Student Summer Adventures: Exploring the History of the Venetian Empire

This summer I went on my Student Diplomacy Corps trip.  I traveled to Italy and parts of Slovenia and Croatia with ten other students from all over the world with our group leader.  There we studied the influences and history of the Venetian Empire. We were totally immersed in the culture. We spent long days walking around the streets of Venice, trying local fresh fish, and going on long relaxing boat rides. Our trip started in Rome where we got to see the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum.  Then we went to Venice as well as Burano and Murano. We spent a week in Trieste which was where we met our host families and stayed with them. Then, for the last week of our trip, we went to Piran, Slovenia, and Rovinj, Croatia. 

All of it was absolutely amazing.  I got to meet new people, make long-lasting friendships, and eat the most incredible tasting food.  It was so much fun being there and learning about their culture and teaching them some of ours. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget.  But if I had to choose a favorite it would definitely be when we spent the whole day on a boat in Slovenia. It was so relaxing and we got to spend time swimming in the water and disconnecting from the world. 

It was definitely all of the people that I met during the trip.  They taught me so much, and I was able to learn a lot about myself from them.  This trip definitely helped me realize that I need to start doing things for me and what makes me happy and not just for others.  Also to just take a moment, disconnect from the world, and to just live in the moment.

I will take what I learned and use it to keep finding myself and to have an open mindset, while also working on finding time to disconnect and just spend the time with the people I care about.