Class Year: 2023 
Program: IES Rome
Email: lombch01@gettysburg.edu
Hometown: Whippany, NJ
Major/Minor: Major: Spanish & Italian
Campus Activities: At Gettysburg College, I am a member of the Cheerleading team, a new Libertarian club called Young Americans for Liberty, and the Pre-Law Club. I will also serve as a Peer Learning Associate for the second year in a row for intermediate Italian. I also plan on revamping Il Circolo Italiano by running activities on campus to teach others about life in Italy and Italian-American culture and encourage others to pick up Italian as a second language. One of the activities I want to arrange is a language exchange between my Sicilian cousins, their friends, and other students who speak basic Italian at Gettysburg. My cousins are trying to learn English for tourism school, and many of my Gettysburg students also want to sharpen their Italian. This opportunity will help everyone learn more about what it is like to be a citizen in a different country, make new friends, and hone in on language skills.
Favorite Experience: Above all, my favorite experience in my study abroad location was when I visited my cousins in Sicily, Italy. They do not speak English, and I could talk to them for the first time in my life without my Nonna facilitating the conversation. It felt so magical to connect with them, learn about each others’ lives, and investigate our lineage and my family’s town in Sicily. Without learning Italian, I would have never become so close with my cousins or learned about where I come from. They showed me everything, from showing me where my grandparents lived to introducing me to their friends and my cousins, whom I did not even know existed. I am so excited because they are currently planning their trip next to the US!
New/Exciting Course Abroad: During the semester, I took courses that were all taught in Italian. My favorite course was an independent study that my abroad program allowed me to create with a professor who took an interest in my Italian studies from Università Roma Tre. My independent study was about the relationship between the US and Italy. Although a morbid subject, I enjoyed learning about Italian resistance during Mussolini’s reign. This professor even took me to an old prison, now a museum, that taught about how Italians were persecuted for acting against Mussolini and the discrimination they faced throughout Europe and the United States. The coolest thing I saw was a piece of bread that the museum preserved. It was not an ordinary piece of bread. It belonged to Ignazio Vian, a former leader of the Italian Resistance Movement during WWII. He carved “Coraggio Mamma” on this piece, which means he was telling his mother to be strong. That was the last communication he had with his mom before being executed. Learning about this topic made me realize how lucky I am to have freedoms concerning religion, expression, and assembly.