... 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.
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.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento