I got to talk with the local kids and their families in Spanish, and I made lots of new friends with the other volunteers. We also had some time for fun. We went on a 16-hour hike in the mountains, and at night, I saw a sky full of stars for the very first time!
My second big trip was to Siena, Italy, in 2015, just before I started university. I went there to learn Italian because I loved the way the language sounded, and it sounds a lot like Spanish! I traveled with a high school program called SPI Study Abroad, and they set me up to live with a host family. My host family was just one person (my host mom) because she lived alone. We had lots of fun together, and she gave me a tour of Siena on my very first day there! Most of my time was spent at a school called the Dante Alighieri Language School, where I took my Italian classes. I made friends with other students from across the United States and Italy, and we still keep in touch today! Thanks to the program, I even got to visit Rome, the capital of Italy, where we had tour guides show us around.
My third big trip was to Paris, France, in 2018, during my last year of college. At the time, I was learning French, and I got good enough in the language to work as an English assistant at the American School of Paris. I will never forget how amazing my time in Paris was. I traveled all over France and even to other nearby countries with my closest friends. One of my favorite memories was visiting Giverny, the home and gardens of the famous French painter, Claude Monet. Of course, I also got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Lock Bridge, a special bridge where people left locks to show their love (sadly, the Lock Bridge doesn't exist anymore).
