I travelled to Italy this past summer with my family, and this is an image of one of the five villages in Cinque Terre, Italy. We decided to visit Italy because my grandma was adopted from Italy when she was 7 years old and had not been back since then. We saw Rome, Cinque Terre, and Torino, the city she was born in. The village in the picture is just one of the many breathtaking places we saw on our trip. We got to explore the historic sites in Rome like the Vatican and the Colosseum and experience the culture and daily life of a small costal town in Cinque Terre. We also visited Torino to see the orphanage my grandma lived in before she was adopted. It was amazing to share the experience with her and the rest of my family. I learned so much about the history and culture of Italy, and this new knowledge makes me appreciate where my family is from even more. Both sides of my family have Italian heritage, so I grew up with many Italian traditions. It was so special to me to be immersed in the same traditions that I have been a part of growing up. One of these many traditions was Italian style cooking, and the food was one of my favorite parts of the trip! Not only was I surrounded by the culture and traditions of Italy, but I was also surrounded by the language. I began to pick up more and more Italian words throughout the trip which helped me to understand the Italian culture even more. This family vacation was so much fun and sparked my interest in world travel. I now plan to incorporate study abroad opportunities into my education here at OSU!