allthingsitalian

Too often students from the United States participating in study abroad programs in Italy spend too much of their time with each other.  What a horrible waste!  They are unwittingly shortchanging themselves.  A semester or a year of living in another country can prove to be a memorable, enriching experience.  Why not make the most of it?

Education takes place not only in the classroom, but outside of it as well.  Learning about Italy, its people, its customs, its politics can occur even more effectively at times by becoming friends with Italians.   Students truly desiring to learn more about any one of those aspects of Italian life would do well to undertake their own, individual outreach programs to make friends with native Italians.

By joining families for dinner in their homes or attending their weddings or their christenings, it’s possible to learn firsthand what being Italian means.  And to the extent that students succeed in learning to express themselves well in Italian, they can come to appreciate the nuances of language which enhance their understanding of how and why Italians live as they do.

Across the Italian peninsula, native Italians tend to be open and welcoming to study abroad students.  Taking that critical first step to know them better might prove to be easier than many students realize.

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