For the next semester, I will be studying abroad in Perugia, Italy–the town that was shaken by the murder of Meredith Kercher and the Amanda Knox trial. In fact, I will be attending the exact same school that Amanda Knox attended: L’Universita’ per Stranieri (literally, “The University for Foreigners”). It is strange to go from State College, Pennsylvania, which was recently shaken by the Sandusky scandal, to another town that is now recovering from the aftershock of the Kercher-Knox ordeal.

I have been told that I probably won’t be hearing too much about it while I’m there. This relieves me, because Perugia seems like an incredible town that is so much more than the media hoopla. Just like State College is.

Really, Perugia does kind of seem like State College in Italy. It’s a small university town, nestled in the region of Umbria (which is right next to Tuscany) that has about 40,000 students living in it. It’s a pedestrian town with cobblestone streets and a whole lot of history. Additionally, it’s very hilly; an alumnus of my program said that he walked uphill both ways to and from his classes. Well, at least I’ll be burning off all of the calories from all of the delicious Italian food I’ll be eating. That is, if I decide not to take advantage of the escalators that are built into some of the steeper roads.

I read in the Collegian the other day that at Penn State, Italy is the most popular country to study abroad. 530 students studied there last year. I don’t tend to pick the most popular thing to do, but ah, La Dolce Lingua Italiana, mi fa una serenata!

For the past several years, I have swooned over the beauty of the Italian language, so much so that I decided to begin teaching it to myself through a computer program in high school (and no, it was not Rosetta Stone, which is not nearly the best program, by the way; it was called “Tell Me More,” and I highly recommend it). I poured over vocabulary lists, conjugated verbs in the margins of my Spanish homework, and memorized grammar rules. It was only natural for me to choose it as my minor.

So I travel to Italy not to jump on the bandwagon–I really, really want to get fluent in Italian. I am participating in a “full-immersion” program; the only subject I will be studying is Italian. Additionally, since so many students come to study the language from all over the world, not only will I get to interact with Italians, but them as well. The program even rooms you with students who do not speak your native language (with the prevalence of English these days, I’m wondering how hard or easy it will be to pair me with a non-English speaker), so that way, you are forced to use Italian as your lingua franca. Is that not the coolest thing ever?

I am really getting pumped. So pumped. I’m going to be jumping out of my skin by the time January 5th rolls around!

So, a little bit about me. I’m a junior in the Schreyer Honors College here at Penn State. I’m originally from York, PA, which is about 2 hours south of State College. I am majoring in Film-Video with a dual major in International Studies, and, as I mentioned, minoring in Italian. I participate in a student-run news show and game show through the PSN-TV club, and I am also a proud member of Springfield THON. I have sung for a large part of my life and I sing with the University Choir here on campus. I have a huge passion for travel and have visited over 20 countries, including Eastern and Western Europe, China, Israel, Costa Rica, Canada, Mexico, and all over the US. I enjoy long talks on the beach, that moment when you eat really good food and drop your fork, and wasting ridiculous amounts of time traversing the Internet.