This is one of my most fond memories of the 2024 trip to Italy. This was towards the beginning of the food walking tour, of which at the end we could barely walk because of how much we ate. Even though me and my close friend Hayden, (girl in the middle), ended up dancing all those calories off to the music from the street performers around us. In this photo we were eating authentic rice balls in marinara. This was one of my favorite dishes from the whole trip. Our tour guide for the walking tour, who I called Edna for her awesome glasses, was super cool! She was so funny and super kind. On the walking tour I got a lot of time to listen to the information about the food, but a lot of time to get to know my classmates. I truly loved this time because I got to know my classmates on a very intimate level. We talked about our personal lives and asked each other for advice and opinions. It was really a bonding time.

We also got to experience this very beautiful town together which also drew us so close. Because of this trip, I have actually hung out with them outside of school and formed really close relationships with a few of them. Without this trip I would never have met these wonderful people and would never have had such a lovely time. Your group can really make or break a trip, and I feel like our group really made this trip so special. Although the exhaustion at times got to us and we got annoyed sometimes, I remember so many special things with these lovely people.

This food walking tour not only helped us bond together, but we all got to try new things together. For me as an Italian, food is a great way to bond. We bond like that with friends and family, often cooking native food for each other and those we love. So, truly this tour helped us bond and experience new and fun things together. Now, I will have such lovely memories with these people and what we got to experience together, all thanks to SPC study abroad.
– Mackenzie, SPC Italy High School Study Abroad Program, March 2024