It would be easy to travel to a new place and observe the style of its citizens, but it takes being fully immersed in a new place for several months in

order to see your own style change and be influenced by your surroundings. This is exactly what happened after half a year living in Europe. As a college student, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study abroad, and I'm about to share with you a few key European style lessons that my semester living in Italy taught me.

After traveling the length of Italy—from Milan to Sicily peppered, with a few jaunts to France, Germany, and Switzerland—I observed exactly what makes European style so good. I took note of the way my Italian friends always carried their belongings around in a classic leather handbag and invested in similar staple pieces. After living abroad, I took the following six style lessons to heart—and promised to never make my old fashion mistakes again.