Small Victories

One of my biggest challenges while studying abroad in Italy has been learning Italian and feeling confident enough to speak it when given the chance. Throughout this process I have realized that I really love languages, especially Italian, but that doesn’t mean I am quite comfortable with it just yet. Nonetheless, last week, during my social action seminar, my class had a guest speak who came to talk to us about special education in Italy. And although he understood English well, he preferred to give the presentation in Italian. Thus, my teacher asked if someone would be willing to translate for him and I, with must hesitancy, volunteered. For the next hour and forty-five minutes I translated everything that he said, and while I was exhausted by the end of class, I was pleasantly surprised by how much my Italian has improved in the last few months. I still don’t think I am very fluent, but this was definitely a small yet huge moment for me because I realized that I know more than I think I know. I guess you can say it was a confidence booster, but more than that, it reassured me of how far I have come.