Northern Italy, 2015

I studied abroad in 2015 in a town called Siena. The experience was pretty unique because I lived with a local family and only spoke Italian at home and in class. It was exhausting, but so much fun and my Italian became (pretty) proficient.

Every morning I took the bus to Piazza del Mercato and then walked across the Piazza del Campo and down a huge hill to school. At the top of the hill was a wine shop where you could bring an empty 2L water bottle to fill with wine for just a few euros.

I soon found my favorite pizza in the world: pizza del bufalo. My favorite class was a food class where we went on field trips to learn how to make pasta, saw fresh olive oil being pressed, and made fresh gelato at a real italian gelateria! I got to scoop the gelato right out of the machine and lick the spoon afterwards!

One of the highlights of my trip was when my whole class flew to Sardinia. We toured ancient ruins and swam in the beautiful turquoise waters.

While I was learning the language I wanted to spend as much time in Italy as I could. So, while other students flew to different cities around Europe every weekend, I spent my Saturdays hanging out with friends around town and enjoying apperativos in the piazza.

In the middle of the semester we had a ten day break where we were free to go where ever we wanted. Some of my friends were flying to Barcelona so I went with them for a few days, but what I really needed was some alone time.

So, I flew back to Italy (Turino) and took a train up to the alps near the French border to a town called Aosta. I got an Airbnb on the side of a mountain with an incredible view and a super friendly host who helped me find cool things to explore and gave me a ride to and from town a couple of times. This was my very first solo travel experience.

Towards the end of the trip my mom and step dad came out to visit. They were a much needed taste of home and it was so fun to get to introduce them to my host family and spend the night translating between them about what my life had been like past few months.

A couple of my close friends who were studying abroad at the same time in Denmark came to visit right at the end of the semester. I toured them around Siena and showed them all of my favorite things, like the Duomo di Siena.

This trip changed me in a fundamental way. It boosted my confidence, showed me what I really value, and pushed the edge of my comfort zone.

Grazie, Italia. Ti voglio bene.