Spotlight on Marist Alumni – Teagan O’Connor:

Teagan O’Connor ‘17

Marist Italy is lucky to have such an accomplished group of alumni, and Teagan O’Connor is one of these students. She studied at Marist Italy from 2017 to 2020, earning a degree in Fine Arts. From there, she got a degree through Polimoda studying Trend Forecasting, which allowed her to remain in Florence and continue her development in Italy. 

After receiving her degree, Teagan moved to Prato to work as a textile sales agent, and plans to continue living in Italy, hopefully moving to Florence which would allow her to walk to work. 

We asked Teagan about some of her favorite moments while studying at Marist Italy, and this is what she told us:

Teagan O’Connor was initially drawn to the Bachelor’s Program at Marist Italy because she wanted to study in a city that would also give her the opportunity to live in an exciting environment. The Marist BA program allowed Teagan to get out of her comfort zone, and study somewhere completely foreign.

Her best Marist Italy experience was living in the Marist housing in Via San Gallo with all the other students in the program and her favorite place in Florence still is the Giardino dell’Orticoltura, where she would hang out with her friends. 

Studying in Florence was not without its challenges though! For Teagan, the biggest struggle she had to overcome was missing her family and friends, and she was very homesick during her first semester. 

Teagan recounts that patience and perseverance were the two most important things she learned from her time in Florence. From learning the language to figuring out the bus schedule and navigating immigration, living in Florence taught her a lot about being patient and persevering through all the struggles of living in a foreign country.