During my time in Italy, I have certainly faced many challenges, and I have already learned so much. One particular example that comes to mind is receiving mail. Receiving mail has never been a problem for me. When I lived at home, my packages and mail came right to my doorstep or mailbox. Then, when I moved to college, my packages got shipped to a mailroom. Small adaptation, but no trouble there. However, something as simple as receiving mail in Italy has proved to be quite the struggle for me for whatever reason.

All I wanted to do was to pick up my credit card because in typical fashion, my credit card got canceled due to fraud right before I left for Italy. So, I had my dad ship my new one to me, following all the directions given to me by the school. I thought it would be simple, but I was very wrong. The package had gotten delivered on a day the school was closed, so I had to go pick it up from the post office. Easy enough. I got to the post office and waited for an hour before my number flashed on the screen. So, I give the lady my claim ticket, and she does not speak English, but I deduce that she was telling me I was at the wrong post office. A big waste of time, but there was nothing I could do. The next day, I go to the correct location, wait for a while, and my number gets skipped. I choose a new number, give my claim ticket to the man, and he informs me that I have to come back the next day. At this point, I am very frustrated, but I come back the next day. I go through the same process. This time the lady asks for my passport, which I did not bring with me because I had no way of knowing it was necessary. Thankfully, she ends up reluctantly giving me my card.

The moral of the story is that some things have been unclear for me. With a language barrier and different norms, I have definitely taken missteps in many situations. However, with each obstacle I face, I find a new way to overcome a challenge and reassure myself that I will be able to figure everything out, even if it takes longer than I would like it to. I’ve had to embrace the journey of figuring out how to do things that are usually much simpler for me. It definitely allows me to appreciate the end result more than I have before. In addition, I would say my communication skills have grown immensely. Having to rely on body language and facial expressions has allowed me to better understand others, despite having a language barrier.