hotel, restaurant and tourism management (HRTM)<\/a>, Woytko took two classes abroad: Cultural Introduction to Italy and Special Event Management. In the special event class, the students toured every luxury hotel and event venue in Florence. They then had to plan, promote, advertise, decorate and serve a four-course fine dining dinner for over 30 people. The cultural class was meant to showcase a little bit of Italy. Two teachers took the students to five small towns in Italy, where they learned culture and history.<\/p>\n\u201cI loved how approachable Italian people were \u2014 they love Americans,\u201d she said. Her first experience out of the country, she admits the trip was not easy.<\/p>\n
Woytko looked to lessons she learned at ESU in the most challenging situations of her time abroad. A member of the swimming team for the past three years, she learned how to prioritize.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile soaking in everything I could about the country, I had to focus on my classes and the work I came out there to do. Because of my experience as a student athlete, I was better able to manage my time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her classroom this summer might have been in a different country, but Woytko quickly saw many familiarities from her classes on campus. She specifically remembers thinking of Carol Miller, associate professor of HRTM, and everything she learned in hospitality marketing. Those lessons on demographics and how to advertise were key in helping her get the word out about the event in Italy. <\/p>\n
Being alone in a foreign country, Woytko stepped out of her comfort zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am normally an introverted person, but I had to put myself out there to make friends and get everything I could out of the experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Italy was the perfect place to do it. Woytko experienced a culture of people who love to sit down together for dinner and cherish every meal. She learned that sometimes \u201cAmericans need to take a step back from work\u201d and enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get in a routine and forget there\u2019s a whole other world out there,\u201d she said. \u201cStudying abroad is a chance to experience something different- to do something you\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woytko was able to take part in this opportunity through a program affiliated with ESU. Study Abroad Italy (SAI) is a comprehensive study abroad organization offering exciting educational opportunities, paired with cultural experiences, in Florence, Rome, London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Arezzo, Sorrento and Siena. <\/p>\n
Woytko encourages more students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great way to find out who you are and who you want to be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of opportunities to study abroad for the fall semester. Students can choose from programs in over 50 different countries, depending on where they want to go and what they want to study. For more information on study abroad programs<\/a> at ESU, contact Michael Laffey, coordinator of international programs, at 570-422-3527.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior Chases her Dreams Through Study Abroad Opportunity <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,22,29,58,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-esu-success-stories","category-facebook","category-hotel-restaurant-tourism-management","category-slider","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12643"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12649,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12643\/revisions\/12649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}