Pre-Departure

Looking ahead towards travelling to Italy, I'm ecstatic! I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel to Sorrento (in less than a month now!). The UF in Sorrento program has been a dream of mine since arriving at UF. Finally being able to travel with Professor Rodriguez in July feels surreal. This trip won't be my first time abroad which is helping my anxiety because I'm going into this program with some international experience.

One of my main goals going into this program is that I leave Italy with more confidence in engaging with new situations. Unfamiliar experiences can sometimes be scary, but I also think they are one of the best ways to grow and learn. I am very excited for the person I will be at the end of the summer after having tried new things, met incredible people and learned so much about Italy and myself along the way. The confidence, global perspectives and life lessons I will learn this summer will be something I carry with me for a long time and I think that is what I'm most excited for.

The language barrier is something that I am a little worried about as I prepare to head to Italy. I have been learning some Italian for a few months now, but I feel like communicating with native Italian speakers will be a lot different than what I have practiced. It's probably going to be challenging at first, but I hope with practice, communicating in Italian gets easier. One of my goals for this trip is to practice conversing in Italian with locals.

Something I am excited about is learning more about Italy's geologic history! As a geology major, I am very excited to see, explore and learn about Italy's geology first hand and from our Italian geologist guest speaker. One of my goals for this trip is to climb to the top of Mount Vesuvius and explore the ruins of both Herculaneum and Pompeii. I took a class on Pompeii at UF back in spring of 2024 and being able to actually see the ruins of Pompeii first-hand, walk on the volcano that erupted in 79AD, would be hands-down one of the coolest things I have ever done. I AM SO EXCITED!!!