Benvenuti a Lecce

Cave of the Poets in Old Roca

Porta Napoli with a group of students

My STEP signature project took place in Lecce, a city in the Salento region of Italy. I immersed myself in Italian culture and learned Italian and became conversationally proficient over the eight weeks that I was there. While abroad I engaged in weekly excursions throughout the region and learned about the history of the cities I visited.

While abroad I believe my understanding of the world expanded. I became more self-reliant and extroverted and I developed an insatiable desire to see more and more of Italy. I began thinking of the world differently as I learned more and more of the Italian language. Their romanticism and lifestyle rubbed off on me. I also reflected on America and what things I liked better and worse about each country. I lost my assumptions that everything was perfect in Italy but remained firmly in love with my new home.

I was able to meet people from all over the country of Italy, as well as from the other side of the US and even China during my time abroad. I learned so much about them and feel lucky to have had the chance to make friends with people that I otherwise never would have met. I had many conversations with local people as I traveled who told me about their personal hardships, which ranged from rampant unemployment to taxation to racism directed towards southern Italians. I had little experience with what life looked like outside of the United States, let alone how individuals felt about their leaders, economy, or fellow citizens.

I also learned to accept a much more leisurely way of life. The people there close nearly all of their businesses from 1 pm to 4 pm to avoid the heat and enjoy their lunch time. I grew accustom to this lifestyle as I lived in Lecce and did my best to act as the Leccese did. I believe this has allowed me to reflect on my American lifestyle with a new perspective. I gained an appreciation for the range of employment opportunities available in my home, and I grew to understand where I could find work should I ever be fortunate enough to return to Italy.

Learning Italian allowed me to fundamentally change how I perceived the environment around me. Italians are infatuated with beauty, it’s one of if not the most common adjective used. Life is beautiful there, and I believe that rubbed off on me. I came to realize that one does not need to go half way around the world to find beauty around them, they only need to look closer. The historical excursions also made evident how much Italy had changed. In each city ancient roman architecture clashed with renaissance buildings and contemporary restorations. I was in awe of how much history existed there and how people continued to work and live for the future.

I believe that my time in Italy will help to make me a better engineer in the future. The interpersonal and self-sufficiency skills I developed are essential to being able to communicate and collaborate with other engineers. I think that new perspectives like the ones I acquired in Lecce are incredibly important in STEM fields and will help to guide the technology or systems that I hope to have a part in creating better serve more people around the world. Personally, I have always been interested in travelling to Italy and learning Italian, so this program allowed me to fulfill those goals. I also learned about the huge demand for English teachers in Italy which opens up the possibility of teaching in my professional career.