Wish I could go back....

Ever since I heard that studying abroad was an option I had my heart set on Italy. It didn’t really matter where exactly in Italy, just as long as I was there. When I first met with my advisor we went over the different programs and I began looking at pictures of the town I had chosen. I had no idea at the time how much that city would come to mean to me. I studied in a small town called Perugia, which is located between Florence and Rome in the region of Umbria which borders Tuscany. Little did I know, this would turn out to be the perfect city to call home for a semester. We all quickly fell in love with this town because of its small size and large student population, both local and international. My friends and I quickly adapted to the Italian lifestyle and met for a cup of coffee every morning before class and would attempt to use our broken Italian as we built relationships with the locals. The first class every morning was our Italian class, then we would all meet for lunch on the steps of the center of town. After lunch we attended our other classes, which all had an aspect of community involvement. Luckily we only had class Monday through Thursday which left us a long weekend to explore. Some weekends we would stay in town and walk around and really get to know the city we were living in. Other weekends we would take the train and visit other cities. I got to visit Venice for Carnival; I saw Florence in spring and stopped in Bologna for a daytrip. In addition we got to see the Amalfi coast and swim and cliff dive in Capri. I visited the Vatican while we were exploring Rome and explored countless cities during my semester abroad. Living in Italy was an unforgettable and life changing experience which not only broadened my worldview but also deepened my love of cultures and languages.