For as long as I can remember, when asked about my dream vacation spot, my answer has been Italy. Growing up, I was surrounded by Italian culture on both sides of my family; while I am not 100% Italian, it makes up the majority of my ethnicity. This, in addition to the fact that Italy has stunning landscapes and sights, rich culture and arguably the best food, fueled my desire to travel to Italy.

This past spring break, I was extremely fortunate to be able to spend nine days exploring the cities of Palermo, Agrigento, Siracusa, Ragusa, Modica and Rome. This trip was a part of an experiential learning opportunity for IC 2640: Italian Literary Parks, which explores Sicilian literature. The class has met every Monday night of the semester and then we all went to Italy together for this trip. 

As a very general and culminating first reflection, I loved Italy. I had the time of my life this spring break and am already thinking about when I can go again and bring my family. Not only was this my first time traveling to Italy, but it was my first time traveling out of the country, making this an unforgettable experience in more ways than one. 

For some more specific reflections, I want to talk about my experience with friends, food and sight-seeing. While I could go on and on about my experience, these areas make up the biggest takeaways from my trip. 

1. Friends: One aspect of this trip that I didn’t really think about before was the friends that I would make. Due to the nature of this trip, everyone spent countless hours together each day eating meals, taking tours, going out, etc. This time spent together allowed me to create many new friends that I otherwise probably would not have gotten to know and has given us so many memories together that I am excited to reminisce about in the weeks to come in class.
2. Food: I already loved Italian food before the trip but this trip took my love to a whole new level. From pasta to gelato to tiramisu to lasagna, I was in heaven everyday with the food that I was eating. Everything was so fresh and nothing left me feeling heavy afterwards, which was so refreshing. 
3. Sight-seeing: Obviously, this trip involved lots of sight-seeing. Almost every day, we went on a walking tour around a different city or went to a certain place to see something, all of which filled up my camera roll with plenty of memories and pictures to share. Though it is hard to choose, some of my favorite sights were the Ear of Dionysus, Villa Romana del Casale, St. Peter’s Basilica and the overall architecture of buildings and the cities. 

Again, I could go on and on about this trip, but these three feel like a good compromise for a brief reflection on the trip. Though the flights were long and my feet were sore by the end of every day, the memories that I made more than made up for it. I sincerely hope that I can travel back to Italy sometime in the future.