What's the best hug you've ever received in your life? For Caroline Tahany '25, that's easy. It happened in a random parking lot with a woman she didn't know.
Since high school, Caroline couldn't wait to study abroad and immerse herself in a different culture. By the time she walked into Siena's Study Abroad office, she had decided on mainland Europe, but that still left dozens of options. Siena, Italy was suggested as a possible destination and Caroline was sold one Google search later.
"I literally went back to my room and typed 'Siena, Italy' into a search. Right then, I thought, 'All right, I'm sold.' I saw a picture of the Piazza del Campo, the city's main public space. It was the selling point. That's all I needed to see. I knew I didn't want to go to a major city. Siena is the perfect size and the pictures I found were just beautiful."
This fall, Caroline packed her bags for a city she knew little about, and prepared to live with a woman she knew nothing about. Caroline admits she was a little nervous at the idea of living with a host family. Her specific host is an Italian woman with zero English skills. That's been a bit of a challenge considering Caroline doesn't speak Italian. The anxiety melted away during a three-minute hug.
"We got picked up at the airport and shuttled to a parking lot, and that's where I met my host mom. She gave me the biggest hug and held me for three minutes. It's the biggest welcome I've ever received from anyone."
There were a lot of hand gestures at first, but Caroline is picking up some Italian, and she's teaching her host mom, Monica, some English. Caroline will be getting a "brother" next week when a college student from England moves in. No word yet on his Italian skills, but Caroline says it will be nice to have another English speaker in the house.
Caroline is a history education major and plans to teach history in middle school or high school. She now believes her on-the-ground education in Italian culture will make her a better educator to her future students.
"Being here and learning about European history, it makes me want to teach European history. When you experience it, you learn there are different perspectives on history. Take World War II, for example. We learn about Italy's involvement through an American lens, but Italians have a point of view as well. I think it's important to see both sides."
Caroline's tasting more than Italian culture. She traveled with a few friends to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest and met people from all over the world. She shared a tent with tourists from Australia, the U.S., Switzerland, and the list goes on. Caroline wanted to study abroad to experience different cultures and meet different peoples. Through the hugs and beer and food alone, she's already more than satisfied that her Google search steered her to the right destination.
