“Aqui, Aqui” I shouted to my teammate, a local Italian about
my age who gave me a brisk pass just a step out of my reach. The tattered soccer ball flew past me
and slammed into a door on the edge of the square. I ran over to retrieve the ball but instead spent the next 5
minutes cowering in fear as a large Italian woman lectured me in Italian. Although I didn’t understand a word she
said, I definitely got the message: she was not happy that our game had
extended to her doorstep.
I
was in middle school and my family was spending the week in an apartment in Venice
and I had joined a pick up game of “futbol” in the square outside the
apartment. Although I didn’t speak
a word of Italian and they didn’t speak a word of English we managed to
communicate with simple Spanish words and grunts; more of the latter. It was this experience that inspired me
to learn a new language and this goal was a major influence in me deciding to
study abroad.
I
am writing this from the Miami International Airport; two and a half hours from
my flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. I
am traveling with my mom for 3 weeks before the Amizade program begins in
Cochabamba, Bolivia. We will spend
a week in the Galapagos Islands, then a week in Peru hiking the Inca trail from
Cusco to Machu Pichu. We will then
fly to Puno where we will see Lake Titicaca: the highest navigable lake in the
world, on the border between Peru and Bolivia. I will then travel by bus to La Paz and by air to Cochabamba
where I will spend the semester! Check back for updates and photos!
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