At age 24, Nightingale defied her parents' expectations to marry a suitable match, and left England to study at the Kaiserswerth Hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany.

24岁时，南丁格尔违抗了父母让她出嫁的决定，随后离开英国，到德国杜塞尔多夫市的西泽斯韦特医院学习。