A Tale of Two Cities

Juniors James Mina and Catherine O’Connor chose to attend Holy Cross partly because of its strong Study Abroad program, which sponsors yearlong programs in locations across the world.

“I’ve wanted to take part in Holy Cross’ Study Abroad Program ever since I found out that it was a yearlong program when I went on a tour of the College,” says O’Connor, an English major and Italian minor from Kingston, Penn.

Mina, an Italian major with an economics minor from Scarborough, Maine, echoes the importance of the full year experience.

“I think it must be impossible to totally absorb everything a place has to offer in one semester,” he says. “When it comes to language proficiency, you leave just as soon as you are becoming fluent and probably have spent most of your time traveling instead of integrating yourself into the local community.

Both of the students are blogging about their adventures in Italy throughout the year. O’Connor will first take language classes at the Centro Linguistico Italiano Alghieri to prepare for the university classes at L'Università di Firenze. Mina will be attending the University of Bologna and doing language and cultural immersion work at Cultura Italiana, a cultural institute based in the city.

Mina is an advocate for studying abroad, and encourages students to take advantage of the opportunities offered at Holy Cross.

“I think that part of growing up is learning how to understand other people, and what better way to do that than living in another country for a year? So much in our lives today is geared down a certain path that we don’t have much time to consider other perspectives, let alone experience them,” he says.

The students, who plan on seeing a lot of each other during their studies, expect to return to the states in June — but don’t hold them to it.

O’Connor, who has many family members in Italy, is considering pursuing a career in the Italian language. Mina has his eyes set on a career in foreign relations. In other words, they are keeping their options open and won’t rule out the idea of staying in Europe through next summer.

Related Information:

• Study Abroad Program • Holy Cross Blogs