Hello...

 

... my name is Ray, and one of the main reasons I chose to study abroad is because of my family’s heritage. My grandmother was born in southern Italy, and although all of her four children were born in the United States, they still acquired many Italian traits because of growing up with my grandmother. Everything from the food she cooked to the stories she told were just amazing, and it gave me the passion to want to study Italian. Luckily, I am from the Greater Boston Area where there are still numerous outstanding Italian programs, and I was fortunate to start learning the language the proper way starting in elementary school. My grandmother’s dialect can be pretty strong sometimes, and although I could understand what she was saying, it wasn’t “proper Italian”, and when I would try and say certain words that my grandmother would say, the teacher would tell me I was incorrect. This made things ever more interesting for myself, and as I progressed into High School, and College, my passion for the Italian culture just continues to grow, and finally I got the opportunity to study abroad in the beautiful city called Siena.

     When in Siena, I lived in a mini-residence, which is basically a really big apartment where all the other students on the program stay, and also numerous other students from all around the world. I lived with students from England, China, Poland, Australia, Spain, France, and met people from many other places. It was amazing to see the differences in our cultures from the food we eat to the clothes we wear on our back. It is an experience that I will never forget, and would do anything to do it all over again.
 
     Something that I wish someone had told me prior to going to Italy was to make sure that you go and visit a new place every weekend. Although I visited about 10 different cities all over the country, there were still plenty of places that I wanted to see, including some local, that I just didn’t have time to see at the end. Part of the reason is that you want to sometimes just enjoy your weekends relaxing because at the end of the day you still are a student that is studying Monday through Friday, but I wish I got myself up and out of Siena a couple more weekends to see some more things that would have been amazing. However, I know I will without a doubt return to Siena one day, and do all of the things that I didn’t get to do.

     One of the most beautiful things that I saw during my trip to Italy was the Amalfi coast. The roads to get there were incredibly narrow, but beautiful. Sitting on the beaches of the Amalfi coast was like living in a movie. It is something that will be in my memory forever, and I will also definitely be returning there again someday.