Study Abroad Journal: Florence, Italy

In the middle of our week-stay in Florence, our group took a day trip to Venice where we visited Venice University and met two lecturers who spoke about the gig economy and its impact on immigrants. I did not know much on the topic and was eager to learn as they spoke about the detriments of gig work for migrants. The lecture opened my eyes to the unjust treatment that gig workers face, and how migrants are specifically vulnerable in this line of work. After our lecture, we had a group lunch in Venice, and then went on a nice, long walk to the Doge’s Palace. The palace was absolutely beautiful and our tour guide was a delight, cracking jokes left and right while also explaining the rich history of the palace we were in. After the tour, we took a water taxi back to the train station that would bring us back to Florence, awe-struck with the most beautiful sunset as our view. Once we arrived back in Florence, we got ready for dinner and headed to Trattoria Za Za for dinner and dessert. This was, by far, one of my favorite days from our trip.

While the course was titled Migration, Politics, and Education, the most formative information I learned was in regard to migration. We began the semester by mapping our personal migration story and sharing with the class. As the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants to the United States and having a strong connection to my middle eastern identity and the Armenian diaspora, mapping my migration history felt symbolic. I mapped out the accumulation of everyone’s experiences who came before me, landing me where I am today. It made me quite emotional looking at the different paths my family members had taken from their home countries to ultimately end up in the United States. After presenting this in front of the class, I knew our trip to Italy was going to be transformational, not only in developing my view on international education and politics, but personally as someone whose life has been centered around stories of migration.

Jumping from site visit to lecture to museum, each location brought a new perspective for me to learn about migration. While I was repeatedly shocked to learn the number of migrants in the world, I was equally surprised to learn that the number one reason for migration is for education. We discussed the politicization of migration and how political media platforms like to catastrophize migration, where in reality, most people are not migrating because of forced displacement or due to violence or crisis. People are on the move more now than ever, for various different reasons. It was important for my own development to understand the importance of validating all migration, not just putting an emphasis on refugee migration.