Penn Global Seminars Q&A with Jenna DiStefano, CAS ‘21

Jenna DiStefano, a member of the Class of 2021, participated in a PGS to Sienna and Rome, Italy in May 2019, where she learned about Italian Sign Language and disability rights. I sat down with her to learn more about her time abroad, her inspiring learning experiences, and what made them so meaningful.

So tell me about your experience abroad and what you studied there.
The class was about disability rights and oppression in a global context along with learning about how different countries deal with disability rights including Deaf culture. We traveled to Italy for 10 days and were in Sienna and Rome. While we were there, we studied Italian Sign Language, along with observing the Italian Deaf culture specifically. We had intensive classes on Italian Sign Language, which is abbreviated as LIS. We also learned more about Italian culture and we met with some prominent Italian Deaf community members in the cities we visited.

How wonderful is that! Do you have an interest in sign language? I imagine it is difficult let alone learning the Italian version.
Yeah, I'm actually minoring in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies, so learning about sign language and Deaf cultures is something that I'm really passionate about and I eventually want to work in the deaf community. Just learning about Italian sign language was super interesting to me and while we were there we had immersive classes which were a couple of hours a day for a couple of days a week. What really helps me learn the best was when we had dinners that were completely “voices off,” we call them. So it was completely in sign language and even though we were encouraged to try doing Italian sign language. Most of the time we ended up mostly switching to American Sign Language but I still learned a lot of Italian sign language that way from the natives that went to dinner with us because I was really fully immersed.

Going off of that, what were some useful phrases that you learned, in this case in LIS?
Just introducing yourself was a big thing, because we did meet a lot of different people who were signers and who were deaf. So we had to learn how to at least introduce ourselves, for example, “My name is Jenna. I'm a student” or something along those lines. Those were definitely the most useful things I learned to say over there.

Moving to your experience as a whole, what surprised you about learning in this new environment?
So I was honestly very out of my comfort zone because before this course I've never traveled abroad. This was my first time abroad so just going somewhere where I didn't speak the language (Italian), was interesting. I picked up a little like “Thank you” and “please.” Interacting with locals was a big part of the experience but the language barrier was definitely a little tough.

I can imagine! Tell me about your favorite day and describe that to me.
I would say my favorite day was in Rome. Even though I liked being in Sienna more than being in Rome, my favorite day was definitely in the capital when we toured the Vatican. But the interesting thing was it wasn't your typical tour, because it was in sign language. It was strange because our tour guide did it in LIS but our professor is an ASL Professor so she translated it from LIS to ASL for us. There was also someone translating through spoken English because not everyone in our class knew sign language. It was so interesting to experience Italy in a different way. It actually put me into the perspective of how some deaf tourists feel when they go to these places and even though I'm not deaf I got the perspective of how deaf people must feel in these situations. Overall, though, it totally was a really cool way to experience Italy.

What was your favorite “touristy” experience?
I definitely felt very much like a tourist when we were at the Trevi Fountain. It was incredibly crowded and everyone is more focused on just getting pictures and not really enjoying the site. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could!

Did you have any travel mishaps?
So I actually had to go to the hospital. I was having really bad headaches as part of a chronic condition of mine and I had really bad ringing in the ears that I think was made worse by the plane ride. I just was not feeling well so we called International SOS. Navigating an Italian hospital was interesting but everything ended up being ok.

Oh my! I’m glad you were all right. Well, you can now cross going to an Italian hospital off your bucket list! Speaking of lists, how did you budget your time and money while abroad?
When going on the trip, I didn't have any things personally planned because I knew the trip scheduled most of the activities. So my classmates and I would just go wherever the wind would take us. I think that really contributed to this great experience as just getting to walk around and find little holes in the wall was the best of all. As for expenses, I really didn't spend too much out of pocket. I really only spent money on souvenirs or things I want to buy for myself so there was really nothing unexpected which is what made this PGS so amazing in the first place.

What were your classmates like? Did they have similar interests?
This class wasn't taught in sign language because it had to be inclusive of everyone no matter what their academic background was, so it was a good mix of different interests. There were about three or four advanced signers, three or four of beginner/intermediate signers, and then there was a couple that never took sign language. My classmates that never took sign language were really interested in disability rights, legislation, and social justice and were able to get that out of the class. So it was a good mix of all different interests which made it a really great group.

What did you learn about yourself?
I think this is very obvious but since this was my first time abroad I learned how to be well outside of my comfort zone. I didn't really ever think that I could travel like this before, that I really could ever afford a trip like this, or that I would have the strength to be in a different environment. So I learned a lot about what I could handle and what I am capable of by going on this trip such as dealing with a chronic illness in a different country and using my signing skills. I think these were the main things I learned about myself on this trip; just how much I am capable of.

Rapid-Fire Questions:

Best new foods that you tried?
A unique pasta found in Sienna called pici!

Most essential item that you packed that you could not have left without.
Definitely sunglasses. It was very sunny in Italy.

Most useful local phrase?
Because we used mainly LIS, how to sign my name and introduce myself.

Two words that you would describe your study abroad experience?
Eye-opening!