Living in Beauty Past Review

“Never lose the ability to be awed.” These words contain my feeble attempt to sum up the beautiful lesson of the months spent studying abroad in Italy. Both then and even now, I find it difficult to express the depth in the encounter of a larger-than-life sculpture or a Florentine sunset. Throughout those precious weeks, I was hit with moments of great faith—there were moments when God brought me to my knees and to tears and showed me small glimpses of his infinite goodness. I was also hit with moments of culinary bliss—the Italians tricked me into falling in love with coffee, as I so feared they would. The long talks I treasure most were the ones where we struggled to put words to the curious, the different, the unexplainable, the frustrating, and especially the remarkable changes and similarities we found in our surroundings and within ourselves. More than anything, through immersion into the Italian culture, I saw myself grow in confidence, independence, and a true appreciation for the beauty in all created things.