A semester abroad changed the very course of Michelle Bufano’s life. Bufano, executive director of Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, was a science major at Marquette University, on track to become a speech pathologist. When a study abroad opportunity arose during her junior year, she jumped at the chance. Off she went to Rome.
Once there, she immersed herself in Italian culture and art for a semester. It was such a transformative experience that after graduation, she took the money she had saved for graduate school and went back to Rome to live. “I loved the culture. I loved going to the Sunday markets, absorbing the art and the language,” she said.
