Author: Taylor Davidson | Major: Mechanical Engineering | Semester: Summer 2024
Hiking the Seceda Ridge Line
Ciao! That was the last word I heard from the taxi driver before he sped off down the narrow cobblestone streets of Sorrento. I had just arrived for my 5 week long study abroad program on the Amalfi Coast in Italy and needless to say I was a little nervous. The only words I knew in Italian were Ciao and Salve, which both mean the same thing, and yet I was surrounded by locals as I dragged my luggage through the streets searching for the study abroad institute. Although it wasn’t my exact vision for arriving in Italy it set the tone for what my next 5 weeks would look like. And although I was overwhelmed at first, I slowly learned to take the chaotic life of the Italians in stride and eventually, I even fell in love with it. Often people would ask me where I would choose to go if I could visit anywhere in the world and every time my answer was Italy. So when I decided to come to the U of A, I knew I wanted to study abroad and my only requirement was the program had to be in Italy. Initially I had planned on studying in northern Italy near the alps yet after applying I found out none of the classes offered would count towards my major. So I started searching for other programs and eventually found the CIS Summer on the Italian Coast. They had classes I could take that would give me credits towards graduating, it would be a national program that would give me the opportunity to meet students from all around the US, and most importantly it was on the southern coast of Italy. So I quickly signed up and chose two classes, Competing in the Global Environment and History of Italian Foods and Culture.
These classes played a huge role in my experience abroad allowing me to grow in my global agility when thinking about business while also expanding my understanding of Italian culture through food. What was great about my business course is that it introduced me to something that I don’t usually encounter while studying engineering. Plus being able to learn that content from a foreign professor gave me a more unique perspective on global business than I would’ve had while back in America. Each week we would give a presentation on some aspect of global business and while some of the presentations were individual, many were done as a group. This allowed me to interact and learn from students all around the country and didn’t restrict me to the culture and ideas I had grown up with and became comfortable with. And while the things I learned from my global business class were invaluable, I absolutely love food and so I can’t not talk about the Italian food course. We learned all about the deep history that birthed Italian cuisine and learned why Italian culture circles so heavily around the dining table.
Our teacher Dr. Fabrizio was a true Italian man and had a different suit everyday he taught class and loved food more than anyone I had ever met. He was the perfect professor to have while abroad and the best part is that he planned two field visits for the class so we could fully indulge in the Italian food culture. We went to both an olive oil and mozzarella farm to learn not just how these staples are made but also how they taste. Spoiler alert, they taste amazing. Through this class I felt more and more eager to begin traveling around Italy and taste all the amazing foods.
While abroad I traveled to a bunch of different places including Switzerland, Milan, Rome, Albania, Florence, Spain, and England. But of all the places I went my favorite by far was a trip I took by myself to Venice and the Dolomites. Although I had never traveled by myself, much less alone in Europe, I was still super excited as they were two of my dream locations. Venice was beautiful and even though it was a whirlwind as I only had 24 hours there, I did my best to make the most of it. I wandered around the city and explored all the winding streets and canals before I had to leave and catch a train to the Dolomites. Then in the Dolomites I did hike after hike seeing the high alpine meadow of Alpe di Siusi, the staggering Tres Cime mountains and my favorite of all, the Seceda Ridgeline. There were gorgeous mountains and dispersed between them were quaint Italian villages where I could sit eating pasta and watch the sun set behind the mountains.
While my trips around the country were incredible, I truly felt at home in Sorrento as the program started to come to an end. I had found all my favorite sandwich shops and discovered all the best places to watch the sun as it set along the coast. And when I looked back on the first steps I took in Sorrento and how it was overwhelming and chaotic, I found that I had grown to love the city. It was unlike anything I had experienced in America and the longer I stayed there the more I was able to discover what a typical tourist wouldn’t be able to see.