Submitted by Lauren Coar on the 2019 summer session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition…
The first day of my study abroad program to Italy consisted of a lot of travelling and trying to get as much sleep as possible, which was expected, but what I didn’t expect was the impact just a few hours in the town had on me. Our first stop, and our home for the week is in a small district in Tuscany called Volterra, which is located in a secluded area on top of a mountain. In the meetings and orientations that took place before the program, we were told that this was a very quiet place with not much besides markets and small shops, and I continued to expect this while looking out the window on the bus ride and seeing a lot of grassland with wide open fields. After driving about halfway up the very long and windy mountain (Italian driving is just what fellow Americans warned me of), we had finally made it to our destination called SIAF. SIAF is where we are staying for the duration of our time in Tuscany as it accommodates living spaces as well as classrooms for our courses. At this point, we were all restlessly lugging our suitcases to our rooms and resting a bit before meeting in the cafeteria for dinner at 7:00 pm. Originally, we were scheduled to have dinner at SIAF followed by an orientation, but plans ended up changing at the last minute which caused a bit of a delay and confusion, but hey, you have to be flexible and understand when things don’t go as planned when studying abroad. Due to this, we had to call the bus and take a trip into the city of Volterra which ended up not being the worst thing in the world. The views even from the window of the bus were nothing less than breathtaking as we travelled completely up the hill and our driver explained to us that it is prohibited to build any new buildings in this area in order to conserve the view. When we reached the top, we all hurried out of the bus, hungry and je-tlagged, but ran straight to the edge of the mountain to see the view in person. I have never been to Europe before and have seen pictures and have been told how beautiful it is, but something about seeing this in person was indescribable and enchanting. Something about being on the edge of this mountain looking out onto the vast land surrounded by beautiful buildings over the cliff-like border with a complementing sunset made this complete picture the very first moment of my program that made me completely present and wanting to soak it all in. It may not have been a main tourist attraction in Rome or even the heart of Tuscany, but it quickly became a special place to me because it made me grateful and also excited to see everything else this beautiful country has to offer.
