My passion for...

... all things Italian grew out of my mom’s gift for making homemade pasta and the many stories she shared with me from her college semester spent studying and living in a beautiful villa in the hills above Florence. It wasn’t until I entered Lucia’s Umass Italian classroom, however, that my own Italian adventure began to take shape. The language felt natural to me and I actually loved learning each new verb tense and developing my vocabulary to the point that I could envision myself conversing with the natives as we passed on centuries-old cobblestone streets. 

As a student-athlete at the time, summer was my best option, so I enrolled in a home-stay program with a wonderful family in Siena during the summer following sophomore year. Although I expected to spend carefree evenings dancing the night away with the young locals, my experience proved to be vastly different as ultimately, I followed up summer school by working for an Italian organic skin care product developer as their resource for English language marketing collateral and American market distribution contact. The position was both challenging and rewarding but it was the Italians that invited me into their everyday world that touched my life in a life changing way and created friendships I will treasure forever. 

My hosts and company founders, Sergio and Eva surrounded themselves with colorful people from every walk of life. From the auto-mechanic to the parliament member, from the local restaurateur to the olive harvester…their world did not delineate economic status, political or religious persuasion. Passion for good friends, food made from the seasonal produce grown organically in their own gardens and on local farms and of course, great Tuscan wines was the common denominator that stretched a simple evening into the wee hours of the morning with lively conversation and unforgettable memories. Needless to say, with the language proficiency I learned in my Umass Italian courses and the copious amounts of chianti that loosened my tongue, I managed to talk to everyone about everything and even make them all laugh at a joke or two in the process! It was a summer that is etched in my heart, it offered me the chance to get out of my comfort zone and gain the maturity that only comes from stretching yourself and I gained many new friends, including Lucia, in the process!! Grazie mille, Professora!