While I was abroad in Bologna, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to play on a women’s club volleyball team (Polisportiva Emilia). I play for the Dickinson volleyball team, so I knew that I wanted to find a way to play in the spring so that I could keep my skills fresh. So right from the start I was trying to find a place to play, but it was quite challenging at first. Unlike Dickinson, the University of Bologna does not have any sport teams directly associated with the school, except for soccer. So I tried searching online for club teams in Bologna but wasn’t having any luck. I then reached out to Ellen Laird (Program Associate at the Bologna Center), and she directed me to our Italian student-interns for assistance. They both took time to search for teams and called multiple places for me. Finally, after a couple of weeks, a coach from a club team called me back and told me to come to a practice. It did cost money, but it wasn’t that expensive. I also was required to get a physical in order to be able to play in the games, which wasn’t too much of a hassle because Ellen helped me with that too. I had to learn the Bologna bus system in order to get to my physical appointment and to get to practices, which was a very useful skill to learn. Since I was going to practice 2 to 3 times a week, my sense of direction and navigation skills really did improve.

Deciding to play volleyball in Bologna was probably one of the best decisions I made abroad. It was so much fun to be able to play the sport that I am passionate about in another country. I made some Italian friends, and was able to hang out with them outside of volleyball. For instance, my one close friend from the team invited me over to her place for lunch a few times. She also invited me to visit her home town with her, but unfortunately I was unable to go. Also, I went out to team dinners a couple of times which was a lot of fun. I was able to become good friends with my teammates despite the fact that only a few of them spoke good English. It made things interesting because they loved practicing their English with me and I loved practicing my Italian with them. I have taken three semesters of Italian at Dickinson so I knew the basics of the language and was able to communicate with the girls. I started picking up Italian volleyball terminology and was able to comprehend more and more of the language. I have had so many great conversations with my teammates about cultural differences and similarities between Italy and the U.S. For example, when we drove to away games, they would play a ton of American music in the car and talked about songs and artists that we both liked from America and from Italy. We also talked a lot about the differences in the education systems and athletics in our countries. Learning first-hand about Italian culture was a huge hidden benefit, along with the relationships that I made. Another benefit was being able to travel to small towns outside of Bologna for the away games. I didn’t get to see much of these towns other than the gym that I was in, but the scenery on the way there was incredible.

I would like to tell Dickinson students that if they have the opportunity to play a sport abroad, absolutely do it! There were a bunch of us this past semester who got involved with sports. Two girls played on a club field hockey team, one boy played for the University of Bologna men’s soccer team, and two boys were involved with an American football team. We all had such great experiences, and I hope that future Dickinson students continue to be involved in the future!