First Week in Grado

Ciao! Hello from the other side of the globe!

My first week in Grado was filled with many emotions. Leading up to the trip and on my flight over, I was extremely excited for the next two months. Once we actually arrived in Grado, I was told that my host family was picking me up from the airport and I began to get really nervous. I have never spoken Italian before, so being alone (until my house mate Quincy arrived hours later) with a family that basically only spoke Italian was terrifying. I didn't know what to say or how to act because I was in an entirely different culture than my own. When we arrived to the house I met my host mother Patrizia and she attempted to break our language barrier with very broken English and tried to get me settled. She made me lunch (spaghetti pomodoro of course), then I showered and napped until it was time to pick Quincy up from the airport. As I was alone with this family, I began to question whether I could handle being in a country where I didn't understand anything for two months. I began to get homesick (which is something that never happens to me) and regret my decision. But once Quincy arrived, it was comforting knowing that there was someone else to struggle with me. We went to bed that night and woke up the next morning to go to class. The first day of class was difficult because I was jumping into an entirely new language, but it was manageable. Thankfully in the program, I knew almost all of the people and they knew just as little Italian as I did, so again, we were all struggling together. I became more confident with my decision to come on this trip. There is also a May term in Grado for the next three weeks and they know even less Italian than we do because they aren't studying it. In just a day of walking around Grado with my classmates, I became close with them. The first day nerves of being in a new country are completely gone now as I become more and more comfortable with the people here and the town itself. I know my way around now and can get by with the limited Italian I know. I have gotten to try new foods and the traditional Italian favorites and get better each time I order from a restaurant. Learning the language is much easier than I would have expected because outside of the classroom, I am immersed in the language as there are very few English speaking people here and my host family teaches me new stuff every day. Although I find myself and my classmates to be the subjects of many jokes with the locals because of our cluelessness, I am so happy that I decided to come on the this trip and I'm so excited for the next two months!

Arrivederci from the girl just trying to make it on this small Italian island,

McKenzie