One of my favorite aspects of living abroad in Europe, especially in a place like Italy, is the ability I have to travel within the country with ease. Italy has an excellent train system in which one can travel quickly and inexpensively to almost anywhere they want. I say ‘almost’ because little towns in the Alps can be understandably difficult to travel to. Also, it is absolutely amazing how you can travel such a short distance in Europe and experience a completely different culture. I recently traveled to Bolzano, Italy, with some friends and it was one of the coolest experiences I have had during my time here. Bolzano is located in northern Italy, very close to the Austrian border and the Italian Alps. I would describe the area as culturally, architecturally, and linguistically German given that the cuisine, buildings, and language are heavily influenced by German/Austrian culture. We traveled around three or four hours north of Florence and found ourselves in a beautiful town with a completely different culture. We joked that we were essentially in Germany because the experience was so immersive. The language barrier was an unsuspected culture shock for me when I realized that Italian was secondary to German, which was the spoken language. This was slightly anxiety-inducing because I am by no means fluent in Italian, much less German, so I felt hesitant to try to speak to others. Our AirBnB host only spoke German and Italian, so it was interesting trying to communicate with her in-person and significant that we managed to understand each other to a certain degree in order to form a relationship. It was also embarrassing to regularly ask “Sprechen sie Englisch?” (German) and receive stares from others around us. With that being said, I can confidently say that I loved every aspect of being there, even the awkward moments that come with being a foreigner in a new place. I have never experienced something like that before and I cannot relate it to any traveling experience I have had within the United States. Traveling three hours north of Charleston will not land you in an area where you are completely immersed in another culture and language. That trip will certainly be one that I will cherish the rest of my life.