Decatur ‘go-getter’ broadens horizons with trip to Italy
“Mi scusi, parli inglese?”
As 22-year-old Wesley Clark sat opposite classmate Rachel Peterson at the Italian trattoria on May 25, he found himself in very unfamiliar territory.
Just a few short weeks ago, “Posso avere un po di più, per favore?” were the last words that he could have ever imagined himself saying. Never mind knowing what they meant.
Yet, here he was, in Italy. Asking the very Florentine waitress for more creamy Margherita pasta for himself and his confused American friend. In proper Italian.
This May, the rising fifth-year double biology/pre-dentistry and broadcast journalism major traveled nearly 5,000 miles away from his Decatur hometown to explore a world of possibilities in Cortona, Italy.
Clark and Peterson are two of 24 University of Georgia students who participated in the school’s Cortona Studies Abroad 2013 Science Maymester Program.
In addition to seven credit hours of Biology for Medicine and Introduction to Italian Art, from May 8-June 4 Clark got schooled on the importance of communication – a lesson the aspiring dentist first learned in 2005 as a high school student in the 100 Black Men of DeKalb’s Leadership Academy.