Before coming to Italy, I struggled with anxiety. This had plagued me since high school, and I believed anxiety was going to be something that I just had to “deal with” as I grew up. I thought anxiety was a normal feeling everyone experienced.

I would never have imagined the impact the JSB program would have not only on my anxiety, but on my self-confidence. I have been able to conquer this because of all the people here.

In the first week, I was thrown into an unfamiliar place with twenty-one other girls who I barely knew, but lucky for me, these girls are some of the best people I have ever met. Every girl here has had an impact on my life, whether they know it or not. Every morning I wake up and feel completely loved and supported. Never did I think that twenty-one girls who were not in my life before this experience would have such an influence on me now.

I have never been this confident with who I am, and it is because of the people on this program. Living so close to twenty-one other girls forced me to experience the good and the bad within the first couple of weeks. Tears from laughing so hard we could not control them, and tears from being away from home were shed in the first couple of weeks and immediately brought us closer.

Now, nine weeks in, I could not imagine not having these girls in my life.  Every bad day has been fixed with a little a smile, or for this group, a witty comment about what we are doing. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to meet and become such good friends with everyone here.

As I am writing this, I am sitting in the Palace kitchen, blasting music while we all sing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. It is little moments like these that I am going to miss. I always have said I wanted a sister, well now I have been blessed with twenty-one.

Evan Sharp