Italy The Sights and Sounds of Italy

Each student has a unique and individual experience on their Experiment program. The following essay is a single glimpse into a program from one student's perspective.

Megan Lui

Hajj

I didn't know that when I signed up for a hajj to Italy, I also would get the bonus of a hajj to myself. I didn't know I would be walking in the footsteps of Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame, or Frances Mayes, who wrote "Under the Tuscan Sun," or even Princess Ann in "Roman Holiday." Obviously, I knew that by traveling through Italy, I would learn much about the Italian culture, language and maybe even experience some personal growth. However, what I didn't know was that Italy would help me find out who I was and who I wanted to be.
Every part of life, especially adolescence, is about exploring the person you were born as and to let life's experiences and the people you encounter shape this person. In doing so, you can listen to what you really want and create a happy life.

As an adolescent, I naturally struggle with the conception of who I actually am. Before the Experiment, I thought I knew who I was: I was a daughter, I was a sister, I was a student, I was a pianist, I was a New Yorker, I was a club president and the list goes on.

However, I didn't know how to reconcile all these parts of me and see myself as one individual who assumes all these roles. I couldn't see who I was stripped of my family, my school community, the piano community, New York, and so on. I could only see myself in separate, compartmentalized roles. I could only see myself in relation to other people, not by myself just being me. Therefore, the Experiment provided me with a chance to separate myself from everything I knew, to vacate my life--I guess that's why they call them "vacations"--and all these labels to catalyze my lifelong journey to self-discovery.

Vacating my life and stepping out of my comfort zone helped me learn what I was made of and what I was capable of. Leaving the familiar means putting yourself in situations that challenge what you are comfortable with, that challenge all the knowledge you have acquired in life and that challenge you. New experiences can range in difficulty but they always teach you something about your boundaries and your strength.

Knowing this, I embraced and, sometimes, had to tackle every new opportunity I came across. Sometimes, it was easy: trying fungi pizza, diving off a boat and into the open sea for the first time, speaking a new language, meeting new friends. Sometimes, it was hard: maneuvering around seatless toilets, improvising the daily schedule without running water, navigating Roman public transportation and winding streets to find a restaurant, trying to communicate with my host family.

After each experience, however tasking, I discovered that I could be a leader, I could be flexible and resourceful, I could be a quick-learner with languages, I could take care of myself. These experiences helped me uncover another aspect of myself, not as a student or a president of the Art Club but as me, a flexible, resourceful leader and quick-learner with languages. These experiences and these new people helped me find myself, in doing so, changed me. By changing me and helping me find myself, Italy and the people I met in Italy helped me listen to what my soul craves.

Not only did the Experiment teach me a lot about who I am and guide me in the right direction, the Experiment also took it a step further: it helped me with trying to find my own course in life. By helping me listen to my soul, the Experiment helped me see the life I want to lead. The Experiment exposed me to the different lifestyles humans can lead. Leaving the familiar politically liberal, socially conservative, ethnically diverse, secular, bustling environment that I grew up in, I was exposed to people with lifestyles and beliefs that were radically different than mine.

In fact, the exposure was twofold: I met Italians and Americans. Sometimes, the differences between two Americans were starker than the differences between an American and an Italian. It was refreshing and sometimes even iconoclastic to listen to people talk about their views and to live their lives.

I saw the different ways I could lead my life spread out in front of me like an all-you-can-eat buffet from which I can pick and choose. I just had to listen to the soul that Italy was helping me uncover and begin to lead a life that satisfies this soul.

The Experiment created an environment for me to try on and, well, experiment with different lifestyles to see which one fit best--I guess that's why the program is called "The Experiment in International Living."

I decided not to contact my parents for the five weeks I stayed in the Italy with the exception of two or three emails in the final days and I decided to use my own money (which I earned from being a camp counselor) to experience as much independence as I possibly could. Because I was in a different country, free from the influence of parents, friends, peer pressure, school administrators, and the media, however beneficial or detrimental the influence, I was able to create a life that pleased me and just me.

In addition, I was actually able to do it; I was independent. Often I didn't need anybody but myself to solve the problems that I encountered. Not only did the Experiment allow me to choose what I wanted my life to be like but it also gave me the experience and the skills to live it, on my own.

I know I have much more life ahead of me to experience and many more people to encounter who will shape my soul and rock my core but this past summer has jump-started my lifelong search for who I really am. I am beginning to discover parts of me. I am beginning to listen to these parts of me to discover what I should do and where I should go to be the happiest. I am beginning to just be.