hour assistance on the Select Study Abroad phone line.