Lauren

(Gardens of Ninfa)

Lauren Smith

Studying abroad was always one of the non-negotiables for me when deciding on a college. Fortunately for me, not only does Auburn allow you to study/intern/research, etc. abroad, but they allow you to do so more than one time and I found the perfect program for me. The Joseph S. Bruno Auburn Abroad in Italy program encompassed everything I was looking for as well as things that I did not even know would be beneficial.

Although this was a fantastic program for me personally, it's not enough to keep me from going abroad again because there are always different things to experience: different places, events, and cultures. This summer (2014) I'll be volunteering in the Dominican Republic as part of an International Student Volunteers (ISV) Programs.

International experiences are fantastic in a number of aspects from creating a more well-rounded and knowledgeable person to pushing someone out of their comfort zone and/or learning valuable life-skills that you might not otherwise have reason to learn. Going abroad broadens horizons and encourages people to dream bigger, expand beyond themselves, and live a fuller life of what they personally strive to do.

Dominican Republic flag I volunteered abroad through a program called ISV (International Student Volunteers) in the Dominican Republic the summer before my Senior year.
Albano train station Public transportation such as trains, buses, and metros were an integral part of being in a foreign country. This train station could take us to many of the other Castelli Romani cities as well as Rome, where we could then take a metro or bus.
Italian flag map Italy has always been my first choice of a foreign country that I wanted to visit. The desire to tour Italy stemmed from my involvement in music--which is Italian based in terms of music terminology, etc.--and my love for Italian food (or what I thought was Italian food before actually traveling there).
Wine making A study abroad program to Italy would not be a legitimate program unless it involved a lesson on wine-making. Here, we listened to a family of wine-makers describe the process, starting from growing and harvesting the perfect grapes to actually putting it on the table and pairing it with the perfect foods.
Cirque du Soleil I LOVE Michael Jackson's music and when I saw that Cirque du Soleil was coming to Paris with a "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" themed show, I HAD to go. Paris was entirely different in itself. I highly recommend exploring as many places as you can outside of your program of study.
Colosseum One of the first days that our entire group had gone into Rome together for a field trip was bright and sunny and the colosseum was one of the first stops of the day. When I and two others had gone into Rome the first time for our scavenger hunt before traveling with the group, it rained, which didn't help the fact that we didn't even have all of the answers to the hunt first or know where we were going. I did learn to navigate with and read a map (and in a foreign language!) that day.
Joseph S Bruno flyer This program was an all-encompassing program based on the Grand Tour of the late 16th century. We toured all around Italy seeing a multitude of different types of sites, from the most popular cities, such as Rome, Pompeii, and Venice, to gardens most tourists don't know of, like the American World War II Cemetery in Anzio and the Garden of Ninfa.
Trevi Fountain I was fortunate enough to be the "Expert of the Day" for one of the most popular tourist sites in Rome. I had to give a little blurb and afterward we could toss our coins into the fountain. It is said that if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you are guaranteed to return to Rome one day.
Firenze (Florence) Birdseye views were always the best in my opinion and this one from the top of a Duomo in Florence was no exception. We climbed the 463 steps to the top of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore to see this view across Florence.
Magic Fountain This magic fountain was in Barcelona, Spain which I visited during spring break. Every weekend night, it would play a light and music show that was coordinated with the force and pattern of the water spray. On Friday night, the music was Disney themed.
Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius This (Pompeii) was a city that was destroyed, covered with ashes, and buried by the volcano in the background. We saw what are known as plaster casts which are sort of like paper maches of the victims of the eruption frozen in time.
Bronze sphere You will see these bronze spheres all throughout Italy. It's your responsibility to figure out why they are there and what they mean.
Duomo Duomos--or cathedrals-- were a large aspect of our program. We visited multiple cathedrals in each city we went to to learn about it's architecture and the architect (which most of the time was Bernini) who built or designed it.
Thesis journal One of our main assignments was a thesis journal. This journal included a multitude of things including recipes, reflections, responses and impressions, facts, pictures, schedules, and MUCH more. Even though it was a required assignment, I began to appreciate how it let me document and reflect on every aspect of my program. This is an example of a typical page which required a short "blurb", a first impression response, and a picture.
Italian faculty These were 3 of our Italian faculty (from L to R): Elisa, Roberta, and Cinzia. They made our lives as 'tourists' easy and helped us in any way that they could.
Opera Going abroad is about doing and going to things that you might otherwise never do or go to. Our last week, we went to see a French Opera: Samson & Dalilah.
American WWII Memorial In Anzio, Italy is a WWII Memorial for American Soldiers. It was extremely up kept which showed respect for the fallen soldiers. The two on the statues depicts brothers that fought together, yet in different areas.
Sagrada Familia This cathedral is completely different from any of the ones I saw in Italy due to it's 'melted wax-like' exterior and stained glass/fluorescent interior.
Bed n'Breakfast hosts Heidi and Lorenzo graciously opened up their home on Easter Weekend as a Bed n'Breakfast in Tuscany. It was the best weekend trip I'd had my entire time abroad. Heidi was a wonderful cook and Lorenzo's lack of English helped us to improve our language skills. We also stayed there at the same time as a Dutch mother-daughter couple.
Risotto Learning to cook traditional Italian meals such as Risotto was almost everybody's favorite class. Mary Lou (our cooking instructor), whom was actually South African, married an Italian man and they were the parents of our Italian Director.
Chigi Palace This Palace of the Chigi family was the housing accommodation for my program. We stayed downstairs, had classes on the floor above that, and tours throughout the rest of the palace.

Lauren Smith

Dominican Republic flag

I volunteered abroad through a program called ISV (International Student Volunteers) in the Dominican Republic the summer before my Senior year.

Albano train station

Public transportation such as trains, buses, and metros were an integral part of being in a foreign country. This train station could take us to many of the other Castelli Romani cities as well as Rome, where we could then take a metro or bus.

Italian flag map

Wine making

Cirque du Soleil

I LOVE Michael Jackson's music and when I saw that Cirque du Soleil was coming to Paris with a "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" themed show, I HAD to go. Paris was entirely different in itself. I highly recommend exploring as many places as you can outside of your program of study.

Colosseum

Joseph S Bruno flyer

Trevi Fountain

Firenze (Florence)

Birdseye views were always the best in my opinion and this one from the top of a Duomo in Florence was no exception. We climbed the 463 steps to the top of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore to see this view across Florence.

Magic Fountain

This magic fountain was in Barcelona, Spain which I visited during spring break. Every weekend night, it would play a light and music show that was coordinated with the force and pattern of the water spray. On Friday night, the music was Disney themed.

Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius

This (Pompeii) was a city that was destroyed, covered with ashes, and buried by the volcano in the background. We saw what are known as plaster casts which are sort of like paper maches of the victims of the eruption frozen in time.

Bronze sphere

You will see these bronze spheres all throughout Italy. It's your responsibility to figure out why they are there and what they mean.

Duomo

Duomos--or cathedrals-- were a large aspect of our program. We visited multiple cathedrals in each city we went to to learn about it's architecture and the architect (which most of the time was Bernini) who built or designed it.

Thesis journal

Italian faculty

These were 3 of our Italian faculty (from L to R): Elisa, Roberta, and Cinzia. They made our lives as 'tourists' easy and helped us in any way that they could.

Opera

Going abroad is about doing and going to things that you might otherwise never do or go to. Our last week, we went to see a French Opera: Samson & Dalilah.

American WWII Memorial

In Anzio, Italy is a WWII Memorial for American Soldiers. It was extremely up kept which showed respect for the fallen soldiers. The two on the statues depicts brothers that fought together, yet in different areas.

Sagrada Familia

This cathedral is completely different from any of the ones I saw in Italy due to it's 'melted wax-like' exterior and stained glass/fluorescent interior.

Bed n'Breakfast hosts

Risotto

Learning to cook traditional Italian meals such as Risotto was almost everybody's favorite class. Mary Lou (our cooking instructor), whom was actually South African, married an Italian man and they were the parents of our Italian Director.

Chigi Palace

This Palace of the Chigi family was the housing accommodation for my program. We stayed downstairs, had classes on the floor above that, and tours throughout the rest of the palace.