Italy: Where One Woman's Dream Came True

Her experience in Italy was something unlike anything she had experience before. It was a new country, with all new people, a whole new language, and a whole you way of life. Even though knowing it was going to be a difficult adjustment she knew even more it would be a great opportunity. She went to Italy to receive her Master’s Degree in Italian, but came out with much more than that.
With a smile on her face, her hair pulled back, in an all black outfit, Professor Nicola Maria Ventresca shared her fondest memories of her five years living abroad in what she referred to as, “One of the most beautiful places [I’ve] ever been,” Florence, Italy. Professor Ventresca dug for details and tried to find a way to fully express the joy she felt while living in Italy as she sat with her hands folded at her desk in her office on the second floor of Olin after teaching a section of Italian 101.
Professor Ventresca knew that her life would change when she went abroad, but in what way, she was not certain. She said, “The whole program of school over there was so different for me, and I knew it would be going in to it,” but she knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When her plane landed in Italy she did some wondering, tried to figure out where she was, and hopefully get an idea of what she was doing there. Little did she know, sooner than expected, someone would come in to her life that would change her forever. She told me, “I knewing it was going to be a hard experience without having my best girlfriends by my side for late night chats and advice, I was still planning to make the absolute best of my time there.” Her third night living in Florence, she went out to dinner with some other students in her program. They went out to a local restaurant. She laughed and started to blush and said, “There were some Italian men there at the dinner, but one in particular that caught my attention.” With a never ending smile on her face she told me, “That’s when I met Marco.”
Her time in Florence was incomparable to anything she had ever done. The adventures she took were unforgettable. She went all over Italy, she went to Venice, Rome, Milan, and Pompeii just to name a few, but that is not even half of the places she traveled to. Laughing she said, “Most of the time, I never knew where I was. We went all over, and every time I got there I would ask, ‘Now where am I?’” And, as she showed off her pictures of one of the most beautiful countries in the world her face brightened and she stopped for a second to think about the happiest time she ever had in Italy.
She and her new cliché of an Italian boyfriend, Marco, were inseparable after the night they met at dinner. They did everything together. They went to astonishing places and she learned so much from him. He even helped to improve her Italian. Often times when they were fighting, “He would make me so mad. While we were fighting, he would actually have the nerve to correct my Italian!” She said laughing almost hysterically with her hand on her hip, “But really he made my trip wonderful.” She began to fall in love with this adorable Italian man from Verona, Italy and knew that it was more than a little crush she was going to have to tell her friends about when she returned home. This was going to be the man she spent the rest of her life with. While walking through Venice at Christmas time, the mood was set, they were happier than ever. They saw a couple getting married on the bridge and they decided it was time to get married. Knowing the process was going to be a difficult one with all the paper work because they were international, all they really had on their minds was the love they shared and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Now, the question was, where? How? Could family be there? Was this really happening? It was more perfect than she had hoped.
On a trip home to Marco’s hometown in Verona, they went to see the ever famous Romeo and Juliet balcony. It was beautiful. While they were there wondering around they looked around and said, “Let’s just get married.” So, they picked a date and at the romantic balcony at Juliet’s tomb they said their I dos, and just “Got married.” It was, “Random and refreshing.”
A year later, she returned home, and with all her family and friends, and even some of Marco’s family from Italy, and some of her students she taught abroad, they had the typical, fun, big, Italian American wedding.
She knew Italy would change her life forever, but the experience she had and the love that she found were more than she had expected to come away with. Marco changed her life, she fell in love and as a cliché romantic story would end, she lived happily ever after.