It is with great pleasure that I am writing this testimonial to explain my gratitude for your kindness in granting me this scholarship for my study abroad education. My name is Gianna Pehar, I am currently going into my junior year at Michigan State University, and I am pursuing nursing with a minor in business. I am from Lincolnwood, Illinois and just currently studied abroad in Rome, Italy for summer session II at the American University of Rome!

Studying abroad this past July has not only enhanced my academic goals, but my career pursuits as well. I feel as though this opportunity helped me understand a completely new realm of individuals in a way I never expected. With this new knowledge, it will help me connect to a broader community in my academic life and personal career. While abroad, I did not realize how much the new culture affected me personally until I got back home to America. I was almost culture shocked stepping foot back in O’Hare airport where people weren’t as friendly, there was fast food everywhere and no cafe’s in site. Being abroad really made me realize how there is so much more to life than work and personal status, which is something America often overlooks, and made it very hard to come home.

Living in Italy for a month really helped me gain confidence in new customs of life. Since I do speak Croatian and have been accustomed to the Croatian lifestyle, it was easier for me to pick up the Italian language and mannerisms quite easily. Native Italians also really appreciate when you try greeting and speaking back to them in Italian, which is very encouraging when learning the language. I will forever miss walking the streets of Rome and hearing someone playing the violin, smelling the baking pizza, and tasting a never-ending amount of tiramisu. It is truly out of a fairy tale.

As for myths in Italy, my list is never ending. I can go on and on about busting them, for example, marinara is only a sauce found on pizza not pasta, chicken parmesan and vodka sauce does not exist, and bread and oil is not already on the table, you often have to order it yourself. Another myth I often heard about Rome is that it feels very unsafe and at least one person you’re with gets their phone stolen, which was not my personal experience at all. I never felt unsafe. As long as you travel in a pack, everything went smoothly for my friends and me.

My story should excite students to want to study abroad as I would recommend it to anyone that asked. The AUR professors were amazing, no complaints about our living situation, and many affordable restaurants around for college students. If everyone was able to have this experience, they should take it and never look back. Studying abroad speaks to so many aspects outside of just academics, it was a way to not only learn a whole other culture but to truly discover yourself and what you can handle as a person. Being alone on a whole other continent is not easy by any means, but you find so much beauty in the new outlook of life which is a once in a lifetime experience. If you asked me to do this program over, I would never change for the world the program I attended nor the people I did it with.

Thank you is not enough to explain my gratitude for this scholarship! It is greatly appreciated in every imaginable way! Grazie!

Name: Gianna Pehar
Status: Junior
Major: Nursing
Hometown: Lincolnwood, Illinois
Program: American University of Rome