When I was a child, I loved learning.
Gaining new information unlocked the answers I needed to understand the world around me. As I learned to read and make sense of numbers and characters, I could suddenly read signs and understand symbols I couldn’t before. This gave me my first taste of independence and self-sufficiency.
Around middle school, understanding became more difficult. Real-life applications became harder to come by as I was taught complex mathematical formulas and technical terms I didn’t understand.
The more time passed, the more I focused on getting good grades. I learned just enough to test well so I could finish each academic year and be done with the schoolwork I now loathed.
It wasn’t until this year I realized how much I truly missed learning, but more importantly, understanding the content in my classes. My love for learning was revived this past spring semester when I studied abroad in Rome.
The study abroad program was one of the reasons I applied to Temple because of the great opportunity it provided to get out of my comfort zone and travel solo. What I didn’t expect was to enjoy my classes much more in Italy than at home.
Living in a foreign country forced me to be independent and navigate a language barrier. I was surprised at how much easier it was to learn Italian because everyone around me spoke it fluently.
When I first arrived in Rome, the only word I knew was “ciao,” which means hello. During my first week, the security guard in my apartment building asked me where I was from and how my day was. I had to use Google Translate to answer his simple questions.
Eventually, I was able to converse with the elderly woman in my building, exchanging kind greetings I hadn’t known before. After a month, I could ask the security guard questions about directions and restaurant recommendations for our area.
I struggled with language classes in the past because I treated them like all the other subjects: a means to an end to pass the class with a good grade. In Italy, I was more involved with class and began learning additional material on my own so I could talk to the people around me.
For my final project in my photography class, we could choose any subject to focus on. I chose to focus on photographing and interacting with people on the street to push myself outside of my comfort zone even more.
I learned to talk to random people, many of whom were locals, to take their photo and then send it to them. I felt that feeling of unlocking the world again, which was something I had lost since childhood.
I mastered enough Italian throughout the semester to ask people for permission to take their photos and compliment them on how good they looked. Since my project was originally titled “Nonnas of Rome” it felt good to be able to say something nice to the older women who were dressed up with their scarves and hats.
I focused on taking pictures of people and trying to capture the way they felt. Looking back at them now, months later, I remember each subject’s voice and how kind they had been to me when my Italian was less than great. The photos bring back memories of how I was feeling, where I was going and what I was doing on the days they were taken.
I knew rejection from people who didn’t want to be photographed was inevitable. Yet no one was rude to me, they would just mutter a polite “no thank you” and move on. Even the rejection felt good because at least I had a nice interaction with someone in another language.
I was much more academically involved once I realized how much I missed that feeling of understanding. My classes were suddenly more interesting, and I found myself worrying about my comprehension rather than my grades.
After my semester abroad, I’m now finding my specialty in journalism is photography. Street photography presents a unique opportunity. I’m always fascinated by strangers on the street, whether it’s because they have an interesting sense of style or the way they carry themselves. Sometimes it’s even the emotion in their eyes. Photography allows me to converse with strangers and attempt to capture their spirit.
It was amazing to have the opportunity to capture complex emotions like happiness and sorrow. The feelings of excitement and achievement are immortalized on my camera and I can revisit them whenever I’d like. For a while, I viewed photography as nothing more than a hobby, but after spending a semester abroad I realized it is so much more than that.
As a senior, I feel like my time in school isn’t finished. The ending I’ve been waiting for is right around the corner and instead of being excited, I now dread it. I began researching graduate schools abroad after discovering a different appreciation for education during my time in Italy.
The motivation that new places and experiences provide is enough to make me consider moving away from home. I’d like to return to Europe after I graduate from Temple and continue taking photos while exploring new countries. My time in Italy showed me how much I love photography. Not just the feeling of taking a beautiful picture but getting to talk to people and understand them.
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