After arriving and passing through Italian customs from my 8 hour and 47 minute flight, that was delayed twice and then moved up, and then enduring traveling three more hours by a bus that wound the through the fields and across the countryside of Italy, I have arrived and settled into the heart and one of the most historic areas of Italy, Arrezzo. Upon arriving at my five star Italian hotel, Hotel Vogue, my fellow PLCers and I we were greeted with post travel refreshments and then directed to dive directly into the culture and study abroad experience as we set out for a tour led by Charlotte Duclaux the wife of Kirk Duclaux, our program director for our time here in Arrezzo. From this tour, I began to absorb the spirit of diversity and adventure as this trip marks my first account with studying abroad and having a first hand experience with other cultures in their environments, which in this case means that I am not longer a part of the dominant American group but rather a minority in Italy. As a leader, I have learned that being a minority isn't always a negative thing, but it opens the curtains to the things we often overlook yet it allows us to gain new knowledge. On that short tour aimed to get my bearings of the city, I saw foreshadowing and became excited and anticipatory of the other educational and historical learning opportunities to come.
To go in reverse, the last few minutes of the bus ride was the time in which I began my initial encounter with Italian history and cuisine. It was on our midway stop to Arrezzo from the airport that I had my first Italian snack, a curdo & mozzarella which was a toasted ham sandwich on baguette-like bread. This was only a small fraction of my tipoff of being apart of the Italian game for as we neared the "hillic" on which Arrezzo stands I learned of the birth of this country and how it was and is going through an industrial rebirth as the damage to this cities economy and ability thrive goes beyond just a couple years. Arrezzo was badly bombed during the World War and it's manufacturing and industry continues to carry out reconstruction each day to regain the success of its business. Out of thousands of manufacturing companies only few have managed to remain productive. With that being said, Arrezo is known for its gold industry and this position that it previously held as being one of the most influential and thriving places has motivated its people to redefine the countries heritage and history. Hearing about these events that often go untold and seeing the architecture of the city makes me ecstatic that I took interest in studying abroad as this has given me a different aspect on how important it is to interact with history, economy, politics, language, and people beyond my immediate environment. I look forward to what other events are to come and other 10 o'clock gelato runs like tonight.
Stammi bene, arrivederci
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