Well, it sure did take me a while to start this blog, but I figure... better late than never! I am now ending week six of living in Arezzo, Italy and really loving everything! I still find myself walking down the street back to my apartment after a day at work and thinking to myself, "Wow, I live in Italy!" Although I still haven't adjusted to my European shower, the seven hour time difference from home, and Coke Light, I know how lucky I am to be having this experience and I do not take this opportunity I have been given for granted. I try to live each day here to the fullest. Now that I have started this blog, I will post every day or every other day. There are more stories to tell right now than I have time to recall tonight, but in the next couple of days I am going to post some of the interesting and exciting times I have had thus far.
I suppose I need to give some background information on myself and what exactly got me to Italy. I am from Benton, Arkansas where I was raised by two very hard-working parents, for whom I give credit to how I got to where I am today. Since I can remember they told my older brother, twin sister, and I to "study hard and learn a lot, so you can grow up to be an astronaut," and although neither of us became an astronaut, it was their way of pushing us to succeed and supporting us in the decisions we made when it came to education and work. Without their support, along with the support of my grandparents, other family members, and friends, I would not have succeeded.
From middle school on I was highly involved, so when I went to college at the University of Arkansas I carried on this tradition. I originally wanted to be an Athletic Trainer and worked for the Razorback football team as a student equipment manager throughout college. However, I changed my mind to Broadcast Journalism and just knew I would be like Barbara Walters one day (I still might). :) Throughout college I was involved with many Student Affairs offices and other departments, such as admissions, athletics (as mentioned), student media, student government, and housing. It didn't really click that this was my passion until I started working for housing as a resident assistant. Holding this position, I knew I had discovered what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and decided the last semester of my junior year to go to graduate school for Higher Education. I decided on University of Oklahoma and focused on the Student Affairs track of the Adult and Higher Education program. I also held an assistantship throughout my graduate work with the Housing and Food Services Department as a Graduate Resident Director for Residence Life. I worked in two different residence halls with student staff members and student leaders and loved my experience. I fell in love with the job of working with students and knew I wanted to stay in housing upon graduating and would eventually try out other Student Affairs departments on college campuses.
In the middle of my second year our Director of Residence Life offered the position I am in now to us as a possibility. It would be the first time to have this position and this individual would be better served if he or she had housing experience. After months of going through the application process and interviews, I was offered the job. What's funny is I was also offered another full-time housing job at a different institution the same day I found out I got this job--within 30 minutes of being told, in fact. It was a grueling weekend with my emotions experiencing highs and lows, but I knew I could not pass up the opportunity to work abroad for a year with such a great program. This, in fact, is on my bucket list I created a couple years ago and I can now cross it off. :) I finally felt comfortable with accepting the position after my mom called late on Sunday night (before I had to give my answer on Monday) and gave me her blessing. She said, "Leanna, I just think you need to do it. This is an opportunity you can't pass up." I accepted the position and worked all summer to prepare for my arrival and started learning Italian and here I am now!
So what do I do and what is this program? The "OU in Arezzo" program is the University of Oklahoma's branch campus in Arezzo, Italy and gives students the opportunity to study abroad at an OU facility, to be taught by OU faculty members, and OU Student Affairs staff work with them to ensure their well-being, like myself. We have 26 students this semester and nine faculty/staff members. As the Graduate Resident Director I am still technically a student, although I graduated in May, but decided to continue on with the Graduate College, so I could have this experience. My job is to work with the students on a daily basis and to ensure they are succeeding here and to help combat homesickness, roommate issues, apartment problems, illness, and a plethora of other problems college students face, which seem to be escalated
With all of that, I have also found time for fun and travel since I have been here and plan to keep that up. As I said, I am going to continue to post in the next couple of days to make-up for the experiences I have already had that need to be shared and, in the meantime, thank you for reading my first blog entry. A presto!
