Le Moyne College Stories

Ever since I was a young child, I wanted to study abroad. As I was surfing through the Fall 2015 course schedule last spring, I noticed that there was a Major Authors course being offered for Shakespeare that had a mandatory ten day trip to Venice. I knew at that moment that I was going to Venice. One five hour car ride, six hour flight to Amsterdam, five hour layover, two more hours in the air, and then I was in Venice. When I arrived in Venice, I had no idea how much of an adventure is was in for. When I arrived in Venice, my heart dropped as I stepped off the bus to my new home for the next ten days. I couldn’t wait for the next week and a half ahead of me. My heart dropped almost as much later that night as I watched my phone fall out of my pocket and into the canal system. My first day in the city and I no longer had a phone. This put a slight damper on the beginning of my trip but by no means did I allow it to ruin the rest of my trip. In fact, losing my phone forced me to put all of my energy into taking in all that I could in this beautiful city. I noticed that when I first arrived in Venice that I was focused on my phone and wasn’t enjoying my surroundings in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I took losing my phone as a sign to stop focusing on what was going on back home and to focus on the present. Each day we went into the city and explored before beginning our day of activities. We learned about the history of the city, toured a variety of buildings with absolutely gorgeous architecture, and ate incredibly delicious food. My favorite meal I had while I was in Venice was at a fast food place. This place served homemade pasta with a variety of homemade sauces. My favorite was the ragu alla bolognese. I went back three times. My absolute favorite part of our day-to-day activities was simply walking around the residential areas of the city. Our professor told us before the trip that we should try to go off the beaten path to find some of the best places in Venice. After spending the ten days there, I couldn’t agree more. I saw some gorgeous architecture and ate the most delicious foods when I was off the beaten path in the residential areas. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I was given to travel to Venice with my Major Authors course. I cannot encourage other students enough to take advantage of these short term study abroad programs. I was told as a freshman that I wouldn’t be able to study abroad due to the fact that I’m a biology major and I have too many course requirements. I was ecstatic that I was able to spend ten days in the beautiful city of Venice. I was able to do something that I have always dreamed of doing and I loved every second of it. Contributed by Evan Davis ‘18 majoring in Biological Science