Today’s guest blogger is Angela Trovato. Angela is spending her spring semester in Perugia Italy and shares how taking Italian 197A: Italian for Study Abroad helped her prepare.
By Angela Trovato, Perugia, Italy
I have had my heart set on studying abroad in Italy since I was about 10 years old. Both my grandma and grandpa were born there and I had always wanted to go after hearing such wonderful stories about it from them.
Although I was ecstatic when I realized one of my lifelong goals would soon be coming true, there was also a part of me that was nervous and unsure of what to expect! Luckily for me, I found the class Italian 197A being offered for students who were planning to study abroad in Italy and I signed up right away.
I absolutely feel that Italian 197A was extremely helpful in preparing me for my time abroad here in Italy. I learned vocabulary and phrases that I use here in my every day conversations. Having a general knowledge and understanding of the language felt like I was a step ahead of the game and made the language barrier a lot less challenging and scary.
In Italian 197A we also talked a lot about cultural norms and how they differ here in Italy from those norms of America, and let me tell you there are definitely some major differences. But, since we talked about them in class during our lessons I was fully aware of what to expect when it came to grocery shopping, clothes shopping, and other routine tasks. So I wasn’t shocked to learn that stores all close at some point in the afternoon and basically everything is closed here on Sundays.
One thing I’ve learned about Italy is how accessible trains are to any area of the country for a relatively cheap price. I have been fortunate enough to get to travel to Rome, Florence, Milan, Assisi, Sicily, and other smaller towns nearby Perugia. The landscape here is truly breath taking and it is something that I will never get used to seeing. I will miss that the most when I return back home to America. Also, the history of this country is undeniable and beyond what you could even imagine. The ancient monuments and museums of Renaissance art are the perfect representation of the quintessential Italy that I had always heard about growing up.
Nothing can truly prepare you for what life is going to be like when you live abroad in another country for four months, because it really is such an incredible, different experience, unlike any other I’ve had in my life. However, Italian 197A prepared me as best as possible and I came here confident and ready to take on any challenge with the knowledge and helpful lessons I learned from the class.