I went to Siena, Italy for an 8-week immersive program that combined intensive Italian with a homestay program, volunteer work/community service and unique cultural experiences. I studied the sociolinguistics and emigration of Italy while spending time teaching refugees Italian and experiencing all of the wonders of daily life in Siena.
During my time studying abroad, I was going through a lot personally. I was in a relationship that I didn’t want to be in, and I was dealing with a lot of mental health issues as well as financial stress from back home. My first few weeks in Italy were very rough on me, not because of the cultural differences, but because of my own social anxiety. I was very worried about making friends with both Americans and Italians and have always felt a little out of the loop when in a group of people. However, I spent this time breaking out of my shell, and took initiative rather than waiting for an invitation. If I felt left out of a group, I moved on. I talked to strangers in the Piazza del Campo and invited my roommate out with me. We created our own little friend group, comprised of me, the American, her the Polish girl, our two Egyptian friends and and another from Zimbabwe. So not only did traveling to Siena help me push the boundaries of my own social anxiety, it gave me friends from all over the world.
There was a specific event during my time abroad that really affected me. It was so unsuspected, but allowed me to realize that I really am loved and appreciated as a person. In Siena, there’s the annual Palio horse race between the 17 contradas (neighborhoods) of the city. My host mom’s contrada, Tartuca, was running this year. Each contrada member wears a fazzoletto, or handkerchief, during the four days of the Palio. The fazzoletto for Tartuca is blue and yellow with a turtle on it. Non-members can’t and don’t typically wear them, out of respect (however, tourists will still buy gift shop ones to wear around, which cheapens the centuries-old tradition and offends Sienese people). The night before the race, there was this big celebratory dinner in the Tartuca contrada. During the dinner, my host mom found me and my friends and gave me a real fazzoletto. She had tied it the specific way that Sienese people tie their fazzoletti, and told me to never let it untie. This moment was so powerful for me because it showed me how much she cared about me, despite only knowing me for about a month at the time. She considers me a part of her family. I’ve never felt more at home than I did in Siena, surrounded by people I love and people who love me.
I am a military kid. I grew up moving around my whole life, pretty much every three years. It takes me about two years to get comfortable in any given place, and then I can only really enjoy that place for one year. I have always had a hard time getting familiar with a place, knowing the good places to go, making friends, getting to know the culture. However, I was only in Siena for eight weeks, and it felt like home after just one. Studying abroad this past summer not only gave me a unique learning experience, but it also gave me confidence and self-appreciation as well as a future place to call home.