Frankie Castellucci '24 with her host family in Italy

Providence Day School student Frankie Castellucci ‘24 began this school year swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and enjoying Italian pastries thanks to an exciting opportunity through School Year Abroad (SYA), a nonprofit organization focused on providing immersive study abroad programs to high school students. SYA's program allows students to earn graduation credits while spending a semester or entire sophomore, junior, or senior year in France, Italy, or Spain. Through studying abroad, students get the chance to learn from the world, not just a book. Students attend classes, live with a host family, join co-curricular activities, and participate in educational travel in each country.

On November 11, 2021, PD will host two information sessions for SYA on the PD campus. Students may attend a lunchtime drop-in session with an SYA rep in the DeMayo Gateway Center and that evening at 6:30 p.m. there will be a meeting for interested families in the Academic Center. Learn more about these opportunities at sya.org.

Read below as Castelluci details her incredible life-changing experience so far.

I walked off of the plane in the Aeroporti di Roma, and not only did it feel completely surreal, it felt like someone had pressed the fast forward button on life. Just yesterday I was taking my physics final, but it had already been three months. Just a couple of minutes ago I had still been in the United States, but it had been ten hours. And now I was in Italy.

As the people steadily streamed off of the airplane, the other SYA students and I stepped aside to take a moment to situate all of our stuff. Sweatshirts were dragging on the ground, our backpacks were still open from the cramped rush to get all of our belongings off of the plane, and our hands were full of tickets, phones, wallets, and water bottles. As I took my sweatshirt off and tied it around my waist, I watched as all of the people went past. I put my hair back up in my clip. Do you think she lives in Rome? Is that couple on their honeymoon? 

There is a different kind of curiosity when you get to a new place, and despite the extreme sleep deprivation, I could feel it kicking into hyperdrive. A quick check around our circle made sure we all had what we needed. We merged with the Italians and continued on our journey.

Four of us were from Charlotte. Anne from Myers Park, Mary from Country Day, and Emerson had gone to Latin. Annabelle was from Oklahoma, Eric lived in Nevada but went to school in San Francisco, Jane was from Montana, and Ella was from LA. Despite our entirely different backgrounds, we had a silent agreement that we were now family. No matter what happened, we were all alone in a foreign country, but we were alone together, and that formed a special bond that only certain people experience. 

I really wanted a moment to appreciate where I was, what I had already accomplished, but we were on a schedule. Next up was immigration, baggage, then customs. Once I was on the bus it would be smooth sailing. It was an hour and a half ride to Viterbo where I would spend the next nine months. 

As we walked the airport halls, we got strange looks from the security guards, from the elderly citizens traveling, and pretty much everyone in general. I didn’t think it was that obvious we were American, but apparently, it was. 

We listened to the Italian announcements detailing the documents we needed to present, listened to people asking for directions in Italian, and we listened to couples and friends share some soft conversations in Italian. We were in Italy!!!!!!

I figured that once we made it to the bus everything would be smooth sailing. And honestly, in hindsight that was a pretty funny thought. Because in reality, everything was just getting started. Since the bus, nothing has slowed down. 

We met our host families that evening, started school early the next morning, jumped right into our Italian studies, and I have been playing catch up these last few weeks. 

My morning routine looks like this: wake up at 7:00, get dressed for school (there is a lot of pressure because everyone here is very fashionable), Biscotti (cookies) for breakfast, and then I have to rush to school, try not to trip on the marble stairs for the third time, and classes start at 8:00. Then it is a whirlwind of information, half in English, half in Italian. Important documents need to be signed, classes need to be joined on Canvas, oh and let’s not forget getting a new sim card so that if we get lost in the city we can call someone to pick us up. Trying to navigate the language, culture, and traffic without getting run over, both literally and figuratively, was exhausting. 

By the end of the school day, I was very ready for a nap, but after school, there's shopping, gelato, and exploring the city. What is pretty awesome about learning in a foreign country is that the culture becomes part of the education. For Italian assignments, we go order at a gelato shop and talk to the local teenagers. For science, we walk to a vineyard, pick the grapes, smash the grapes, and learn how to make our own wine. For art history, we go out into the city and walk around. We visit different piazze, go to museums, and even look at the benches. Some of the benches here are the tops of Etruscan sarcophagi. How cool is that?

It has been my dream since I was little to be able to travel. When I saw the opportunity on a Zoom call by Arí Gibson, now a freshman at Stanford, I had finally found something that spoke to me. And honestly, I needed a little convincing at first. Deciding to spend an entire year in a foreign country is an intimidating decision. But my mom knew me very well and helped me to pursue applying. And I am so grateful that I did. The faculty at PD and SYA were incredibly supportive and helpful during the application process and in the pre-departure state of things. 

Just getting here was a major accomplishment, and I am already so proud of myself. I am not going to lie, it has not been easy. There have been some very hard days. Ones where I have felt incompetent, ones where I have just wanted to find an alleyway to cry in and ones where I am willing to find the next flight home just so I can cuddle my puppies. But every minute here is worth it. 

I am in an amazing city surrounded by amazing people. The sheer amount of history that I encounter every single day is astounding. Not to mention all of the experiences that I have gotten to do with the school. In the three weeks that I have been here, I have learned how to make my own wine, gone to see Etruscan tombs, swam in the Mediterranean, and completed a ten-kilometer walk on a pilgrimage route to hot spring baths. I have visited a dying city, swam in a lake created by a dead volcano, and just next weekend my friends and I are going to go to Perugia. 

While I may have had some hard times and will experience many more, there is absolutely nothing that could take this experience away from me. This has given me the key to so many more adventures that I cannot wait to embark on. I am already so close to every single one of my classmates it is hard to imagine that we have been here less than a month. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I came here as a stranger, and when I leave I will call it home. Don’t let your doubts stop you from doing something life-changing.