By Sivi Satchithanandan ’15, Feature Editor 

“If you see it, you forget it, if you write it, you remember it, but if you do it, you learn it,” said Dan Winkler ’14 as he recalls and translates an Italian quote written on the wall of his classroom in Italy.

In the past two years, Newark Academy has sent two students – Dan Winkler’14 and Corynne Sarrett ’15 – to spend their junior year in Italy through the program School Year Abroad. As you can imagine, the two have had experiences that can only be described as the “best of their life.” Besides picking up a new language, they have learned invaluable lessons that are difficult to teach in the classroom.

Naturally, one of the hardest parts about living abroad is the unfamiliarity of your surroundings and the feeling of being out of your element. For Winkler, the toughest aspect to deal with was the fact that he “didn’t have any contact with other Americans”. Additionally, the change from English to Italian proved to be exhausting as there was a constant translating and learning. For Sarrett, the experience was a little different, as the trickiest custom to get used to was that “the Italians have no concept of time”. She detailed her experiences at restaurants waiting an hour for food to finally arrive, but stated “in the end things work out”. And indeed they did. After the initial shock of an entirely new continent, the two found their niche. Sarrett attests that “making friends” came easily to her due to the Italians’ “open” disposition and her peers’ “awesome” personalities. And for Winkler, adjusting his diet to the “Italian ways” was a breeze mostly because he grew up in an Italian household.

To say that Winkler and Sarrett have changed is an understatement; the two are fluent in Italian and can spend hours recounting some of their best moments in Italy. However, they have noticeably adopted a few key components of the Italian culture, changing for the better. Winkler stated he learned “to live in the moment and take things with a grain of salt.” Before his departure to Italy, Winkler said he was never solely focused on what he was doing and he put too much pressure on himself academically. However, immersing himself in a new culture that puts its priorities in different places, he learned “to live and enjoy what you are doing and then handle the next task as it comes to you”. Additionally, because he was abroad and apart from his family, Winkler found out how to truly be “independent and develop problem solving skills”. During his year in Europe, Winkler became accountable for all his actions and forced himself to think about the consequences before giving into any sort of temptations. Sarrett has realized that you’re never “limited to a classroom.” In Italy, “the whole city of Viterbo is [your campus]” but this can be applied anywhere you are in the world. She enthused that “no textbook photo or passage compares to the opportunity to see and talk about what you learn in person at the site”.

Both students gushed about the year in Italy insisting that a year abroad anywhere is a life changing experience people will want to have. Sarrett’s opinion is that you have to be “ready to discover yourself” and Winkler swore “if you do not take this opportunity, you are missing out on the best year of your life and one of the greatest experiences you will ever have.”

The two SYA students are always willing to talk about their experiences – Winkler welcomes any questions about his time in Italy and Sarrett updates her blog frequently. And if you’re still on the fence about taking a year off, Winkler said it best: “It is an opportunity to grow in multiple ways!”