“When I came back from my high school study abroad year in Italy…”

…people kept asking me if there was one particular moment that I would never forget. I think they were hoping for some romanticized story telling how I’d had a sudden epiphany about the meaning of life while sipping an espresso at a sunny, outdoor café. Or maybe an anecdote about finding my true self on a solo walk through the hills of Tuscany, while the sun set behind a horizon peppered with rustic villas.

Instead, I tell them the truth: That the one moment I will never forget is the moment I arrived at the train station in my study abroad host community. I’m guessing this is a pretty common answer among high school study abroad participants. After all, the first real exposure to the culture of your host community can be pretty mind-blowing.

I remember it so clearly. As the train arrived in my small host town in northern Italy, I took a deep breath. I was minutes away from meeting the three people I would be spending a year with: my host mother, host father, and host sister. Before I left for my program, everyone kept asking me how I would handle an entire year in a new family and culture. “How will you survive on pizza alone?!” they asked. “Don’t Italians speak with their hands?…How are you going to learn that AND a new language?” Then there’s my personal favorite: “Are you going to learn to make spaghetti from scratch? ‘Cause everyone in Italy knows how to make spaghetti, right?”

I kept thinking how crazy they all sounded. I had communicated with my host family by email and a brief video chat before leaving, and they seemed totally normal! Despite the stereotypes about Italy, I knew better than to think they would be a bunch of pizza loving mimes.

When the train finally stopped, however, I was taken aback – everyone standing on the platform had a slice pizza In. Their. Hand. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t some kind of bizarre dream. Nope – I was awake and this was happening. I could even make out a few slices that were topped with pasta. Um…really?!?

As I walked over to greet my host family, I suddenly noticed how quiet it was. People were barely saying a word, and instead were using all these elaborate hand gestures as predicted by my seemingly ignorant friends back home. Honestly – pizza toppings were falling off everywhere.

My host family members kissed me on both cheeks, and then (because why not?) they handed me my very own pizza in a cardboard box. I opened the lid and saw the words “Welcome to Italy” written in pepperoni. To this day, I don’t know if I was more touched or bewildered by the gesture.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, though. After pretty much everyone in the station watched me eat a celebratory first slice of pizza (which – I should mention – was the best thing I’d ever tasted), my host family members quickly strapped my luggage onto their fleet of Vespas and we drove to the house that would be my home for an entire year. On the way, I braced myself for what I might find – did they live in a tree house? Or a yurt? Did they have 17 cats? I felt like anything was possible at that point, but fortunately, my concerns were unnecessary because…

None of it actually happened. ☺ April Fools!!

-Shante

AFS Returnee, Shante Fencl, studied abroad in Italy during the 2011/12 school year. While her actual experience wasn’t nearly this outlandish, she DID eat some pretty amazing pizza and meet a lot of fantastic people, all while mastering a new language and culture.