Ciaowdy from your 2019 Italy Fish and Staff!
My name is Gabriella Webster, I am an incoming Junior at Texas A&M University, and I will be serving as one of the student leaders on this year’s Italy Trip! I had the privilege of going on the Italy Trip as a freshman, and I feel so blessed to get to share this experience with a new group of people this year and help to make this trip as amazing for this year’s freshmen as it was for me!
We started the trip early in the morning on July 13th when a small group of staff and student leaders met in College Station to load our rental cars with supplies, pick up our two local participants, and head to Houston! At 1pm at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, we met as a full group for the first time ever. It was wonderful to start putting faces to names and begin forming long-awaited connections with our new friends. It’s always cool to put so many “nerds” (as we endearingly call ourselves) together: being around like-minded peers and feeling like you can be your authentic self is a true joy.
After an introduction to the trip from our generous sponsor, Tom Fitzhugh, we said our final goodbyes to our families before heading to our gate. This was a really cool “full circle moment” for me, as we stood in the exact same place in the airport to say goodbye as I had exactly 2 years before when I began my Italy trip. Additionally, two other former Italy Fish were having a “full circle moment” at the same time elsewhere in Houston, as they got married exactly 5 years to the day after they met on the Italy Trip as freshmen. When we tell you these will be lifelong friends, we really mean it.
Our 9 hour flight from Houston to London went fairly smoothly with nice meals and in-flight entertainment. Many slept, others did not, but we all kept a good attitude!
We are excited for an amazing trip and the opportunity to experience a new culture while making new friends! Stay tuned for daily updates!
Lots of love from (spoiler alert) Assisi!!
Gabriella Webster ‘21
