Above Image: Me at a wine tasting in Montalcino, a place in the hills of Tuscany.
Meet this week’s Campus Cutie, Paige Katrinchak! Paige is a junior this year at Kent State and a Broadcast Journalism major. Paige has produced in the past, and will be serving as a Director of New Media this semester for TV2. Last semester, Paige studied abroad in Florence, Italy. Her Campus sat down and got all the information from her travels!
Her Campus: What is your year?Paige Katrinchak: Junior
HC: What is your major?PK: Broadcast Journalism
HC: What is your hometown?PK: Elyria, Ohio
Here is a picture I took of London, England. You can see some classic symbols of London like the double-decker bus and Big Ben. This was the first trip I took with my friends where we had to fly by ourselves and navigate a foreign airport.
HC: Relationship status?PK: Single
HC: What is your ideal career?PK: I would love to be a producer for a newscast or morning show. Actually to produce any show would be great.
HC: So, you studied abroad last semester, how was it?PK: Studying abroad was the most incredible experience. It was so much more eye opening and fun than I ever imagined it would be. I don’t think any other semester of school is going to top it. Florence, Italy is a beautiful city and the KSU professors in Italy are some of the most kind and caring people I’ve ever met.
This is a picture I took in Rome, Italy of the Roman Forum. This trip to Rome was with the KSU College of Communication and Information.
HC: What were your favorite places you were able to visit while abroad?PK: Every place I went to was amazing in its own way, so it’s hard to pick favorites. But I would have to say anywhere in Italy is great; I especially loved Rome and Florence. My other favorite places would have to be London, Budapest, and Amsterdam. London was full of British accents, Budapest had amazing food, and Amsterdam was gorgeous.
HC: What was the hardest part about being away all semester?PK: The hardest part about being away was not being on the same time zone as all my friends and family. Not only did I not get to see them, but it was difficult to talk to them. Luckily, our Florence group became like a family so it was a whole new set of friends that I could talk to about everything.
This picture was taken in Florence, Italy. Kaitlin Walker, Kayla Todd, and I are sitting on the Arno River looking out at the Ponte Vecchio.
HC: What was the most memorable thing to happen to you while you were traveling?PK: I think my most memorable moment was riding down the “streets” of Venice in a gondola. It was so surreal to be sitting with my group of friends riding down the canals on a beautiful, sunny day. Our gondolier even sang a little bit for us and made our ride a lot of fun.
HC: Were you inspired by your travels? Do you think you will continue to travel throughout your life?PK: Traveling has become one of my biggest inspirations. I met so many interesting and culturally diverse people while I traveled and now all I want to do is meet more people. My travels opened my eyes up to how big the world truly is and how we are all just one small part of it. We weren’t meant to spend our lives in one place and I can’t see why anyone would want to. I plan to travel again as soon as I can, and I hope to continue to experience more of the world and all the different people in it.
This is a picture taken in Venice, Italy. This is the “Gondola Gang” that took on the canals of Venice during a class trip.
HC: Would you recommend studying abroad to other students at KSU? If so, why?PK: YES! A thousand times yes, I would tell any student at KSU to study abroad. This is the perfect time in your life to travel and see what else the world has to offer. Some people believe that we don’t learn while were over in another country because we spend time traveling. But I learned so much inside and outside of the classroom that I couldn’t have learned here in the U.S. I got to stand in front of famous works of art and walk around pieces of history and that is something that you just can’t get sitting in a lecture hall. Studying abroad gave me more independence and taught me how to rely completely on myself. There are so many more reasons why students should study abroad, but I don’t think there is enough space for me to give you them all.