Third time's the charm

I know I didn’t post last week due to the fact that my computer suddenly would not work. But, here is yet another post about my experience in Italy and what finally happened with my luggage. I have a special love for Italy since it was the first country I visited in Europe. Ever. My first time in Italy was when I had just turned 15 years old. I wanted a different experience for my birthday. Dr. Ben Taggie, a history professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst had created a program that gave the opportunity to college students from University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Assumption College to go to Italy and live with a host family. Most the students were either Art History majors or Italian/International Affairs. However, because the professor had a granddaughter and a grandson in high school me and my cousin, Alexander, were allowed to go on the trip as well. We were the only four high school students and we were around 22 students in total if I can remember correctly.

The entire group of students in Nocciano. 

I remember I was so scared. First of all, I didn’t know any Italian whatsoever. Although Spanish is my first language (and that certainly helps), it was definitely intimidating to think that I would be living with an Italian family. Even though at first everything was a big change for me (especially because I was traveling on my own for the first time as well), I believe this was the experience that triggered my passion for traveling, languages and cultures.  I lived in Pescara, Italy in a little village called Nocciano. I studied Italian every day for two hours and then had the entire day to explore around the town, get to know the other students in the program and get to know my host family as well. Rocco and Sylvana were the sweetest couple ever. They were also the best cooks in town which is why Italy was also a great culinary experience for me. At this time in my life I was very picky with food. I obviously was not picky at all once I left their house. Rejecting food was seen as disrespectful so unless I was allergic I had to eat everything, and repeat. As I said, thanks to this experience I continued developing a stronger passion for discovering other parts of the world. It gave me a whole different perspective. And I learned Italian on the side which is also useful.

         

Me and my host family (Rocco and Sylvana) in Nocciano, Italy when I was 15 years old. 

My second time in Italy was actually last summer. I went to live in France with a French host family for about two months and visited Rome, Florence and Sorrento after my stay in France with my mother and sister. It was definitely a different experience to be there as a tourist after so long but it was nice to be back in Italy. This trip would be my third time in Italy and I would be visiting two cities I had not visited before: Milan and Venice. I was so excited to get to know more about the northern area in Italy. The third city would be Rome. I had already visited but it’s always nice to come back and see how it is after so long. After my arrival in Hanover, we only had a couple hours to get ready and leave again for the airport. We would be leaving for Milan in about 4 hours so I had to shower and take what little I had with me to Italy. I will be talking about my experience in each city detail by detail so you can have an idea of what to do if you ever visit. I also think it’s easier to share pictures and places to go this way. I look forward to sharing my experience in these three cities with you! Meanwhile, I made a short video of some footage I was able to get from my trip to Italy and I also wanted to share it. Enjoy!