I have grown up in a family that inspires me to travel. One of my grandparents’ favorite places to travel and most frequented countries was Italy. I heard them talk about Rome, Cinque Terra, and Tuscany, but there was one town my grandpa always mentioned. Avigliano, a small town located outside of Potenza. My grandpa’s family is from Avigliano, therefore he talked about it all the time, I saw pictures, and my mom even visited the town when she was in high school. I knew that when I signed up for the Joseph S. Bruno program, I was going to try and get there as a surprise on one of our weekends off.

Avigliano is a small town, so the journey there was going to be extensive. Luckily, one of the first things that the Joseph S. Bruno program teaches us is how to travel on trains. After some research, I found that the easiest way to get there was to fly to Bari, then train to Foggia, and then train to Avigliano Lucania. From Avigliano Lucania, I read that my friend and I could taxi to the city of Avigliano. Emma Childs and I were confident in our travel skills, so we headed on our way.

Emma Childs and I had a minor discrepancy when we arrived at Bari Central Station. We arrived early and found the train platform, but then it was ten minutes until our train was supposed to depart, and it wasn’t there. Bari is a touristy area, so I was able to communicate with a worker using both Italian and English to figure out our train just switched platforms and the display screens didn’t update. Then, we arrived at Foggia Station and only had ten minutes to find our next train. Emma and I were confident until we saw the platform said 4C and we didn’t see any platforms that included letters. Again, we had to use our communication skills and flag down a worker to help. We made our train departing to Avigliano Lucania with three minutes to spare.

Finally, we arrived in Avigliano Lucania, and we were going to be able to taxi into the city of Avigliano, or so we thought. Emma and I were in shock when we stepped off the train into a train station that was no bigger than the Chigi Palace living room. We had finally made it into a true small town where the one worker spoke no English. My communication skills have never been more needed than in that moment, and I am so glad to have had to use them.

Emma and I quickly learned that there were no taxis in this city, but I was not leaving without completing my life goal and grandpa’s surprise. I used all the Italian I knew and my maps to talk to the worker and show her where we needed to go. The language barrier was difficult but with determination we were able to figure it out and she told us there was a whole other train we had to take from there into the small town of Avigliano. It is so small that the train station doesn’t show on maps or on the departing trains schedule. It is simply a train that only locals know about and take.

Emma and I managed to make it to Avigliano and I have never been happier. I had completed a life goal of mine and managed to surprise my grandpa. He never knew I was going, so I just sent him a picture of myself in front of the statue I had seen in so many of his pictures before and waited for the response. His response was one of pure joy and excitement, as he said ““This is unbelievable! Your roots! How did you get there?”” I couldn’t have been more excited to tell him about the long journey, as Emma and I spent a total of ten hours traveling that day to get to Avigliano and back to Bari.

My communication skills improved significantly that day trying to navigate all the travel bumps Emma and I came across. They also improved because of all the amazing workers and community members I got to meet such as the worker at Avigliano Lucania, Avigliano Citta, and the convenient store worker in Avigliano who was beyond excited I asked for a postcard. As I head into the Interior Design field, communication skills are a must, and this weekend trip prepared me for being able to talk to anyone, no matter the barrier.

Avigliano was a weekend trip to remember, and I am forever grateful that the Joseph S. Bruno program made it possible for me.

The photo I sent my grandpa to see if he could guess where I was!

Paris Ann Maness