This month we are gearing up to celebrate International Education Week (IEW), a special celebration recognized especially by our colleagues in the field of International Education.

Sant’Anna will also be hosting a special webinar event for the occasion of IEW with a focus on preparing our students for the challenges they face while abroad, in particular in their international internships, and using these challenges as stepping stones to success.

Every time a new group of students arrive, the same thought always crosses my mind: “How courageous these young people are.” Because no matter where they are from or how long they stay here, every student that comes to study at Sant’Anna makes the courageous decision to travel into the unknown. They consciously leave behind their comfort zones, their best friends, their daily habits, their favorite places to go out and enjoy themselves… and they take a giant leap going somewhere where they basically start a new comfort zone from scratch, having to adapt to new habits, making new friends, finding new places to enjoy.

This journey that each of our students sets off on is one that I have incredible respect for because I also went along this same challenging path myself when I left Italy to study abroad for a few years in England. I remember the frustrations with the cultural differences and having to work through them. My own children have also embarked on their own journeys of living abroad. For my daughter, has been the possibility to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor when here in Italy there are a limited number of spots to study the medical field at university. She lives and studies in Eastern Europe, where the culture is very different to Western Europe’s but her passion is stronger than every challenge she encounters and keeps her going.

For many young people studying abroad another challenge could be their friends and family who might think they are taking a crazy risk to venture where they don’t speak the main language, to a place so far from home, somewhere they don’t have friends or a deeply rooted support system, etc. Although, when we truly want something and are passionate about having this type of experience in our lives, we have to go for it no matter if there are some that disagree, no matter if the road will be easy or hard. We must take the motivation and strength from our passion to discover something new.

People tend to judge and even discourage things that are new or risky or unknown. For example, when I opened this school I can’t count how many people told me it would be too difficult, even impossible, that I was crazy for trying to start something this new to our area and surely to be challenging to establish. But I was so strongly driven by a vision to have people from different countries coming here to Sorrento and having the opportunity to get to know them and their cultures that I couldn’t not take that leap.

So as I mentioned earlier, we will be celebrating International Education Week this month. We are excited to have a big star visit us (virtually) for the webinar event, and I am looking forward to hearing her story, which certainly also had moments of great challenges and probably also voices that could have been discouraging, even the voice within that sometimes can be louder than all the rest.

For me, the purpose of International Education is empowering students to follow their own paths, helping them first discover what those paths might entail, and also supporting them to navigate the challenges they will surely face and to follow the voices that encourage them to “go for the gold” in their own life journeys.

– Cristiana

Communication is a fundamental part of every culture. It is even a fundamental part of our everyday lives, as we are constantly communicating throughout every day – from emails to video chats, casual conversations to formal meetings, even the body language we have and observe in others when we walk down the street.

The tendencies we have in the way we communicate and also the way we perceive what others are trying to communicate is strongly linked to our cultural upbringing. This is a fascinating subject that I have subconsciously been learning more and more about since I founded Sant’Anna and took on a very active role of helping young generations in their cross-cultural experiences here in Sorrento. In fact, this is a main part of our school’s mission – to empower students to become active global citizens – and being more culturally aware is an integral part of the success of this mission.

Over these years working closely with American culture, I have noted several differences between our cultures’ communication styles. We Italians tend to be more direct when we communicate (saying exactly what’s on our mind). We are less private and more open with our communications, which can be noted by the stereotypical gestures we do with our hands when we speak. We are more informal and personal, even in work settings. Whereas, Americans have an overall more private nature, are more formal in the workplace, and can often be reserved in their expressions. Of course, these are stereotypes of our cultures so they are not true for everyone; however, it is very useful for us to gain this type of cultural awareness in order to better live and work with each other.

There is also another “culture” that has become increasingly prevalent in our communication, especially in the past two years – “virtual culture.” Having to communicate more and more in a virtual way has lessened the emphasis on body language, tone of voice, facial expressions – aspects of communication that are lost in some virtual channels like texts and emails – and on the other hand, it has increased the importance of our written communications – the words we choose, the way we structure phrases, etc.

This topic and these ideas are repeatedly addressed in our study abroad program, especially to our international interns in the LEaD program (Leadership, Engagement, and Development). Week by week they gather to reflect on both themselves as individuals and the culture that surrounds them (southern Italian culture) in order to improve their interactions and cross-cultural relationships, in particular in the workplace.

However, not just our student interns are exposed to the idea of cross-cultural communication. This is a major part of every study abroad student’s experience, whether they realize it or not. Our commitment to experiential learning at Sant’Anna to encourage students to dive into their host culture, to reflect on the differences they experience, and to learn more not just about another culture, but about themselves in the process. The outcome is also a greater ability to tailor our communications according to the people we are trying to reach. Our wish is that students leave Sorrento, not only with this transferable skill for their future careers, but this lifetime skill for our globalized society.

 

– Cristiana

 

Dear alumni, colleagues, and friends,

Another school year has officially begun, and we at Sant’Anna have been busy getting ready to make this Fall 2021 semester the best one possible for our group of 40 U.S. university students who have journeyed to Sorrento with open hearts and open minds, ready to soak in a semester in Italy.

In August our staff were hard at work preparing all the details for the students’ arrival – making sure all the health and safety protocols are in order, accommodations are set up and ready to welcome their new tenants, finalizing class schedules and materials, and putting final touches on our Student Life clubs, activities, and cultural excursions.

There has also been special attention to the subject of well-being, especially during this time when we know how the covid pandemic has already greatly affected this generation of students, and we want our study abroad programming to be a benefit for students’ mental health – through meditation and mindfulness activities, more conversations about well-being, and reminders about the resources available, we hope to get through this particularly challenging time together, and stronger than ever.

With that being said, I would like to give a big welcome to our new fall students. You are here – you made it! And I hope you all have the experience of a lifetime.

Warm wishes,

Cristiana

Reflection is an integral part of Sant’Anna’s International Internship Program because, even in a short-term program, an intercultural internship is an intense and immensely rewarding experience. Our goal is that our student interns have the possibility to realize how much they can grow, personally and professionally, through this journey and also learn how to best express the value of their experience to benefit their future career paths.

As I, myself, reflect back on the journey I have taken with Sant’Anna Institute, I too can appreciate how much I have learned since the beginning of starting this school, in particular, how much I have learned from my colleagues and students from the U.S.

When we first started working with U.S. universities, there was a need to better understand the American culture, and more than just how the university system works (which is very different from the Italian one).

Working with student interns has taught me a lot, and not only me but the organizations that we collaborate with in the communities of the Sorrento Peninsula (as well as in Naples) because this program is not a one-way street. It is a cultural exchange, where both the students learn from us, and we learn from them.

Some of the simple, but important lessons I have learned from the U.S. culture are to think big and to believe in our strengths. Believe we can make it. I think this is the beauty of the “American dream.” Also, the importance of giving back and helping others – serving the community. At this stage of my life, after 24 years in the field of International Education, I have a strong desire to be a mentor to this community, especially to this new, young, budding generation.

Overall, I believe in International Internships because they capture the essence of Study Abroad – immersing and embracing another culture in a deeper way, by adopting it as your own. This has been my fortune of working with the American culture, and it is an even greater fortune to be able to offer this opportunity to our international students.

 

This past month I had the immense honor of receiving the “Sorrento in the World”  Award from the Lions Club of the Sorrento Peninsula. Overall, this moment reminded me of the long journey I have taken to be where I find myself today. My experience leaving my home in the north of Italy and coming to the south completely on my own and having to learn how to prove myself was one of the most profound lessons I have had in life.

This is why I would like to dedicate this award, first of all to my daughter Beatrice and to all young women of her generation, who are just getting started in their adult lives, ready to explore the world and pave their futures. I want them, and really all members of younger generations, to know the value in following their dreams, in discovering who they are as individuals, especially beyond the comforts of their circles from home. I want them to know that they can make it. They can do it.

We are all strong in our own ways, and although fulfilling our dreams is not an easy road for anyone, the advice I want to share is to not let anyone diminish your strengths, your passions or who you are. I have even had students tell me how they would love to be me, which is such a compliment to be seen as a role model; however, the example I want to set for all of my students is to trust in who they are and to have the confidence to be themselves – to the fullest.

The most rewarding part of being a leader at Sant’Anna is having this younger generation to inspire. I welcome our students to the south, touching Sorrento soil for the first time, just like me all those years ago, knowing that this experience could be a spark for each of them, for something great ahead.

Everytime a new group of students arrives in Sorrento, it is fulfilling to see their eyes big with wonder of this new reality around them, full of desire to know more about their new surroundings. However, I don’t think many students realize that by the end of their study abroad journey, they will not have only learned a great deal about this new place and new culture, but about themselves. Each arrival brings me back to my own time as a study abroad student, and it is my wish for each and every one of our Sant’Anna students to have the same opportunity for a metamorphic experience.

When we are used to living in the same place, with the same people around us and the same routine, our perspective, even our perspective of ourselves, may be limited. In a different place, with new stimuli, we are often forced to shift perspectives and adapt to new realities. It is our mission at Sant’Anna to inspire and motiviate students to find and to be their authentic selves and to encourage them to shine the light on their talents and passions, especially those that may not have been evident to them before. In fact, the very word educate comes from the Latin word educ?re, which means to take out or to extract – and this is the magic of our work as educators – to help our students extract their full inner potential.

Discovering one’s strengths and the desire to fulfill one’s dreams no matter the challenge is another amazing aspect of the study abroad experience. Studying abroad has plenty of challenges, but through these, many students develop more confident attitudes towards life, which is also not always an easy journey. We have been sharing some of our alumni stories, which are testimonies of Sant’Anna students who were able, through their study abroad experience in Sorrento, to realize new capabilities and better understand who they wanted to be and what they wanted to do in their futures, embracing fantastic careers in a variety of fields and professions.

It makes me very proud to be a part of this process that encourages students to be free, to be happy, and to live the life that they have chosen for themselves. Last week we welcomed our first onsite Summer students to Sorrento, and we are excited to fulfill our mission once again with our new arrivals and the many more to come.

Dear friends ,

Caring for each other is important in all of our lives, especially during times like these with the covid pandemic. Covid has taught all of us to appreciate the the essentials in life. We have learned not to take for granted simple parts of life, like gathering with our friends or going on a trip. We have encountered new experiences and new emotions.

The opportunity that we were given to visit the Town Hall of Sorrento and meet with the mayor, despite all of the current restrictions in place, was a moving and momentous event. For the mayor, the RtHon. Massimo Coppola, to take the time to acknowledge not only Sant’Anna for our perseverance in the name of international education, but especially our seven Spring semester students from the U.S. who have made this mission all possible, was a tremendous honor.

The mayor was also impressed by the will of our students to engage with Sorrento, in particular with the service learning project “Tyler’s Touch” that we are bringing to Sorrento this semester through the vision of one of our students, Tyler Mason. The project essentially gathers toiletry products to donate to women’s shelters, which we will be doing on the Sorrento Peninsula to donate to a shelter in Naples. As a woman and a mother of a 20-year-old daughter, the thought of her having to endure a violent environment is very scary. So this project centered on caring for each other, no matter the quantity of products that will be donated, is of great significance us women, for our daughters, and for the next generations.

So in short, right now we are living a moment of appreciation, cherishing what we have and what we can do for each other.

My son will be graduating this month, and unfortunately, the ceremony will be online and there will be no big celebration like had always been planned. However, this is still a huge milestone in his life. I told him to look at what he has achieved – to not let the circumstances diminish the importance of this event. A change in our perspective can make all the difference in living, especially during a pandemic, to the fullest.

So my wish and my focus during this unique time, is for our students to see glass half full and to enjoy all there is to enjoy in this moment at its best

 

Cristiana

Dear Sant’Anna community,

As we have recently announced, Sant’Anna Institute is honored to have begun a new partnership with The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America® – OSDIA. As a frequent visitor of the U.S., I have had many first-hand experiences with the Italian American culture, and something I have found is that the younger generations of Italian Americans seem to have a disconnect with modern day Italy. They are more knowledgable about the Italian culture of older generations, likely the ones that emigrated from Italy and passed down their traditions in America. It is beautiful, however, to see the Italian heritage so proudly carried in the U.S.

On the other hand, or should I say, on the other side of the Atlantic, we have welcomed hundreds of American students to Sorrento over the years, many of which have been Italian American and even those who have chosen to study in southern Italy, where most Italian Americans can trace their roots, for the opportunity to connect to their family heritage. And when they do come here – to live and breathe and speak and eat everything Italian – you can tell they leave with a different perspective. Not only having reconnected with the Italian language and culture, but also the people and the sense of community, reminding them that even across the world, how strong their Italian roots are.

So for our Italian American students especially, the study abroad experience may have an even deeper meaning to the idea of having a “home away from home.” It is my sincerest wish for these students to live this experience to the fullest and possibly discover something new about who they are and where they come from. I hope that their time abroad is like a bell, ringing to awaken them to a new understanding of their roots, their Italian American families, and themselves.

I look forward to continuing this mission, alongside The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America®, of connecting Italian Americans to their heritage in southern Italy.

Sincerely,

Cristiana

Dear friends ,

Caring for each other is important in all of our lives, especially during times like these with the covid pandemic. Covid has taught all of us to appreciate the the essentials in life. We have learned not to take for granted simple parts of life, like gathering with our friends or going on a trip. We have encountered new experiences and new emotions.

The opportunity that we were given to visit the Town Hall of Sorrento and meet with the mayor, despite all of the current restrictions in place, was a moving and momentous event. For the mayor, the RtHon. Massimo Coppola, to take the time to acknowledge not only Sant’Anna for our perseverance in the name of international education, but especially our seven Spring semester students from the U.S. who have made this mission all possible, was a tremendous honor.

The mayor was also impressed by the will of our students to engage with Sorrento, in particular with the service learning project “Tyler’s Touch” that we are bringing to Sorrento this semester through the vision of one of our students, Tyler Mason. The project essentially gathers toiletry products to donate to women’s shelters, which we will be doing on the Sorrento Peninsula to donate to a shelter in Naples. As a woman and a mother of a 20-year-old daughter, the thought of her having to endure a violent environment is very scary. So this project centered on caring for each other, no matter the quantity of products that will be donated, is of great significance us women, for our daughters, and for the next generations.

So in short, right now we are living a moment of appreciation, cherishing what we have and what we can do for each other.

My son will be graduating this month, and unfortunately, the ceremony will be online and there will be no big celebration like had always been planned. However, this is still a huge milestone in his life. I told him to look at what he has achieved – to not let the circumstances diminish the importance of this event. A change in our perspective can make all the difference in living, especially during a pandemic, to the fullest.

So my wish and my focus during this unique time, is for our students to see glass half full and to enjoy all there is to enjoy in this moment at its best

 

Cristiana

Dear students, alum, families, partners, and friends,

Our Spring 2021 semester has officially started onsite in Sorrento, and it is already our third week in. The preparation and anticipation for this semester has been a long road, but a very exciting journey as well as our campus welcomed our U.S. university students back onsite for the first time since the Spring 2020 semester.

The decision to reopen our doors once again was a hard one, given the fear of potentially putting any of our students, staff or anyone for that matter in danger. However, after the past year of facing the unknown and learning how to more confidently confront this pandemic with the utmost caution and safety, the desire to be able to give this opportunity to students again was very important to me.

Personally as a mother, with both of my kids abroad last year during the outbreak of the pandemic, I fully understand the anxiety and fear of having my children, pieces of my heart, so far away during difficult times and not being able to protect them completely. But during this period, I was as present and supportive as I could be everyday. It was not only a good lesson for me in learning how to trust them more as adults, but also an important rite of passage in their lives as well –  realizing how to take care of themselves more.

So when I made the decision to open Sant’Anna again, I thought a lot about the other parents out there like me – maybe torn between our innate, selfish desires to keep our kids always next to us under our safe control, but also with the confidence that they are strong enough to make it even on their own.

I felt a lot of responsibility making sure our protocol was in place and everyone was informed and prepared to follow the rules, both staff and students. From the moment they arrived, our students demonstrated their maturity in understanding and respecting the rules, not just set internally at school, but those set at regional and national levels by our government.

It is true pieces of our freedom have been stolen from us during this pandemic, but we have also been reminded of the freedoms that cannot be taken away from us and that we probably no longer take for granted if we had before. Our students exercised their own freedom to take chances and to live to the fullest the opportunities they have been given. They are our proof that no matter happens, we can persevere. The world may change face, but our values in education and life – commitment to multiculturalism, open-mindedness, respect, inclusion – are still there for us to take hold of. It is time to see the world with a new lens, but always with the same wonder.

Our heroes here will be different than the alumni that came before them – they will gain an additional perspective unlike any of our students before, and their personal growth may be intensified as well. We are proud and honored to have them here, and it is my hope and sincerest wish that Spring 2021 will be a respark to a new beginning of studying abroad in Sorrento.

In faith

Cristiana