1. Forming new friendships.
Even though I wasn’t close friends with anyone on the trip initially, I soon formed friendships with everyone. We spent all of our time together and grew closer. We would have small get-togethers at our apartments and cook together. We even made friends from around the world, like the group we met from Australia, which was especially nice because they spoke English. We got to learn about their experiences in Italy and shared our experiences with them too. They even shared with us some cultural differences from Australia. For example, they taught us Australian slang like “Macca’s” is a term for McDonald’s, and “bevvie” means a beverage. On our weekend excursion to Rome and Florence, we met people from America who were also studying abroad in Italy. These new friendships — that wouldn’t have happened otherwise — will continue through my time at Nazareth and beyond.
2. Building confidence and independence.
When I decided to join the study abroad group in Pescara, Italy, I was afraid to go to another country without knowing anyone. After the first meeting at Casa Italiana, I saw a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces that gave me a wave of relief. I had never traveled without my family before. This trip taught me to be more independent. When I arrived, I realized my phone plan didn’t work. I needed to get a SIM card at the local phone store. It was incredibly nerve-racking, because I didn’t speak Italian, but it showed me to be more confident. I also had to learn how to navigate a foreign country. As a group, we learned how to use public transportation, which included using the bus system daily to get to the University. I even learned how to use the train system. With time, these things became second nature.
3. Learning a new way of life.
During my time in Italy, I experienced a lot of cultural differences. Sometimes the changes could be frustrating and weren’t typically what I was used to. Although these changes were also eye-opening, they allowed me to experience a different way of living. An example of this was how intensely hot it gets in Italy during the summer. The heat affected a lot of things. When doing laundry, they do not have drying machines. They just hang their laundry outside on the terrace. They also don’t use air conditioning as much. Instead, they enjoy leaving the house and going to the beach. Lastly, I noticed many people native to Italy would dress in long sleeves and pants despite how hot it was outside. It was weird for me because, in Rochester, we start wearing shorts after it gets higher than 50 degrees. Soon I adapted to this new lifestyle. After class every day, my friends and I would head to the beach. Some days we would just walk around, explore, and go shopping. Another change for me was the amount of walking we did. Our main source of transportation was walking, but this wasn’t always the case since we had access to the bus system.
4. Being immersed in a new language.
I was so excited for this opportunity to pick up a little of the Italian language. I knew it would be a challenge navigating Pescara not knowing the language. Before going on the trip, I practiced some phrases on the Duolingo app, including how to order breakfast foods. This skill came in handy when I ordered my daily “Cornetto e caffè,” which means a croissant and a coffee. Every day in Italy, my language skills grew. I was amazed at my ability to catch on so quickly. I was encouraged to learn Italian because there weren’t many English speakers in Pescara. I fully expected that to be the case. The challenge of communicating was sometimes exciting. It is amazing how much you can communicate with someone even when you don’t share the same native language.
5. Eating authentic Italian food.
I feel lucky to have tried all the foods that I did. Even being vegetarian, I always found something to eat. Most restaurants were accommodating, and I even got to try carbonara. My go-to meal was usually pasta al pomodoro. Compared to the U.S., the quality of food in Italy is much higher. In Italy, the food is fresh, and they tend not to add many preservatives. It was amazing to eat fresh cornettos every morning before heading to class. I also noticed that things were significantly cheaper in Italy. The cost for a coffee was around 2 euros, while in the U.S., I would have paid close to $7 for a coffee. One of my favorite memories was trying pizza at a restaurant in Naples.