Now that I have been back in the United States long enough to have the chance to reflect on my experience, I have noticed tremendous changes in the way that I see the world around me. I know it may sound cliché, but the experiences that I had while studying abroad and the cultural customs that I learned about and appreciated really did leave a lasting impact on me. While studying abroad, I realized that the Italian lifestyle was much slower paced than the one that I was accustomed to. To give a few examples, I noticed that locals took longer breaks from work to enjoy their meetups and meals, they gave more than just the bare minimum amount of time to relationships, and they were not so worried about getting as much as possible to fit into a small increment of time. Overall, they savored the details and seemingly insignificant aspects of life that I was in the habit of looking straight past or putting on the back burner. I now try to adopt some of these practices that I learned into my own routine and there are a few that I adopted without even intending to. For example, I have found myself to be less rigid with my schedule to allow for more time with loved ones and my hobbies. The joy that has come from this is noticeable, my family can attest to the difference, and I’m so thankful that my study abroad experience helped me to find this spark. I thought that I was studying abroad just to learn about the Food & Wine culture in Italy, but I learned more than I ever could’ve imagined. This experiment left its mark on my life, or as I like to say, “it left a stamp on my passport and my perspective!”
