For my final blog post, having arrived back in the U.S. after a slightly extended trip, I wanted to reflect on my experience in Siena. While I knew already how instrumental this immersion would be to my fluency with the Italian language, it was something else entirely to experience it firsthand. I think that my weeks in Italy far exceeded my expectations for how much I could learn in this frame of time. It’s easy to feel like you have stagnated in your learning of a foreign language once you’re hovering around an intermediate level, but I instead elevated to a medium level of fluency during my time there—something that could have otherwise taken me another semester or two. In my time in Siena, I felt like I went from making myself speak Italian (especially to other English-speaking students) to conversing naturally, even if not every word was perfect. And, I could not have felt more welcomed in doing so, from the helpful teachers in the Dante Alighieri program to the kind people of the city.
Besides a new and better understanding of what it takes for me to really excel in my learning, I was exposed to the amazing Sienese culture. Something that we never see in the United States is traditions dating back five centuries! With the Palio and all the events leading up to it, I could not have been more astonished at how seriously this city takes and maintains its heritage in the modern day. While I may never have the same unique connection that a Siena-born Italian has to their contrada and the Palio as a whole, I won’t ever cease to admire it. Given this experience as a whole, I cannot recommend enough for my future fellow study abroad students to try and visit their area of choice during a significant cultural event to truly see their spirit while learning the language better than ever!