As I sit at a small café table in the Roman airport, for these final few hours surrounded the pleasant cadence of those chatting away in the country’s native tongue, I realize that, very soon, I will be homesick for Italy.

That sounds quite silly. In reality, this has been my first time visiting the land of my ancestors, who emigrated near the turn of the 20th century and shed most of their cultural identity in an effort to assimilate into American society. I honestly may never have made it here in the first place, but for an auspicious opening that arose last-minute on a Central Holidays FAM tour.