i moved to ITALY for study abroad...here's how it went.

I'm trying to be as quiet

as possible right now because

my parents are asleep

right next door

but I am sitting here,

in an empty suitcase

when I need to be

at the airport in like 9 hours

I have like a million different

thoughts running through

my mind right now

and I am very overwhelmed!

also very excIted,

and nervous, and scared

but also, very overwhelmed

but i want to get some sleep, um,

before my 14 hour flight tomorrow

so let's start packing y'all!

finally done!

but at what cost?

got a solid one and a half

hours of sleep last night so

feeling pretty great

this isn't my first time traveling alone,

but this is my first time traveling

internationally alone

so i'm kinda scared, um,

i've never been to Italy before,

I don't know any italian

I tried to learn a little bit through Duolingo

but my streak lasted for exactly one day

and i stopped using it

but i'm going to try and just like

memorize a couple phrases

when I go to the airport

speaking of which,

I need to call my Uber soon

because I'm home alone right now

mm this mango is so-

mm this mango is so good what the heck

okay thank you so much

okay thank you

i feel like i was running off of

pure adrenaline this morning because

i didn't get any sleep,

I didn't eat anything

and now I'm finally

eating my first meal of the day

um, and it's like 1pm right now

the lines were also crazy long today

i am very glad

that i came here early

so i have actually a little bit

of time before boarding

i cannot wait to just like, pass out

when I go on the plane

because I'm so tired.

I think it's finally starting to catch up to me.

Made it to Roma!

Currently trying to find

one of the

people that I'm studying abroad with

and this is so hard!

Very nice weather though

Pasta!

Ugh!

Finally back in the hostel

that we are staying for tonight

um, tomorrow we're gonna head to Bologna

gonna take a train there,

and spend a couple days doing some tours

um, before we head to our farmstays.

I'm very excited

um, but also

soo exhausted.

I was literally falling asleep,

um, at dinner

which was really really good by the way

my first real Italian meal

the pasta of course was amazing

so was the tiramisu

my card ran out of memory, um

but yeah I am so, so grateful to be here

I've been kind of getting to know

my professors

and the other students

from my program

a little bit more today

and so that has been really fun

it is quite hard to film

um, in a space like this

but I will take what I can get

but yeah I'm going to get washed up

and try and do a little bit

of work before I sleep

but I honestly don't think

that's gonna happen

because I am so tired.

I look like such a tourist

Refreshing

It's good! It's good.

Oh my god!

Second gelato of the day.

Good.

Hello, this is editing Deborah

realizing from the future

that she never explained

what study abroad program she's doing

why am I talking in third person,

I don't know

but that's what I'm gonna be

doing right now

you can skip ahead if you

don't really care

I think when most people think of

studying abroad, they think of

an exchange

where basically you go to a country,

a different country

and take classes at a university

with the local students

I am not doing an exchange.

I am doing a faculty led program,

where for 4 weeks I spend

all of my time with 24 other students

and 3 professors from my university

the University of Washington

we're basically learning

as we travel together

and so first we started off in Bologna

now we're in Tuscany and

we're going to be finishing off the trip

in Rome for a couple of weeks

It's a pretty special program,

I am super lucky and privileged

to have had the opportunity

to participate in this

but basically we're here in Italy

to learn about the food systems

and compare them to the food systems

of the U.S.

so we've been doing

a lot of food-centered activities

we've been taking cooking classes

going on tours of vegetable farms

and cheese factories

and we've also been doing

a lot of reading and discussion

around food, food culture,

agricultural practices, things like that.

I didn't film much in Bologna,

just because I was still kind of

getting to know everyone

and I didn't want everyones first

impression of me to be

that person carrying their camera around

and filming everything

Also, although the tours we've been doing

have been very interesting

um, I don't know exactly how interesting

you guys would find the in depth

video on the process of how parmesan

reggiano and prosciutto is made.

Although if you do want that video,

let me know.

Let me know if you quys have any questions

about my program

or anything else in the comments,

and I will try my best to answer them.

Okay back to the video.

Ah! Noo!!

Oo it is kinda cold!

I took a shower after going to the beach

for the first time since coming here,

and guys this place is so beautiful

the only thing is

the bugs here are actually insane

I think I might be allergic or something

because I have like, welts on my legs

from the bug bites

They look like rashes

and they're so itchy

Bug spray does not deter these

Italian bugs at all.

They're just built different I guess.

I'm on a farmstay right now

um, this is called Tenuta San Carlo

I believe

honestly it has been so long

since I've vlogged

that I kinda forgot how to vlog

in the first place

but I've been really just trying

to enjoy my time

and just soak everything up

because this has been such an amazing

experience so far

overall I'[m just so grateful to be here

Even just looking out my

window is insane, like

I'm in Tuscany right now,

I'm in Italy!

Studying abroad!

Like, what a crazy concept

Mm that's so good!

I have a bug bite, right here.

I've been getting some comments that

it seems like I'm just on vacation

and I promise that we're actually, like,

doing work and learning things

uh, while we are studying abroad

here in Italy

I just haven't been filming a lot of it,

since it usually like

big group discussions,

and going on tours

and things like that

today we're actually going to be

doing some stuff besides

um, biking and swimming in the ocean

and so I'll try and film

as much as I can for you guys

It's okay you can just be yourself.

I don't know who I am anymore!

Jen's teaching Chris how to take selfies

Rice!

Risotto!

Cheers!

I feel like I really have not talked much

in this vlog

so i thought I would do a little bit

of a reflection because

tomorrow's our last full day

of being at the farm before

we move to another farmstay

and it's been officially a week,

since I've been here,

about a week and a day actually

and it's just crazy because I feel like

I've been here for so long

studying abroad so far

has been really great

honestly, like, exceeding my expectations

um, there were definitely a couple

of unfortunate situations

but for the most part

there has been so many good things

that I just didn't expect

One thing is that I feel like

I'm getting so close with my professors

I've kind of always had an

inferiority complex

when it comes to

um, people that I feel like

are superior to me

I got to a really big university

I never really talk to my professors

even though I should

and now that I'm here, like,

spending every day with them

It's been really great

and it's something I didn't really

expect from this trip.

As someone that is very introverted,

I will say that I have had

a little bit of trouble adjusting

to how much social interaction

I'm doing every day.

Like I rarely get alone time,

which is something that I'm kind of still

getting used to because

I'm someone that really values my alone time

but it's a lot harder to get here

while I'm studying abroad

but yeah I've just been kind of

learning to listen to my body

and not feel like I have to join in

on every single activity

I do need my time to just

decompress, and be alone

I think I was definitely really overwhelmed

for the first couple of days

just meeting everyone,

being in a new country,

but I feel like I'm finally kind of

getting used to the pace of

studying abroad,

and being with the people here.

Thank you for your patience always

I truly do not think that I would be here

studying abroad if it weren't for

your guys' support

and I can't wait for y'all to see

the content that I am going to produce

while I"m here, studying abroad.

With that, I will see you guys next time!

Bye