Presently I'm looking at Sevilla, Florence, and Aix-en-Provence. All the cities have their +s and -s I know.

Sevilla I've been able to find extensive information on city life, customs, prices, etc, but I'm having trouble finding anything more than the touristy info on Aix-en-Provence and Florence.

I know this is a travel forum and not a study abroad one but I figured I would come and ask anyway.

Last time I toured through Europe was way back in '94. Loved Italy (except Rome for some reason), loved southern France. Never did get to go to Spain.

My main study interests are literature/film/drama/history, with medieval and contemporary particular interests in literature, medieval and to a lesser extent Renaissance and 18th C in history.

In terms of weather, I prefer it warm to hot, with as minimal a humidity as I can manage (being in the Upper Midwest US, I know how horrendous humidity can have). I'll be studying abroad in spring semester 08(approx. Jan-Apr/May) if that helps any.

Oh, one more thing that I haven't mentioned anywhere else I've asked advice that I probably should have and maybe this forum would be more familiar with it. I'm hearing impaired, so I would need to have access to repair places/battery purchases obviously.

In terms of language skills, I have profiency in German and a smattering of Russian, but that's about it. That being said, I do pick up languages fairly easily.

I've been to other places as well (Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, a few Eastern European countries, Russia), so I'm not a total novice when it comes to travel.

Sorry for the long post and glad to be here!

Hi and welcome! I'm pretty new here, too. You've stumbled on a great site. I know nothing about Aix or Seville. But, I studied abroad twice in college, and once I was based in Florence for the summer of 2001. It is such a great city, and I have such fond memories of it. I studied the Italian language there, but I know it would be an excellent place to study medieval lit, as well as history. I just really liked the vibe of the city. It was large enough for plenty to do, but small enough that I would see the same people every day, and make friends with the shopkeepers, etc. The options for weekend travel abound in Florence. You could do Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Milan, or the villages of Tuscany, etc. on long weekends. As far as the weather goes, it was brutally hot that summer (a record, I think). If you're going in the spring, I wouldn't expect the heat to be an issue. Good luck!

Welcome to Slow Travel, Jestor!

Regarding Aix-en-Provence, Florence and Seville: As you have noticed, we have separate forums for France, Italy and Spain, respectively. Best approach is to place specific questions in each of the related forums. Regarding the matter of hearing impairment, replacement batteries, etc., we have an Everything about travel forum which could pick up this theme.

Back to Aix, my wife and I returned from Provence about a month ago and I would be pleased to answer questions on Aix, etc.

Another suggestion to consider is, that in due course, you may wish to write some travel notes for our board members about the experience of travelling with a hearing impairment; I am sure this will be of interest, for some right now, for others in the future. Just a thought.