Submitted by Mia Natale on the 2016 winter session program in Siena, Italy sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
Studying abroad in Italy has been a part of my dream since as long as I can remember. I am from a very proud Italian family with strong ties back to our home country, including communication with family who still lives there, watching program after program on the travel channel, continuing cultural traditions and celebrations, and immersing ourselves in its art and music. I always knew I wanted to learn Italian and individually connect with my background and with that said, it was a given that one day I would live in Italy and study the language and culture. With that said, I never knew how important the people I travel with would be to creating the magic of that experience.
It is impossible to fully grasp the fact that the day I have been waiting for since I was small enough to understand what living and learning abroad was, is here. Sitting tens of thousands of miles above the Atlantic Ocean, a shooting star zipped across the night sky and in that moment I found myself tearing up, the significance of this trip beginning to hit me. Even though it has now been a week since first touching down in Fiumicino Airport in Rome, I am still having these moments of clarity and wonder. I had no idea though, how incredibly significant it would be to witness my classmates also experiencing these moments, understanding how lucky we are to have this opportunity. I came on this program not knowing a single person with much certainty. Sure, I shared an Italian class with a few, but I had no clue who these people were or what we would experience together while living together for five weeks.
Within this week, we have learned so much about each other, while sitting at dinner, hanging out in a hotel room for hours after touring a city all day, and driving on our bus for hours at a time going from city to city. We have also shared what this program means to us. I have heard people talk about tearing up in the Sistine Chapel, the overwhelming realization of the gravity of the moment overtaking them. I have heard voices crack as we stand in front of the chains that bound St. Peter. I have shared silent powerful moments with others as we have watched the sun come streaming through the stained glass windows of the Chiesa di San Gennaro in Naples, each of us wordlessly looking at the goose bumps appearing simultaneously on our arms. Small moments seem to have the greatest impact on us as we are caught off guard and unprotected from fleeting understandings that each of us is on what is most likely his or her dream program, experiencing another country, culture, people and language. We have unsuspectingly become a part of each classmates’ time of their life that will most likely be told over and over again as a changing point in his or her young life.
Studying abroad is something advertised and portrayed as such an individual experience. What has struck me the most so far though is not what I have seen or tasted or purchased, but what I have shared with people who I have come to know and love. These people have unknowingly become a permanent chapter of my life, something I didn’t even consider when imagining my study abroad trip over the years, but a factor that has completely taken over as to what this program means to me.
