Italian major and UW Senior Emma Smith has been selected as the 2016-2017 UW Rome Center Intern! This annual internship allows one UW student to live in Rome for a year, working in the office of the Rome Center and assisting with the arrivals and departures of UW programs from the city. Emma was motivated to apply for the position because of her previous experience studying abroad in Italy in the spring of 2015 with the Italian Studies in Rome and Calabria program. "I have a great passion for the culture and language of Italy," she said. "I want to go back not only for a cultural exchange, but also for the opportunity to work there." She hopes that the experience of living in Rome for an extended period of time will help in her ultimate goal of studying international immigration law. "The current climate in Italy and the rest of Europe in regard to the refugee crisis is very interesting to me," she said. "I'm passionate about issues of immigration and hope to return to Europe permanently one day and work with the UNHCR." Although she is a bit nervous about being immersed completely in Italian, she is excited for the challenge of refining and building her language skills.
Emma would like to thank the UW Italian faculty for helping her attain this internship and putting her on track to fulfill her goals, and she encourages other language students to follow in her footsteps. "My teachers and my advisor, Sabrina Tatta, have believed in me this whole time, and have helped me see that majoring in and loving a language is just as important as any other major," she said. "I'm certain that this will become a career for me."