Lucy Gough Jones case study

My week in Ravenna Italy was spent in a café, serving customers coffee and pastries. The first day that we arrived in Ravenna I found out where my placement was and had a little walk around the town to familiarise myself and it was such an exciting feeling discovering this foreign town on my own!

On my first day of work I was up early, had breakfast with the group and made my way to the café. I was so nervous, not knowing whether I would be understood or if I would be able to understand all these native Italians. The group leaders had given us all a booklet with useful sayings and ways to introduce ourselves. Once I had introduced myself I was made to feel comfortable and relaxed by both the workers and the customers, so got stuck into my work and practising my language skills. My boss for the week told me I was allowed as many cakes and pastries as I wanted and that I could help myself to coffee whenever I fancied! It was brilliant, and with Easter just around the corner, the little café was buzzing with all the locals looking to buy chocolate for the Easter Sunday.

If I was ever unsure about anything, I knew that the group leaders were there to help and guide me, which really helped me to enjoy the week. After work one night, the group leaders took us bowling, which was another great way to practice my language and was also a brilliant way of bonding with the rest of my group. Throughout the week we did loads of activities and I was beginning to feel like I actually lived there! Speaking Italian began to come naturally to me and I made some great friends within the group.

During the week, the group leaders made sure that everything was ok and that we were all happy with our placements, which we all were. They also came to our work placements to check with our employees that everything was going well.

When the week ended, I was so sad to be going home and wished I could stay longer. It sounds strange, but I was going to miss the little café… It had become my home for the week! But on my last day there, they loaded me up with loads of chocolate, pastries and bread for the journey home and told me how much they'd miss me.

When I got home, I was really tired due to the busy week I'd had, but felt so much more confident with every aspect of my Italian language as well as myself. It is by far one of the best things I've ever done and I made some really great friends along the way, who I know I'll be in touch with for life.