PackAbroad Ambassador Lydia Wonderly

Hi! My name is Lydia Wonderly and I am a senior studying Political Science with minors in Theatre, Statistics, and Italian. Summer of 2019 I studied abroad in Florence, Italy! I would have loved to study abroad again for a whole semester, but my many minors didn’t allow me to take the credits I needed. I took a history course, Italian 201, and a cooking course! Because I didn’t know anyone before going, I was afraid that I wouldn’t meet anyone or make any new friends. That did not happen! Within a week, we were all really good friends! Though there were around 40 of us, I still spent some time alone going to museums and trying different coffee spots alone. It was surprisingly really nice because I was able to enjoy the parts of museums that interested me and speed through the parts that didn’t. I really didn’t experience any culture shock! It was really nice being able to connect with the others in my group because my phone didn’t work away from wifi. The long dinners and bustling streets felt comforting, even though they were new to me. I think I had more culture shock coming back to the US because I had gotten so used to the Italian way so quickly. The biggest struggle for me was being homesick and having a 6 hour time difference between me and my family, but that got better as time went on. Getting to Italy, I traveled alone, so I had to figure out the train system for the first time, but that was really rewarding! It was so awesome seeing myself overcome these challenges and taught me that I am capable of anything! I truly feel like studying abroad made me grow as a person and made me more confident in my abilities.

The classes in Italy were very different than in the US. Each class was 3 hours long and we had a 15 minute break a few times during it. Taking history for that long was a bit of a struggle, but it really helped in my Italian language class! I think I was able to learn more and get comfortable with the language because it was a longer class. I was way more comfortable speaking in Italian and even thinking in Italian by the end of the 4 weeks! My cooking class was amazing! I am so happy that I took the extra class because it was fun; I got to learn about authentic Tuscan cuisine and I got some new recipes! (I love cooking). There wasn’t very much homework in my history class, but there was a workbook that I did quite a bit of homework in for Italian. Neither class had many grades though. Italian had a few quizzes and 1 final exam, while history had a paper and 1 final. As a group we traveled all over Italy! I got to see so many sights like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice, ancient cities like Siena and San Gimignano, and so many others! For my free weekend, I went to Cinque Terre. I cannot express how absolutely beautiful it was! Each town had its own feel and Riomaggiore was my favorite. Thetrain that went between them was a mix of locals and tourists, so seeing that interaction was equally beautiful! I got to go cliff jumping with locals that also invited me, and the others I was with, to a concert in Riomaggiore. From exploring Florence, to going to new cities, to climbing Mt. Vesuvius, to meeting new people, studying abroad in Italy was such a great experience and I am so thankful that I got to go!