Travel Observations

 Summer In Europe Lesson Learned

My sophomore year at Pepperdine I was lucky enough to spend a summer in Italy. I was a young 20 year old American girl who did not know what awaited her. I learned so much and spent 3 1/2 months discovering this world. I learned as an “American” I walked very fast and did not appreciate my surroundings. I had many incidents where I was impatient with how things were done in Europe.I am sure my old roommate remembers the incident where we got stuck in the bank because I was to impatient to wait for the revolving doors to open. I learned so much but one of the things I will always remember is the culture. It seemed Italians sat down for dinner for hours. At first I would grow so impatient because I was not used to these long dinners; but Pepperdine tried to instill this tradition in the Villa. At the end of the trip I grew to love the 3 hour dinners. Looking back I have always valued sitting around the table having great conversations with my family, friends and loved ones. How many of you appreciate these dinners and find yourself wishing our daily lives presented more opportunities to sit around the table and have these deep conversations?