Why I Decided to Return for 6 Months

After being here for 3 months now, I can say that returning to the beautiful city of Salerno and studying at Accademia Italiana was definitely the right choice. My university has a study abroad program with Accademia Italiana, allowing students to take their intermediate level courses abroad. I signed up for this program in 2016 and instantly fell in love with ALL of Italy. When the program concluded, I knew I had to go back! When I returned to school my next level courses were not grammar and vocabulary based courses. Instead, they were based on the Italian culture and history. Which was great because I learned the history of Italy and the importance of art and cinema in the Italian culture. However, after a few months of not learning and perfecting my grammar and speech I decided that once I graduated I would go back to Accademia Italiana and take another language course.

My original plan was to move to Italy and study at Accademia Italiana for 4-6 weeks and then start graduate school at an Italian university in September/October/November (depending on which program I would be accepted into). However, days before I was scheduled to take the GRE (a standardized test required for students to take when applying for graduate programs),  I decided it wasn’t my time. Those days I had been feeling very unsteady and uncertain. Something just kept telling me that this plan wasn’t right. Once I finally decided to forgo going to graduate school I felt better, and that’s when I truly knew I was making the right decision for myself. I still knew…somehow and someway I wanted to move to Italy. Since I was already enrolled in Accademia Italiana I just requested to extend my study to 6 months.

I have been here for three months now and have been loving every part of this experience. The staff is kind and eager to help the students, the teachers are supportive and patient and the lessons are very high quality. The instructors are very patient and work with you on your efforts to learn Italian. The are classes very fun and interactive with games, songs, movies, and lessons on a nearby pier. Even though I have been to almost all of the excursions and seminars prior to my return, I still find myself attending them again and learning even more about the Italian culture.

Living in Salerno is great! The cost of living is pretty inexpensive with low outside expenses like lunch and dinner being reasonably priced. The city’s close proximity to other beautiful and charming cities allows students to visit other historically rich towns and learn more about the Italian culture. I have been on several weekend getaways with my classmates, we have been to Ischia, Procida, Amalfi, Positano, Palinura, Capri and many more.

I am halfway through my time here and I’m excited to see what the next 3 months bring...Stay Tuned!

Danielle Randall