A Unique Semester for LIU Global’s Class of 2022
by Tiago Noce
LIU Global’s Italian semester came with a lot of new challenges for the class of 2022. This semester we had to handle our own apartments, the learning of a new language, a new culture, a whole new country to explore, and, sadly, in the end, the feared Coronavirus. It was definitely a semester to test students’ teamwork, cultural adaptability, and resiliency. The Italian semester also had the big advantage of the partnership with the Florence School of Fine Arts (FSFA) managed by director Melania Lanzini and by Dean of Research Charles LoVerme. FSFA was always ready to help us with anything that we may need and were very welcoming.
Sharing an apartment with other classmates was a great experience. Having responsibilities like grocery shopping and keeping the space clean and organized made us grow more and get ready for adulthood. Today, I know that I still need to learn a lot about how to keep a house in order and be able to be fully independent, however, I’m confident that I’m more prepared to live by myself and less dependent on my parents and others. Moreover, I know more about myself and what I can handle in the same living space and what I cannot handle. Besides, living together made me develop my ability to work in a team in order to keep the apartment organized and ready for eventual inspections.
Another interesting point was the way that people were welcoming with foreigners and the way they treated each other because it made me feel very comfortable to go and explore more of the city, to ask whenever I have a doubt and to interact more openly with locals. The linguistic aspect was another great encouragement to explore. Speaking Portuguese as a mother language and having Spanish made the Italian learning easy, even though the three of them present different orthography and phonetics. Whenever exploring, I found Italians have a lot of patience, always waiting for me to finish the sentence and helping me with grammar and vocabulary. But above all, they seemed pleased that I was trying to speak their language, which made me comfortable to dig deeper into their culture and interact more. All these factors made it possible for me to successfully practice my cultural adaptability.
In a nutshell, the Italian semester was a big surprise for all of us. It brought to light questions and points about our future and made us face the fact that being independent is making decisions for yourself all the time. Unfortunately, our time in Italy was cut short by the escalation of the Coronavirus, a situation that students and staff members never foresaw. Although challenging, the Coronavirus made the Class of 2022 develop resiliency, having to deal with a change of location, debates with the university about the best solutions, and leaving a place where most of us were happy and curious. It also showed us how being resilient is an indispensable quality for a Global student. Regardless of this situation, while talking with my classmates, most of them showed the intention to get back to Italy eventually and keep exploring this amazing country.
