If you’re reading this blog, you’re a person of curiosity. If you’re like me, you like history… a lot. You also like to travel, study for the thrill of learning, meet new species of people, think about the world, and all-in-all… just plain take in life for the sake of stopping to admire the wonderful views, sounds, smells and tastes. My name is Kira Carmen Gilson. I didn’t sign up for this trip just on a whim, and I didn’t end up in Europe because of a fluke. Being a part of this program was a goal.

Some of you might be able to relate to me on this one: I’ve been waiting for years and years and years to go to the Old World, for I have never left the USA in my life and I’ve always had a yearning wonder about the place where my ancestors (and perhaps yours, too) came from.

There have been times when I thought seeing Europe would never happen in my youth, but thanks to SPC study abroad, my life has changed forever!

In the days I’ve been here, my experience has been complex and varied. Initially upon the arrival in Italy, everything seemed as if I walked into a dream, another world, just something else… nothing here was like what I had come to expect day to day in the USA. My fine friend, I could see the character dripping out of every corner.

O! The joy of experiencing the old world for the first time.