Goodbye Sorrento: Reviewing My Study Abroad Goals

Words and photos by Makenna Kaminski, our Jetsetter Journalist who studied abroad in Sorrento, Italy, during Spring semester 2023.

It feels like just yesterday that I was sitting in my cafe back home typing out my list of study abroad goals. This was the first of many articles I'd write for ASA as part of the "Jetsetter Journalist" program. Now, as I sit down to write this post, four months and 17 articles later, I can't believe I'm wrapping things up and saying goodbye. Writing these articles helped me capture such an amazing chapter of my life, and it made it even more special that I could share my experiences with others.

I find it so funny to look back on my list of goals; when I read this list of things I wanted to achieve, it’s like I can feel how scared I was to go abroad by myself. Reading my old writing helps me see how much I've grown throughout the semester. I've become far more comfortable with writing, being myself, and of course, traveling! So many of the skills I've learned over this semester are ones that will benefit me for my entire life.

What surprises me most is how many of these goals I actually completed. I'm happy to say that I did a better job at working towards these than I ever imagined. I feel it was some of these goals that helped make my semester as great as it was.

Here is a review of some of my goals below!

1. Travel as much as I can

I traveled more this semester than I would have ever considered possible. Prior to departing for Europe, I thought I would go on a few trips around Italy, possibly seeing some big destinations like Rome, Milan, and hopefully Tuscany and Verona. After meeting a great group of friends who love to be on the go just as much as I do, I found myself going to new places almost every weekend. By the end of this semester, I was so excited to see that I checked every trip off of my bucket list and many more.

Not only did I see almost all of Italy (including traveling to both Rome and Tuscany more than once!) but I also ended up going to other places like Belgium, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. Even more, my entire family came to visit towards the end of the semester. My one sister came one week, my other sister and my niece the next, and then my parents came during my final week in Sorrento. Having my entire family visit kept me on the move during my last month and helped me see even more of Europe than I would have otherwise.

2. Write every day

During my second day in Italy, I accidentally stumbled into the cutest little bookshop in Rome where I purchased my travel journal. When I bought the journal (handmade with a green cover and a pressed flower!), I remember flipping through the pages, thinking I would never get the chance to fill them all. I knew I'd have a lot to write about, but little did I know that by the end of my journey, I would have filled the entire book. I wrote in my journal after every trip and whenever I had free time while traveling. I wrote about the big things, like the places I visited, major events, etc., as well as all the little things, like my friends and my school. I know my future self will love to go back and reread all the little details that I captured.

Beyond my journal, I took a creative writing class that really helped spark my inspiration and keep me writing. We had weekly prompts (mostly about traveling and Italy) which I would respond to in either a poem, short story, or journal entry. We would present these to our class each week and workshop them to get feedback and then go back and make revisions as we pleased. The constant feedback helped me grow as a writer, making me work harder and focus on the areas I needed to improve in. The added freedom of the course also gave me room to expand my creativity and write something new.

3. Learn Italian

I can say that my six months' preparation with Duolingo truly paid off once I got to Italy. After a few days of orienting myself with the country, I was surprisingly ready to start rambling off those Italian phrases. Throughout the semester, I also made sure to keep learning new words and phrases whenever I could.

I definitely didn't reach my goal of becoming fluent, but my Italian class at Sant'Anna helped me reach a level I would consider to be conversational. By the end, I was able to have conversations with both my teacher and the Italian locals which felt so rewarding. I felt like my hard work really paid off every time I would speak in Italian and a local was able to understand what I was saying. It all came with practice; oftentimes Italians will just switch to speaking English once they realize that you're an American, but most of the time I would continue to try my Italian just to get in all the practice I could get.

4. Immerse myself in the culture

Along with learning the Italian language, I did my best to try and embrace the culture in Italy. Over four months there, I tried so many new foods that I would have never tried otherwise. I did my best to speak with locals whenever I got the chance, and my friends and I even became close friends with one of the local business owners in Sorrento. I also learned so many new little things about living in this country, like how to drink coffee at a bar, the differences in stores and restaurants, how to take trains, how to dress, how to slow down, and how to move in the crazy Italian streets (fun fact: there's not a single stoplight in all of Sorrento!). One of my favorite things was getting used to walking everywhere. By the end, my mile-long walk with bags full of groceries became normal to me and I'm going to miss being able to walk everywhere like this when I'm back in the States.

5. Make many new friends

When we left Italy, my group of friends all agreed that although Sorrento was amazing; it's the people that really made the city so special. I met my close group of friends early on in the semester, and by the end we all truly felt like family. There just seems to be something about studying abroad that makes people grow closer so much faster. I think the fact that we were traveling around a foreign country together really added to the bonding experience. The Sant'Anna Institute is also such a small school that we had most of our classes together and we lived together in apartments or dorms.

I went into my study abroad hoping to meet many new faces and leave with even more friends. I've become acquainted with dozens of new people over the past four months, but I quickly found that I cherished my smaller, tight-knit group of friends more than anything. The group of four girls that I met now feels like sisters to me, and I am so grateful to have met them through my time at Sant'Anna. It's the kind of friendship that will last a lifetime. I know that even while we're headed back to schools across the East Coast, we will always be in touch.

6. Publish my writing and build my travel accounts

This semester I wrote plenty of articles to be published on the ASA blog as well as my website. This has helped me become far more comfortable with sharing my writing and publishing writing for an audience. Doing this was a great introductory writing experience because it helped me become acquainted with other people reading the things that I write instead of leaving them in the depths of my laptop. I know that this is a great stepping stone to publishing more of my writing and it's helped me gain the confidence I need to share more.

Before leaving for Italy, I made travel Instagram and TikTok accounts to share all of my journeys. I began to lose consistency with my account when the semester started to pick up, but I'm still happy with the progress I made. I had a few of my videos gain a lot of exposure and that's more than I could have asked for! I made these accounts with little expectations so I'm happy with everything that's come from them. Even when I return to the States I plan to spend a lot of time going through the (thousands) of photos I have taken and sharing them as a recap of everywhere I've been.

7. Be spontaneous

This semester has been nothing if not spontaneous. There were weeks when we almost flew out to another country on 24-hour notice. Other times, we actually did make the leap and booked a crazy last-minute trip. Even in our day-to-day, we'd often find ourselves making split-second decisions to just drop everything and hit the beach, grab an aperitivo by the water, or go rush to catch the end of the Napoli soccer game on TV. No matter what it was, all anyone had to do was throw the suggestion out there and we'd all drop everything to go. The lack of planning surely brought us some of our most fun adventures.

8. Live "la dolce far niente"

Before coming to Sorrento, I had a terrible habit of overworking myself and never taking a moment to slow down and enjoy life. I think this is one of the main reasons why I chose Sorrento; I saw so many videos online about how Italian culture is based on slowing down and taking pleasure in the little things. When I saw this (along with the sunny, lemon-filled photos of Sorrento), I knew this was where I was meant to be.

Over the past semester, I truly learned how to live "la dolce far niente". Without an after-school job or jam-packed schedule, I found more than enough time to enjoy walking through the city, reading in the lemon grove, or spending ample time with my new friends. On the weekends when I stayed in Sorrento, I found myself learning to really slow down and enjoy doing those simple things like sitting on the scenic school roof, watching the sunsets, or sitting at a restaurant for hours and enjoying a great meal.

Back home, I was always in a rush. I felt like I was going through the motions, never taking a pause to enjoy all the wonderful things around me. After four months, I've learned an entirely new way of living that I hope to never forget. I know that when I go back to school (my senior year!) I'm going to have a lot more on my plate. After this semester, however, I think I'll be able to find a way to merge both together and find the sense of balance I so desperately need.

So, looking back...what goals needed some more work?

While I did so much this past semester, there are still some of my goals that could have used a little more work. Being more outgoing, for one, was something that I started really strong with but then I easily fell back into my old routines. At first I felt like I could talk to anyone at any time, but after a while I began to feel more like my old shy self. I wish I made more of an effort to break free of my shell and talk more with the other students from Sant'Anna. Also, I wish I spent more time doing creative projects while in Italy. The entire semester, I wanted to learn how to draw or paint , but I never made the effort to get supplies or find someone to teach me. If I were to go to Sant'Anna all over again, I would make sure to sign up for the one drawing class so that I could have access to the resources to draw and paint.

If I were to go abroad all over again, there is honestly not much I would ever change. The past four months have been the best chapter of my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I know that I'll be holding onto each of these memories forever, and I can't wait to make it back to Sorrento someday in the future.