STUDY ABROAD

ITALY: A COUNTRY BUILT ON CULTURE, HISTORY & BEAUTY

By Katie Honan

I started to feel anxious when I seriously began thinking about studying abroad at the beginning of my junior year. It had been awhile since I’d gone somewhere new, and sometimes I would hear those planes over my house and yearn for an adventure.

I wanted an experience unlike one I’d ever had, where I could test myself and finally see the places I had always dreamed of. Sick of feeling anxious, I visited the study abroad office to see what they offered. I had the opportunity to go almost anywhere—France, England, Vietnam—but I was drawn to the summer program in Rome. Rome, I thought. I could hang out with Gregory Peck by the Spanish Steps! Movies may have affected my decision to pick Italy, but it was for good reason. As soon as I signed up, I knew it would be one of the greatest experiences of my life.

For 30 days, the other 46 students and I lived just as the Romans do. The Rome campus of St. John’s University is minutes from the Vatican and a bus or a train ride away from the city center. That’s one of the things I liked best about the program—there was a sense of permanence and a real connection to Rome. We stayed in actual apartments where we would cook and fight for the bathroom. Three nights a week we all ate dinner together at Valentino’s, a restaurant down the street, like one really big, really happy family. Our professors, Annalisa Sacca and Paul Fabozzi, were the original creators of the trip, 10 years before. They both had a genuine love for study abroad, for Rome and for all of the places we visited on our weekend trips. They were there not only to teach us in class, but also to help us and guide us through everything we might encounter.

The class I took was called City of Rome; it comes up as ART on my transcript, but it was so much more than that. We spent our class time traveling the city with our expert tour guide/professor who taught us the art and history as we walked through it. I loved being able to experience culture and history firsthand.

Looking back, I still don’t feel as though I have a full grasp of the impact this trip had on me. I miss every aspect of it, but more so the people than the places or the things. I’d like to go back to Italy someday, but I’m painfully aware that it’ll never feel the same as it did back then. The people in the June ’06 group made the trip what it was and helped me to, at least for a month, live the dream.

I went to Italy looking for experiences, for a chance to get away and for stories to tell. I came home with so much more than that. I landed back in Kennedy Airport a different person, one with a stronger sense of who I am and what I’m capable of. I consider myself extremely lucky to have studied abroad with these particular people and at this particular time in my life. St. John’s gave me the chance to take a chance, and I’ll be thankful for this experience for the rest of my life.