An Amazing and Memorable Experience!

At the end of this experience I did not want to come home! That is how great it was!

I was not placed directly in Turin, but I ended up benefiting more from living in a smaller town because I was immersed in the culture more seeing that not many people were fluent in English. This allowed me to live, think, and speak like an Italian. In addition to this I was fortunate to have been placed with an extremely accommodating family. I was nervous I wouldn't get along with them, but they and their friends welcomed me with open arms and they provided me with meals when I ate with them, I had my own room and my own bathroom, my host parents drove and picked me up from places if I needed, and my host mother even did my laundry!

In addition to having an accommodating family, I was also fortunate enough to work with very sweet students. They were all very eager to learn English and very interested in learning about American culture. My host mother was my co-teacher so we planned to allocate a few days each week where I could plan and teach my own lessons with the students.

The way this program is set up allows you to meet with other volunteers during orientation and during this time we all exchanged contact information so throughout the period we were in Italy we were all able to meet in Turin and go out to dinner, aperitivo, a bar, a disco (club), or travel to other places in Italy or Europe together. This was refreshing because it allowed you to have a network of friends who were already fluent in English and that could relate to your experiences living in a new country.

I think the only issue I had during this program was the communication with WEP, Greenheart's partner in Italy. Greenheart and its staff are amazing, but I think WEP needs to be a bit better about communicating details to Greenheart so there are no last minute surprises. Other than this the overall program itself is a great experience and I definitely recommend it for those who are interested in teaching, immersing themselves in a new and beautiful culture, interested in learning Italian, and/or just wanting to try something different!