Sydney Moore: A college kid, travel junkie and food lover
​
Right now, I 'm working on my undergrad at The University of Michigan, but I think I peaked during my gap year. It's not that I don't love college. Among other things, I love meeting people of all sorts through the excessive amount of clubs and extracurriculars I join, going out to eat at the insanely good restaurants downtown, running in the arb and game nights with friends. What I meant by my earlier statement is simply that my gap year was my first time away from home, full of travel and lots of personal development, and nothing can compare to that.
​
I got lucky during my gap year because I had so many opportunities to travel. I split my year between two host families who lived in different cites. The first half was with a large family in a small, picturesque town nestled in the mountains. It was called Sassoferrato. The grandma lived with them and often spoiled us with homemade pasta and other goodies. The second half of my year, I lived with a single mom in a flat smack dab in the center of a small city, called Fabriano. She loved to travel and showed me many wonderful cities, including Pianello di Cagli. Everyone knew everyone there, and her family owned a large property on the outskirts of town where countless people seemed to be stoping by all the time.
​
Just to clarify, the only reason I was able to take a gap year was because I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship through the Rotary Youth Exchange program. I chose to go to Italy of all countries for several reasons. Not only do they have fantastic art, food and people, but my mom took her first big trip there when she was in her twenties. Below are photos of both of us on our trips (I tried my best to make my photo look similar to hers).
