I'm trying to be
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? Yea
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
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