In this our thirty-first (31st) episode of Season 2, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Romina Dedja of Italy about her experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States.
(Originally recorded November 2023)
1:19 - Meet Romina!
Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu
The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/
Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
SeattleCollegesIntl
In this our thirty-first (31st) episode of Season 2, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Romina Dedja of Italy about her experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States.
(Originally recorded November 2023)
1:19 - Meet Romina!
Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu
The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/
Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
SeattleCollegesIntl
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people, about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and, best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu Hey, everybody, it's Evan Franulovich. Welcome back to"Conversations with!" here at Seattle Colleges. Very excited! This is our first guest from Italy! Boungiorno!
Romina:Boungiorno! What an honor!
Evan Franulovich:What an honor! Do you want to introduce yourself and tell people exactly which part of Italy you're from and what you're studying...?
Romina:Okay, so... Hello, everyone! My name is Romina. I'm from Italy. I mean, from Bologna, it's North of Italy.
Evan Franulovich:Bologna!
Romina:Yeah, I'm studying business right now, and I want to graduate in digital marketing.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, cool.
Romina:Yes... Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:So you're studying business? And is this a 2+2 program?
Romina:Exactly. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Okay. So yo...
Romina:I would like to transfer after...
Evan Franulovich:Where to?
Romina:I don't know, still deciding...I think it depends, like, which university offers like marketing...
Evan Franulovich:Sure, sure...
Romina:I want to do like digital marketing, which is more specific, not marketing.
Evan Franulovich:Do you think you'll want to stay in the Seattle area? Or do you want to go see a different part of the country?
Romina:I think right now stay here. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Do you like Seattle?
Romina:I mean, I have like a family here.
Evan Franulovich:Or you do?
Romina:Yeah, like a cousin of my mom.
Evan Franulovich:Really?
Romina:It helps a lot.
Evan Franulovich:Is that why you chose Seattle initially? Because you have family in Seattle? Or did you...?
Romina:This is one reason. I was in San Francisco before as a student and I was completely alone there...
Evan Franulovich:Yeah. You went to San Francisco as a... as a university student?
Romina:Yeah. I was studying in San Francisco, yeah...
Evan Franulovich:Oh, and then you transfer it up to Seattle?
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, so that's interesting. So some of our listeners may want to say who you can start at another place...Transfer in?
Romina:And transfer here. Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:So why did you transfer from San Francisco?
Romina:Because I have family, I was like...alone in San Francisco. So yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Aha. yeah, It's nice to have family.
Romina:Yeah, they helped me like a...
Evan Franulovich:But did you like San Francisco?
Romina:I did.
Evan Franulovich:It's a great city.
Romina:Yeah, yeah yeah...
Evan Franulovich:I think it's probably one of my favorites.
Romina:It's a good city, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:All right. Yeah. Glad to have you.
Romina:Yeah. Well...the only thing I don't like in Seattle is the weather, but for the rest, like I love Seattle... so can't complain.
Evan Franulovich:Okay, so when did you arrive in Seattle?
Romina:In January last year. No, I mean this year, so in January yeah.
Evan Franulovich:January?
Romina:Yeah. It's almost one year that I'm in Seattle.
Evan Franulovich:So you were here during the summer?
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Wasn't it beautiful in the summer?
Romina:Yes, I like it. Just summer yes, but winter no...
Evan Franulovich:Yeah, winter, it gets a little gray. It rains. It's true. But then you're studying so you know, you're inside anyway.
Romina:Yeah. Yeah. Can't complain...
Evan Franulovich:Can't complain too much. And... okay, and, you know, Italy's known for food. So how's the food here?
Romina:I mean, I go to the dining restaurants the most... Yeah, and I cooks also.
Evan Franulovich:Oh nice!
Romina:But I'm trying to also try different like food. As I was saying, my Indian friends like, I want to try Indian food. I made one Colombian friend and want to try Colombia friends. I'm very like, open. It's not that. Also been in America, you become really open minded and try to learn more about other cultures.
Evan Franulovich:Right, right. It seems like we have restaurants from just about any part of the world. You might be interested in trying some of those foods.
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:So...well, that's really great. Well, let's go back. I always like to start from where you began. You were in Italy...in thinking about going to the overseas? I mean...you only thought about the United States or did you think Canada maybe...
Romina:Oh no...only the United States
Evan Franulovich:Only the United States?
Romina:I came here like as an au pair before.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, okay.
Romina:Yeah, it was like three or four years ago.
Evan Franulovich:Okay.
Romina:And you say for a first timer...
Evan Franulovich:Right...
Romina:I started my experience in Connecticut.
Evan Franulovich:In Connecticut.
Romina:Yeah. Then I moved to New York.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, wow.
Romina:I moved to California well San Francisco.
Evan Franulovich:Okay, so when you're an au pair, and we have many listeners who start as au pairs, and then they want to transition to be a student. And we try not to offer visa advice, but so you got here on what type of visa as an au pair?
Romina:J1
Evan Franulovich:A J1 visa.
Romina:Yeah exactly.
Evan Franulovich:So you have to get that switched over to an F1. Did you have to return to Italy?
Romina:I did.
Evan Franulovich:Ah Okay.
Romina:Yeah, I went back to Italy because it was faster. I talked with like a lawyer too and my advisor when I was in San Francisco before becoming a student and I asked them which is like the recommended method like to get the student visa, stay here and do a change of status or like go back to my home country, and they told me like, the quickest way is to go back to Italy and go to the embassy again.
Evan Franulovich:Right.
Romina:All the process.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah.
Romina:And it was like pretty fast. Like..
Evan Franulovich:Really?
Romina:I did the application probably in January.
Evan Franulovich:Okay.
Romina:February, and I was going to set for fall semester.
Evan Franulovich:Okay.
Romina:So went back to Italy during the summer probably in June, July no. And I got the visa in one month...
Evan Franulovich:Super fast.
Romina:Super fast. Like yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Did you have to travel to Rome or are there consulates around the country?
Romina:We have like free consulates, one in Milan, Florence, and Rome and Naples...4
Evan Franulovich:Okay, yeah. In which one did you go to?
Romina:Florence because I'm closer to Bologna. It's like one hour.
Evan Franulovich:And what a great city Florence! I love Florence it's so great.
Romina:Yeah yeah
Evan Franulovich:Wow. Cool.
Romina:Well, with the same guy that did interview for the J1 visa, F1 visa...Same guy.
Evan Franulovich:Really?
Romina:Yeah. Same guy.
Evan Franulovich:Oh Interesting. And did they ask you a lot of questions? Was it a long interview? Or do you basically walk in and your visa...
Romina:not at all! What I can recommend, like, if your host family like wants to sponsor you to do like student visa, try to say them that you're not going to work for a family because it's illegal to work here so...
Evan Franulovich:Right.
Romina:During the interview, if they have like any suspicion that you're going to work for the host family, you're not going to get a visa.
Evan Franulovich:Right right.
Romina:Please, like, make sure that you don't have any... that you are not work for the host family.
Evan Franulovich:Exactly yeah. Now you can work on campus.
Romina:On campus, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:A lot of students ask about working on campus because they want to help fund themselves. Did...Did you find work on campus? Are you working at this time?
Romina:I was working in San Francisco.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, you were?
Romina:Yeah my intention is to apply for works. Next semester.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah, yeah
Romina:Winter semester here so...
Evan Franulovich:You have seen... I've actually seen some jobs posted just recently, like the other day. So if you're looking for an on campus job, you can check in the International Programs Office, because I think I saw like an"International Ambassador position" that it's paid, and it's a cool job. It's really fun. Well, so you've been here since January, which means you you've been here long enough now where you qualify for a vacation quarter.
Romina:Yeah, probably yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Are you going to just keep studying through or do you think you'll take some time off to?
Romina:I don't know, because I was talked with advisor and she said that since I took like summer off. I'm not allowed to take a vacation quarter.
Evan Franulovich:Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. So you'll just keep studying through and then when would graduation actually be?
Romina:In May.
Evan Franulovich:In May?
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Do you plan to walk? Do you go to the ceremony at the baseball field at Safeco Field?
Romina:I don't know.
Evan Franulovich:It's really cool. So in I think it's end of May, maybe June. They have a big graduation where you can come and walk and you get your diploma.
Romina:I didn't know, it's okay.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah!
Romina:It's an experience. Like...
Evan Franulovich:It's a big experience.
Romina:Yeah, yeah...
Evan Franulovich:And there's thousands of students, not just international, but also domestic.
Romina:Okay, yeah why not?
Evan Franulovich:You should check it.
Romina:I would like to do it of course.
Evan Franulovich:Have you been in the stadium before the baseball stadium? Well, if nothing else, it's a great opportunity to go and see that structure. Because it's really cool. And maybe you should check out a baseball game while you're there.
Romina:Probably. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Have you done any sporting events since you've been in Seattle? No?
Romina:I don't like sports...
Evan Franulovich:Well, what do you do for fun? A lot of people they think oh, you know, and go to school in Seattle, but they also want to know what they can do for fun.
Romina:I'm a big fan of nightclubs.
Evan Franulovich:Oh yeah, one of the first that has said that that's so great.
Romina:Yeah, um, nightclubs like nightlife in Seattle it's good.
Evan Franulovich:It's good. All right. So let's tell people, you know, what's your favorite club?
Romina:Probably Xtadium and Sarajevo.
Evan Franulovich:Okay.
Romina:Those are my two favorite ones.
Evan Franulovich:Really? What's so good about him?
Romina:I think connection is very important. Because my friends, my best friend is like DJ so, they always like, bring me to events and like, I enjoy it. Yeah, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:That's it... Is it in Capitol Hill area? Or is it which part of town are those clubs?
Romina:One is in...Sarajevo is in First Avenue?
Evan Franulovich:Oh okay.
Romina:Close to the Pike market.
Evan Franulovich:Yes, yeah, yeah.
Romina:And Xstadium is... I don't know...I don't remember like where I just put the map.
Evan Franulovich:but it's in downtown somewhere?
Romina:Yes, it is in downtown. Downtown Seattle, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Well there you go guys couple of recommendations for nightclubs. Yeah, it's funny I've interviewed a lot of students and not many people like go out to the clubs, so that's cool that you do that. You're over 21, though.
Romina:Yeah, I am, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:That's helpful. Some of our students are not that old so... you are unusual that way. Well, cool. So you got to the United States, you're in San Francisco, then you come up here. You know, the...the programs here are maybe structured a little bit different than what you're used to back home. Tell us about your classroom experience, whatever the teacher has been like, what's it been like? Interacting with, like domestic students? Have they been curious about you? Are they shy? Once you've been here, what's your experience?
Romina:I mean, when I came in California was... I met a lots of people who where curious to where I was from.
Evan Franulovich:Ah Okay.
Romina:And I can see that it's different also, how the classes are held, like in Italy and in here. Like, I think here education is much easier than in Italia. Like in Italy, like, sometimes I'd like a hard time to pass a class and here is like, like..
Evan Franulovich:Wow!
Romina:It's a really like easier like in Europe.
Evan Franulovich:Well, that's good.
Romina:Yeah. Which is a good thing. Yeah. So if you're like, I advise you, if you're like a bad like raising in your home country or somewhere in Italy, like don't worry that here...
Evan Franulovich:You'll be fine.
Romina:You'll be fine, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Are you pretty good student in general?
Romina:Yes. Now yes. I almost have like 4.0 GPA.
Evan Franulovich:Oh! that's great.
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Well, people that get such a great GPA, usually apply for scholarships. Did you apply for the foundation scholarship that we have available in the spring and in the fall?
Romina:I didn't even know that.
Evan Franulovich:There you go. So twice a year, we have something called a foundation scholarship that's available to our international students. And you can apply especially if you have good grades. It's really great. And it's between $1 and$5,000. So it's money towards tuition, so why not? So I think fall is already closed. But look for an announcement coming up in the spring. They usually send out emails, it's on our Instagram page, I think. And they'll put up signs in the International Programs Office. So there's lots of ways you might hear about the scholarship. Check it out, because it's it's a good chunk of change. You know, who doesn't like money?I think...
Romina:Okay, okay. Yeah, why not? Yeah, definitely.
Evan Franulovich:Exactly. Well, so you've done some traveling. You've been back on the East Coast. You've been on the West Coast. Do you have plans to do any more traveling while you're here? Or do you plan to go to Canada? Have you been into Canada?
Romina:No, never.
Evan Franulovich:No?
Romina:Yeah, it's close. Like I should...
Evan Franulovich:Right like if you're an Italian passport holder. It should be easy to get into Canada with it.
Romina:Yeah I think so. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Well, it's worth checking out. You should definitely check it out.
Romina:Yeah, yeah. I didn't have vacation but... definetly yes.
Evan Franulovich:Amtrak, the train, will go to Vancouver now. So you could actually catch the train here in the morning, be in Vancouver and hang out for the weekend...
Romina:The same? Doesn't know. Yeah,
Evan Franulovich:You can... I know that..there's a form or something you have to do at the International Programs Office, but you go in there. Do that. So that's really great. Cool. All right. So your classes...and you're a student here at Central, not North or South?
Romina:North
Evan Franulovich:Oh, you are at North?
Romina:Yeah at North Seattle College.
Evan Franulovich:Okay. Well, let's talk about that then. Some of our some of our students that are thinking about coming here they don't know which campus to choose. What do you give your thoughts about the North Campus?
Romina:I like it, to be honest. Also there was saying my relatives, my cousin, he was like a student that knows the college and he taught me... recommend me to come here.
Evan Franulovich:Oh Okay. Yeah, it's definitely a different kind of a campus than central.
Romina:Yeah. I guess it is.
Evan Franulovich:Are most of your classes in person or most of them hybrid or?...
Romina:In person, because international students they have to do like seven credits in person...I think so... the most they are in person.
Evan Franulovich:Right, right, right.
Romina:I only have one class online and the rest in person.
Evan Franulovich:Okay. How many total classes do you have now?
Romina:Four?
Evan Franulovich:Oh okay, so you got a full schedule. Is it usually pretty easy to create a full schedule every semester?
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:All right.
Romina:I can't complain about this so...
Evan Franulovich:And so, so of the majors that we offer, you know, we have over 130 programs, but a lot of students are interested in one of five areas, businesses, one of them. I mean, usually it's engineering or computer science. So the business is really popular. Can we talk a few minutes about the business classes themselves? Have you had many that are just focused on business?
Romina:No.
Evan Franulovich:No yet? right now, you're just knocking out your basics.
Romina:Yeah. On the basic yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Do you have business classes in your future?
Romina:Business law? so...
Evan Franulovich:while you.. business law?
Romina:Yeah, I have a few. I've done like economy.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, economics.
Romina:Economics. Yes. Sorry, economics.
Evan Franulovich:No worries. And so both micro and macro economics?
Romina:Yes. I've done both. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Okay. And how was how were they?
Romina:I mean, good to say like, my focus is to do like, marketing and doing nothing about marketing right now so is just doing the... how do you say? the requirements classes right now?
Evan Franulovich:Sure. Sure. Well, we don't have any positions available within our marketing department, but sometimes we do. So keep checking back! We always like to find students that are interested in marketing, because that's what we do. Yeah.
Romina:I didn't even know this.. now I'm like: "good to know".
Evan Franulovich:That's right. Now that we do, there are also a lot of opportunities for OPT after you're finished with your two year degree. Are you planning to do OPT?
Romina:Yes.
Evan Franulovich:Oh Okay.
Romina:After graduation in May, I would like to do like one year and OPT and then maybe transfer to university...yeah
Evan Franulovich:Yeah. Some students seems like they just want to keep going because they have momentum, but others stop and take that year...
Romina:Yeah, I would love to take that year and kind of ... and do OPT so...
Evan Franulovich:Seattle has so many great companies to choose from. I know you have to find work within your field. Is there a particular company you're interested in right now? Or?
Romina:I didn't set to be honest. Because I always like, take time by time.
Evan Franulovich:Sure. Sure.
Romina:It's gonna be a moment to look for work and to focus in doing research and find the best company but right now I'm focused on studying. So I'm finished my class right now.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah. Well, we have some really big companies in Seattle like Starbucks, Amazon,T-Mobile....Yes. We have some good companies to choose from. I mean, we're smaller. There's a lot of smaller companies as well. So hopefully...
Romina:Does Seattle Colleges contact with those companies?
Evan Franulovich:Yeah, yeah, I would... So each of our campuses has... we have transfer advisors, as well, so are not.... They have advisors that will talk about OPT or that help you with that OPT process. So yeah, Shun... have you... you've met Shun?
Romina:Yeah. It's my advisor. So yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Such a great guy. Yeah, he should be able to help you with that to a certain extent. And if he can't, he'll certainly point you in the right direction.
Romina:Okay. That's good to know.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Do you so when you finished with your degree after you've transferred and got your bachelor's degree, what are your future future plans? Do you plan to go back and use your skills in Italy? Do you want to...?
Romina:I want to stay. Yeah, I'm honest. No, I've been here like maybe four years and I'm like, I want to stay.
Evan Franulovich:Feeling like it's home a little bit?
Romina:Exactly. Like when I go back to my home country. I don't think like that sense of belonging when I go to Italy. It's like, I don't belong anymore there.
Evan Franulovich:Really?
Romina:It's like weird, but every time I go there, I'm like, I don't want to stay here. I mean, Italy, I think it's good to go on vacation and go see my family but to live there.
Evan Franulovich:Sure! Well, it's so funny because so many Americans I talked to you, they I mean, they see oh, let's go to Italy want to live in Italy. And you know, there's that whole" Under the Tuscan Sun" that got a lot of people that want to go over there. And now like, so my wife and I, we flew we...we were living in Belgium, but we flew to Sardinia.
Romina:Okay.
Evan Franulovich:Because you could, you could find houses for one euro.. you know, some of these small villages where they're trying to encourage people to come back and so we went and we looked at some houses but they had already given away all the one euro houses so we were are like, but we still got a great vacation and Sardinia which was really cool.
Romina:I bet yeah.
Evan Franulovich:It is very nice.
Romina:It is beautiful
Evan Franulovich:Yes, it is really beautiful. Everybody should go but yeah, I think it's funny, people want to go to Italy, but you are like here "oh It's good to go visit but it'll stay in the US."
Romina:Yeah, yeah.
Evan Franulovich:But when you a lot of students are worried about culture shock when they get here. Did you have any problems when you first got here? Like was there anything that really surprised you or?
Romina:No, no, I was so happy to be here. That was like really open minded and I was very open to learn new things here so...yeah, I don't think there was any cultural shock.
Evan Franulovich:That's interesting.
Romina:Even about the homesick, like, I don't feel so much homesick so I'm like, it depends sometimes yes, but like.. bad idea.
Evan Franulovich:So when you first arrived was... I'm guessing you've been here for years so your English is probably improved a lot since you arrived. Do you feel?
Romina:I mean, yeah, my English was like good like since the beginning...
Evan Franulovich:Okay...
Romina:Because I used to love English when I was like, baby.
Evan Franulovich:Oh Gotcha.
Romina:Yeah, so I did everything to learn.
Evan Franulovich:Yeah.
Romina:The first time when I came in America it was... was like cultural exchange when I was 18 years old. I came here one month just to improve my English.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, that's cool.
Romina:So..
Evan Franulovich:With which organization? Education first? Oh, okay. That's EF, right?
Romina:Yes, exactly.
Evan Franulovich:I used to work for EF. But I worked for them in China, so a little different.
Romina:Oh, okay that's interesting.
Evan Franulovich:I think EF does a really good job. How was your experience?
Romina:Yeah, I was scared the first time. I was really scared. Because in Italy, like, we know that, the parents like love the kids at home, so I was really dependent.
Evan Franulovich:Oh.
Romina:I was scared to come here, I was like weird. My mom wanted to do like this gift for me for my 18th birthday. In Italy is like 21-18. So my parents were like: "Oh, I sent you to America to improve your English". I was crying. I was
like:"No, I don't want to go to America. I want to stay here with you".
Evan Franulovich:Oh, man.
Romina:It was scary beginning but to be honest the moment I arrived here, I fell in love.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, that's great.
Romina:Yeah. That's why he was trying to come back, and I came here as au pair....so now, I don't want to live now.
Evan Franulovich:That's great. So you had a little host... you had a host family for that month?
Romina:I did. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:And that was in Connecticut?
Romina:No, I was in Bakersfield, California.
Evan Franulovich:Oh It was in California?
Romina:Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Or you have been all over the place.
Romina:Yeah, yeah....
Evan Franulovich:Oh hey! Did you hear that? It's Trivia Time!! So yeah, this is the part of the show where we ask you five questions. And if you get them all right, you get on our wall of fame. And if you don't get them all right, it's all right. Don't worry. It's a safe space. We're not going to make you cry or anything. All right. Well, question number one: Since you go to our North Seattle campus....What is the mascot for North Seattle? What is the animal?
Romina:The frog.
Evan Franulovich:The frog! Yes! The tree frog. Very good.
Question number two:How many quarters are there every year at Seattle Colleges? How many quarters are there? How many?
Romina:Five?
Evan Franulovich:There are four, four quarters.
Romina:Okay, okay.
Evan Franulovich:So there's fall, winter, spring and summer.
Romina:Okay. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:That's right. All right. No, wrong. Okay, next
question:There are three national parks surrounding Seattle. Can you name one of those national parks? I always get them with this question. It's a tough one.
Romina:Mount Rainier.
Evan Franulovich:Mount Rainier National Park! Mount Rainier that's right. Mount Rainier is off here. The big mountain to the South-East. Yeah. The other two Olympic National Park.
Romina:Okay.
Evan Franulovich:So if you look across the water, there's an Olympic National Park. And to the North, there's North Cascades National Park, which is beautiful. You should check it out. Are you a hiker?
Romina:It depends like....sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Evan Franulovich:Alright. Fair enough. All right. Question
number four:How many credits do you need to take each quarter to be considered full time?
Romina:12
Evan Franulovich:Yeah. Nice! Great. And the last question. What was the last movie you saw?
Romina:Netflix, what was the name...? I watch a lot of Netflix.
Evan Franulovich:Oh you do? TV series or movies?
Romina:Both.
Evan Franulovich:Alright cool. Yeah, net... Netflix is pretty popular. Everybody has it. I've watched a number of binge watched a couple of shows on that.
Romina:Definitely. Yeah.
Evan Franulovich:Well, very cool. Well, great job. We are going to end with final words of advice, your wisdom now that you've been here for so long... Four years! That's a long time so you probably have some great wisdom to share with any of the students back in your part of the world. What kinds of what kinds of advice would you give them?
Romina:Try to make friends of course, because feeling lonely is like not good. Like, sometimes you need to talk with someone when you have like worries and it's like you need someone by your side.
Evan Franulovich:Right.
Romina:I know that's always your family's gonna be like no other country but having friends here is really important. Like try to go out don't be shy like... go to meet people try to be very outgoing with people.
Evan Franulovich:I agree. Yeah, great advice. Don't be shy. Otherwise it'd be really lonely.
Romina:Yeah, don't think is a good experience.
Evan Franulovich:Oh, cool. Good advice. That's really great. And you know, we always offer the opportunity to speak in your own language. We want people to hear what is it... What does Italian sound like? Maybe people out there have never heard it before. I don't know how that's possible. But maybe they have never heard it. So maybe you can offer something just for a few seconds, whatever.
Romina:"Ciao a tutti, come state? Volevo dire che sto passando una bella esperienza qua in America. Spero che venire qua un giorno. Ciao!"
Evan Franulovich:Bene, bene. That's beautiful language. So beautiful. Oh man. All right. Well, great to meet you. Thanks for all your time today. It was really good to meet you.
Romina:Thank you so much!
Evan Franulovich:All right, have a wonderful holiday because it's... by the time this airs, the holiday will be passed. It'll be Thanksgiving that's coming up. So hopefully you'll have some turkey or something.
Romina:Yes.
Evan Franulovich:All right. Take care.
Romina:Thank you too!
Evan Franulovich:Byebye. Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give have us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok or YouTube at SeattleCollegesIntl, that's SeattleCollegesIntl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on Conversations with! Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week..