My family has always been passionate about travel, but when I discovered studying abroad wasn't an option with my university and neuroscience major, I knew I needed to take a gap year.

I come from a prominent Italian family–my grandparents live in Naples and my mom spent her childhood in Italy–so my number one goal was to travel there and learn Italian. I wanted to be able to connect and communicate with my extended family because the language barrier had strained my whole life, so when I found EF and realized I could immerse myself in Italian culture, focus my semester on language learning, and make such lasting friendships with my cohort, I knew I needed to jump on the opportunity.

I arrived at my host family’s and quickly realized my three years of high school Italian classes weren't cutting it–I had a lot to learn. Throughout that semester, I was able to level up my Italian and built a strong relationship with my host family, who I have stayed in touch with to this day;. I also decided to extend my trip and lived with my grandparents in Naples for almost two months. For the first time ever, I was able to truly communicate and connect with them in a way I had never been able to. It was an extremely impactful experience.

Once I finished my gap semester, I knew I wanted to stay involved with EF Gap Year as much as possible and continue to share how meaningful my experience was. I helped at student orientations, on alumni panels, and I even got the chance to travel to our Ashridge Campus to help with Wrap Up. After graduating college, I flew directly to Rome to work as a Student Life Coordinator on one of our short-term programs; from there, I decided to take a full-time job with EF Gap Year.