I am currently a senior double majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a concentration in Critical Creative Production and Italian in the College of Arts and Sciences. I was first drawn to Italian Studies because I befriended an Italian foreign exchange student in high school. She was the first person to introduce me to the Italian language while teaching me the alphabet, and I fell in love with the language instantly. Although I was already interested in linguistics, Italian was the only language that really intrigued me, and still does. Not only is it so rich in history, the language itself is a form of art that I can express myself with that I simply cannot reiterate in any other language. While studying abroad in Florence for the entirety of my junior year, I was given the opportunity to volunteer as a tutor for elementary and middle school children. Through this opportunity I gained insight on colloquial italian and more importantly, created meaningful connections with the locals and students. The opportunity to express myself in a different form came naturally to me with a newly learned comprehension of Italian Colloquialism. However, a new form of self expression is not the only thing I've learned through volunteering. I have gained invaluable life lessons from the students, as I feel like they taught me, more than I taught them. If you study abroad in Florence, I urge you to volunteer with NYU Florence for an unforgettable study abroad semester. To the newcomers of Italian Studies, I know Italian can be a little daunting at first but push through and you'll be completely immersed and infatuated with the beautiful, vivid language sooner than you know! In bocca al lupo!

I'm Lauren, a current junior studying management and marketing at Stern with a minor in Italian Studies! I love to read and bake desserts and meet new people when I'm not studying Italian. I decided to take Italian because I really missed speaking a foreign language after many years of studying Latin. I'd really love to work abroad or do some sort of cross-cultural role using my Italian studies understanding, but for now I'm just having fun with it. It's hard to pick a favorite course because all of the professors I've had have been so amazing and helpful! I'm so so grateful that the Italian department introduced me to some of my best friends and helped me find a new passion for languages, not to mention the fact that I now have the opportunity to study abroad in Milan next year!

I am a sophomore majoring in Italian and Mathematics-Economics at CAS. When I am not studying, I enjoy listening to music, hanging out with friends and traveling. I decided to pursue Italian Studies because I really like the Italian language and culture. In the future, I hope to study abroad in Florence and practice and use my Italian there. My favourite course in the Italian department so far was interestingly my core class, Cultures & Context: Italy. I really enjoyed professor Forgacs and it got me interested in Italian society and culture. I hope to graduate with Honours in the future and perhaps go to Graduate school.

 Brief bio: I am a current CAS senior majoring in Romance languages (French-Italian, with a little Spanish, too!). When not studying I like to play piano, write, cook, bike, and play with my dogs. 

Why I decided to pursue Romance Languages: I fell in love with Italian from the very first day of my high school when I began studying it. Since then, I have only grown to love it more by increasing my fluency of the language and familiarizing myself with the beautiful culture. 

Future: I am looking forward to going to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Romance languages. My dream is to become a literary translator of both French and Italian. 

Favorite Course:  My favorite Italian studies course was absolutely Italian through Cinema. It was the perfect intersection of language, culture, and current events.

Accomplishments: I am expecting to graduate in May 2019 with honors, presenting a thesis on terrorism in France through the lens of the Charlie Hebdo Attack of January 2015. I am in the process of translating the graphic novel Catharsis by Luz from French under the tutelage of Emmanuelle Ertel. I am also assisting with translating the text Giustizia e mito: Con Edipo, Antigone e Creonte by Marta Cartabia and Luciano Violante from Italian. 

 Brief bio: I’m a Psychology, Linguistics & Italian major in CAS. Outside of school, I’m a dancer and pianist, and enjoy traveling and cooking!

Why I decided to pursue Italian Studies: I decided to pursue Italian Studies after falling in love firsthand with the language, the culture, and the people. 

 Future: With Italian Studies, I plan to continue conducting research and analysis, and hopefully work in literary translation between Italian and English.

Favorite Course: My favorite course I’ve taken was Translation with Chiara Marchelli. It opened my eyes to a new world of work and artistry for which I developed a real passion.

Accomplishments: I am currently working on my undergraduate honors thesis in the Italian department, where I am interested in the sociolinguistics of Italian dialectology and the reasons why there seems to be an intrinsic standardization of written dialect, and its interaction with identity theory.

Advice for students considering an Italian Studies major: My advice for students considering a major or minor in the department is to jump in and try it out with a course or two- being apart of our community will give you the opportunity to see just how unique and connected our department truly is.

Bio: I am a CAS senior majoring in Art History, minoring in Italian Studies and Studio Art. Besides the academics, I am a dancer, singer, and pianist.

Why I'm Pursuing Italian Studies:  I decided to pursue Italian Studies because being able to master more foreign languages is essential to an Art History student. Also, Italian has the longstanding reputation of being the most beautiful language in the world with almost all of its vocabularies ending with a vowel – perfect for the opera art!

Future: As a prospective art conservation graduate student, I plan to utilize Italian Studies for reading and understanding more related academic materials and to hopefully visit NYU Florence again in the future.

Favorite Course: My favorite course in Italian Studies is the Conversations in Italian course I took with Mara at NYU Florence. She is such a friendly and caring professor, and the course was so enriching that I not only improved my speaking ability in Italian but also learned a lot on Italian culture.

Related Accomplishments: I was the awarded the CAS Global Humanities Scholarship for my Spring 2018 semester at NYU Florence.   

Zoe Trischka is currently completing her last year of a BA in Global Liberal Studies at NYU (concentrating in Contemporary Culture and Creative Production) with a minor in Italian. Her GLS thesis explores the uniquely Neapolitan musical genre of neomelodica, and the ways in which it interacts with the city and its people. Having spent three semesters at NYU Florence, Zoe has had the opportunity to conduct direct, comprehensive research within her field of interest. Her favorite class in the Italian program was Family and Gender in Modern Italy. During her studies, she has also written various articles for Rolling Stone and Rolling Stone Italia.

 My name is Theresa and I'm studying Psychology at the College of Arts and Sciences and minoring in Italian. I love taking advantage of everything New York has to offer, from exploring museums to trying different restaurants- especially the Italian ones! I decided to study Italian because I always loved the sound of the language and I wanted to know how to speak it, Also, after studying Spanish throughout high school, I wanted to explore another language at NYU.  I plan to use my knowledge of the Italian language during my (hopefully frequent) travels to Italy, to communicate with locals and obtain a deeper understanding of the history and culture of Italy.  My favorite Italian courses were elementary and intermediate Italian, because with every class I really saw my comprehension grow.  If you are majoring in something other than the humanities I would definitely recommend starting an Italian minor! It was always a wonderful class to have in my week during my math/science-heavy semesters. 

I am a senior double majoring in Language and Mind and Italian, with a minor in French. I am the VP of Italian Club (join us!) and the undergraduate student representative- please contact me (dyh231@nyu.edu) if you want to talk about anything related to Italian Studies! I spent my senior year of high school as an exchange student living in a small town in Puglia and it was the best year of my life to date. Ever since, I have constantly tried to remain connected to the Italian language and culture, which will always take up a large part of my heart. I was lucky enough to spend my junior fall semester in Florence, where I was able to make myself even more fluent and 'italiana.' I hope to have a career in marketing, using my understanding of other cultures to my benefit. My favorite course at NYU has to have been 'Il Giallo', with Jane Tylus. It was a class of 4 of us and it was spent becoming 'detectives'- we spent the semester reading mystery novels, guessing the 'culprits,' finding 'key words,' and writing our own mysteries at the end. I have interned for an exchange program, AFS/YES, a language exchange app, Lexody, and now I'm at Beautiful Destinations. Spend time at the Casa! It's truly humbling whenever I'm there and run into my favorite professors and chat with them like friends we're old friends. It truly feels like you're 'a casa.'