Clemson University
JOHN RUZZI
Language and
International Business
Study Abroad
In the fall semester of 2022 during my final year at Clemson, I got the chance to study abroad in Viterbo, Italy. An experience that transformed me, I travelled, learned, explored, and flourished for four months. Detailed below is an account of my journey.
I sat on the train with all of my belongings stuffed into the suitcase sitting next to me. For 2 hours, time passed without the blink of an eye. I didn’t check my phone or read a book. I didn’t write in my journal or try to use my Italian with the stranger sitting across from me. In fact, all of these things were things I had been doing for the past four months. As a new and exciting destination almost always awaited me, I would try my best to make the time pass. However, this time was different. This time, I didn’t want the time to pass. I wanted to soak in every second so I sat there in silence. Deep in thought, I sat for two hours and reflected on what had just been a four month journey that had passed within the flash of an eye. Every emotion overcame me.
It's special living in the moment, but we often don’t realize just how special it is until it's gone. That’s the bittersweet truth of life, and unfortunately, the bittersweet truth of study abroad. I had just spent four months perfecting a language, skiing the alps, exploring remote towns, visiting new countries, meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and so much more. However, within two hours, I would get on a plane and leave it all behind. Rewind four months, and I was on that same train alone heading the opposite direction towards a town that I had never seen with no one I knew within a thousand mile radius. Suffice to say, I had no idea what to think of what was to come, and looking back, I had no idea the impact it would have on me. In the end, I ended up getting on that plane, and leaving it all behind. However, it wasn’t the same me that boarded that plane.
Trying to figure out what had exactly changed within me, and ultimately, what caused that change, presents a near-impossible question. Perhaps, it was the nightly dinners with my homestay parents. Matteo and Fabbiana, my host parents, became my family for four months, and each night, we sat around the table together like we had known each other for years. As Matteo would fire up the stovetop and pull out the pasta, Fabbiana and I would sit at the table speaking only Italian as we rehashed the day or discussed the news around Europe. To think that they invited me into their house, a foreign student that they had never met, to live with them for four months truly shows that kindness and generosity can stretch across cultures and break barriers. I quickly learned that the evening dinner to an Italian means so much more than the satisfying taste of pasta. It’s a chance to disconnect from devices, reconnect with each other, and engage in genuine conversation. Ultimately, it was those moments that made me feel as if I had never left home.
However, maybe the answer to my question resides in the small city that I called my hometown for four months. Viterbo sits only two hours outside Rome, and isn’t exactly defined as a tourist destination. However, it was exactly what I had wanted since I first began to even consider studying abroad. I didn’t want a well-known town packed with foreign tourists and english-speaking storeowners. When I walked into the local coffee shop, I didn’t want to be greeted in English. Instead, I wanted an experience in a town that was real, authentic and inviting, and that’s exactly what I got. The local coffee shop sitting on the corner just a street down from my apartment became my home away from home. Every morning, I ventured down the street and opened the cracking glass door to be greeted by a welcoming face and a thundering “buongiorno!!” Even though I had set a goal of visiting a new caffè each week, Fausto, the store owner, quickly became my first conversation nearly every morning. Fittingly, he ended up hosting not only me for my last dinner in Italy, but the last dinner for a few of the other students that became his regulars. Although we insisted that he didn’t have to do such a thing, he stood firm in shutting down his shop for the evening to host us. I started going to Faustos to grab an espresso before classes, but in those final months, my motivations had changed. By the end of the dinner, Fausto and his wife were in tears as we said our last goodbyes and parted ways. Whether it be a dinner or an espresso, sharing a table with someone should mean something more. It is a chance to listen, learn and reflect.
However, maybe the answer to my question doesn’t lie in the local town of Viterbo. Instead, maybe the answer sits in the south of Italy where I spent a weekend visiting my relatives. After waiting on the train for nearly seven hours, I arrived in Calabria without any expectations. I knew I would be meeting up with my relatives who I connected with via Facebook, but aside from that, I had no idea of what to expect. Three days later, I was left speechless. They hosted me for three straight days, from breakfast to dinner, and introduced me to friends and cousins. I toured the local town and visited my grandmother's old house. With a shared language and a distant past, I found a new family who welcomed me with open arms. However, those same sentiments that I felt weren’t just felt by me but also by my cousins who confessed how much it meant to them to have an italian-speaking relative to share our history and past.
Or perhaps, the culmination of everything during my four month journey, down to every minute detail, is what changed me. Studying abroad is so much more than a chance to take classes in another country. It’s an opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture, and completely transform the lens in which you view the world. From the weekend trips around Europe with limited funds in my bank account to the weekly game-nights with the italian students, I wouldn’t trade my time abroad for the world. Ultimately, I couldn't have been farther from my home and my family, but I never felt closer to home and family than I did during those four months.
