Caitlin Burke

Almost every day, I went to a park or a local cafe and journaled about my experiences. Although this picture doesn't convey these interactions, through this daily routine, I met — and talked to — locals who I shared park benches with or stood next to in line with at cafes.
This picture makes me laugh because it took everything in me to try to appear as calm as possible. While in Capri, the program provided us with tickets to the lift — a ski lift type thing that took us individually up to the top of the island. This was extremely outside of my comfort zone, as I am not the biggest fan of heights, but the view and experience were totally worth it.
Right in my 'backyard' was the Palazzo Vecchio, the main political square of Florence. Every morning on my walk to class or back to my apartment, something significant seemed to be going on. One day, during class, we passed through a funeral ceremony happening right in the square. This picture captures the complexity of history and culture I experienced, just on my daily walk to class.
Although this particular picture was staged, I felt that I needed to take a picture with Luca — the person who connected NC State and LdM Institute. At the beginning of the program, I had a lot of phone issues, so Luca and I frequently met at the TIM store, and through these interactions, I learned a lot about his family and life in Florence. He was our tour guide and was the main reason I learned so much while abroad.
By far my favorite experience! In Cinque Terre, during our boat tour, our boat driver stopped around a famous waterfall and told us to jump out. It was so much fun swimming to the waterfall from the boat with my friends and other locals and tourists. Once again, this was something way outside of my comfort zone but ended up being so incredibly worth it.

Caitlin's Experience in Italy:

Award recipient in Summer 2019

The last five weeks have been the most transformative and impactful weeks of my life — not only did I discover more of the world than I ever could have imagined, but I learned an immense amount about myself as well. Every day in Italy was an opportunity for me to grow as both a student and as a future educator. I faced challenges unlike any other than I had before. In my initial essay, I used the phrase “I feel like I am jumping out of a plane” in regards to studying abroad in Italy. I was so right. There was no safety net there to catch me, I was alone — well, I was with my roommate — in Milan, with no idea what to do.

Before the program started, my roommate and I traveled to Milan and Lake Como. I had organized everything leading up to the trip, so it felt as though I was a teacher leading a field trip to a foreign country. Challenge number one was the Milano Centrale train station — it was huge, and not to mention, all in Italian! I’d never felt so helpless and intimidated as I did standing in that massive train station with zero idea of where to go. But, by our last week in Italy, I had us hopping on and off trains, navigating the Italian train system with great ease — well let’s not get crazy, it was still stressful! Another significant challenge I faced right off the bat was the language barrier. At all of our group meetings, students and professors alike assured me that there was no need to learn Italian… well, I guess none of them had gone to Milan. The language barrier was so intimidating in Milan that it brought me to tears. That first night I cried. I called my mom; I wanted to go home. After that first night, I never looked back. The tears were gone and so was all the anxiety I had built up. From that moment forward, I never stopped smiling.

Despite this rocky start, I had an amazing time because I chose to use those stressful moments as a time to learn. I often found myself to be the one who organized lunch plans, study sessions, and fun activities in Florence. During our free-weekend, a group of eight of us traveled to Cinque Terre. I booked the Airbnb, the boat tour, train tickets, made restaurant reservations and was quickly coined the name of ‘mom.’ With this new name came a lot of responsibility — I’ve said it before, but I will say it again, I honestly felt like a teacher leading a field trip. I had screenshots of all our confirmations, I had written down addresses and contacts and I always pretended like I knew what was going on — even if I didn’t. This experience has better prepared me to be a teacher and act as a leader within the College of Education over the next three years.

Italy challenged me in a way that no class could have. I now have a growing sense of self-confidence, I discovered a new side to my leadership skills, and I have memories that will last a lifetime. Now, I feel more prepared to teach students with unique cultural backgrounds. I also feel that I will be able to relate to students who lack confidence in the classroom. Additionally, having experienced being a student in an Italian classroom, I now have new ideas for things to incorporate into my classroom. Almost every day of class, we took a field trip to a museum, a chapel, or a park — and although I know this is not entirely feasible here in Wake County, I would love to find a way to make the world my classroom and to extend the learning process beyond my physical classroom. I can’t wait to share my experience with peers within the College of Education and with my future students!