By: Joshua, Cardinal Hayes High School, Class of 2021
SSP junior at Cardinal Hayes High School, Joshua, had the opportunity of a lifetime this summer. He explored Italy and immersed in its culture through language and culinary training.
I still can't believe I spent my summer in Italy, immersing myself in the culture. I'm so grateful to SSP and all who made this possible.
When In Rome
In Rome, the air feels cleaner and lighter than in New York. It all feels different than I expected; the houses are small and colorful, people are kind and energetic, and everything is calm and quiet. I was excited to experience the country with my new friends from across America.
Our first stops were the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. It was inspirational to be at a site as ancient as the Colosseum. It was very crowded and everyone around us was excited and also in awe of this great structure. Looking at it gave me so much respect for Italy and its great history. Rome made me realize how big the world is and how much history we all carry.
St. Peter's Basilica was huge and beautiful. Coming from a Catholic school and having learned about Christianity more in-depth in these past two years, it was an honor to be in the Vatican City and in one of the world's holiest Catholic shrines and churches. It was an incredible opportunity to see Michelangelo's works personally. The Sistine Chapel was a masterpiece and I cannot believe how it was created. Seeing St. Pete's grave was also amazing. As big as everything was, it also made things human.
The rest of the city of Rome was very welcoming and I felt very much at home. We had been walking for a few days, but it was great to bond with the other students. It was a great experience to share many meals in restaurants with all of them. We immediately in these first few days felt like a family. It had been a few people's first time traveling outside of the country, and everyone was just glad and happy to be in Italy. It also felt great to be independent and away from home. We all felt very adult and I appreciated that feeling.
Next Stop: Cortona
After Rome, we took a very long train ride to Cortona in Tuscany, Italy. Cortona felt like traveling back in time and was probably what everyone imagines Europe to feel like. It was small, the roads were narrow, and everything had a family-like feeling to it. This is where we had our language classes. I personally found Italian to be easier than expected because of my Spanish background. I had been placed in a higher-level class because of this advantage. Cortona reminded slightly of my parents' homeland in the Dominican Republic. It had that small-town feeling that is hard to get in big cities. Our hotel was in a mountain and I woke every day seeing a gorgeous landscape, to the sound of a birds, and a beautiful blue sky.
Onto Florence
Florence was beautiful and amazing. We visited the Florence Cathedral, Giotto's Campanile, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Piazza Della Signoria, and other incredible places. Although we were not there for long, Florence felt medieval and it was enough to capture the beautiful culture. Everything felt big and like a celebration. The group was closer and we were having a great time together. We were visiting stores in the city and really enjoying our time.
I was surprised at I did not miss home at this point. I was feeling great to be another country with this great group of people. I felt very lucky to be seeing the things that we were seeing. I was having such a good time that I did not realize what was happening. I was looking forward to the rest of the trip.
Meeting My Home-Stay Family
I was nervous to meet my home-stay family in Cosenza in Calabria, Italy. I did not realize how scary the thought of being in a new family in a culture that was already new to me would be. Everything turned out more than all right almost as soon as I met them. I met my host brother first, right after I got off the train, and he immediately made me feel welcomed, treating me like he had known me for a long time and that I was visiting again. As we were driving to the home, I was very excited to see how beautiful the town was. There were mountains, which is where our home was, there were rivers, and it was all very residential.
I was somewhat surprised by how traditional this family was: the father worked, the mother stayed home to take care of the house and their son, and my host brother was very well taken care of and seemed joyful and happy. He was amazing and one of the best host brothers that anyone could ask for. He immediately took me out to meet his friends and see his city. I felt very welcomed by everyone. Mario was excited to show me around and I was excited to get to know everyone. Everybody was excited to hear that I was from New York and was always asked whether or not it was like the movies. Everyone was very gracious and we were all eager to learn from each other.
Being in the actual home was a new experience for me. Even though they were very welcoming, I sometimes felt like I was intruding. I was not used to being in someone else's home and it took a little bit of time for me to feel like it was my home, too. The parents were amazing. The parents and I cooked pizza and other dishes, we spoke and laughed on the patio and in the kitchen, we watched an entire television series together, and we went out often. The father taught me how to properly cook and eat pasta and how to shave. The mother was sweet and very attentive. She was very caring and tried hard to always make me feel welcomed, teaching me Italian and making sure that I felt comfortable while communicating.
One of the best experiences while at the home is when the family took me to an island on their boat. Being from New York, I had not had the opportunity to swim for an extended time, and this was a good first opportunity. It was a very large body of water, and I was scared, but after being encouraged by the parents, I took the risk and jumped off the boat. It was the first, real time, that I had swam in the ocean for that long. The experience was great because there was a lot of laughter throughout it all and it was a great bonding time.
The greatest lesson that I took from having stayed with my family was that communication goes beyond being able to speak the same language. My Italian was very limited and so was their English, but I don't remember not being able to communicate with them or not being able to laugh with them. I have to try really hard to remember when we could not speak. It shows that, with love, not much actually separates us as people. Even with all of our differences, compassion and love are what unite us. I learned that there is not much that is different. The mother reminded a lot of my own mother. She was caring and a fighter for her family.
Final Stop: Cooking in Asti
After Cosenza, we entered the cooking school in Asti, Italy. This was great because it was another way of experiencing the Italian culture. It was a lot of fun to come together with my group again. We cooked great Italian dishes that I would not have the opportunity to cook. The experience was great because it brought us together. My group and I felt like a family again. It was beautiful.
Italy was an amazing experience and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to have visited. I learned a lot about myself and the people there, and I miss it a lot. I am looking forward to learning more about different places and all of our people, and I realized how small our world really is. We have more in common than different and it is important to understand that – especially today. Thank you to everyone who made this possible for me. I am very grateful and will make sure to pay it forward as soon as I can.
