After completing her four years at Westford Academy and receiving her diploma, senior Annina Tedstone has decided to go to college at John Cabot University in Italy. The college is an English, liberal arts school located in Rome, in the village of Trastevere along the Tiber River.

After applying to numerous colleges in Massachusetts, Tedstone realized that she was not excited about any of the ones she got accepted to. When she could not find a gap year program that suited her, she was able to find John Cabot.

“One day I searched: “Colleges in Italy”, and I found John Cabot. Something about Italy has always drawn me in, and there’s no way I could begin to explain that feeling, but I’ve dreamt about living there since I was a sophomore. And somehow it’s becoming my reality,” Tedstone said.

Her first few years at WA were rough. Tedstone was not fully committed to her school work, nor content with herself. Eventually, Tedstone found a passion for English during her junior year, which she still carries today and wants to carry into college.

“It was in Mr. Humphrey’s English class. We were reading The Great Gatsby, and one day I was suddenly overcome with amazement at how complex the story is. I was astonished at how one man, Fitzgerald, can pack so much depth into a story that seems so simple. I have to thank Mr. Humphrey for showing me that passion, too. Ever since then I’ve known I wanted to study English,” Tedstone said.

Tedstone is planning to study English literature with a creative writing focus at John Cabot. Even though she is not sure what profession she wants to pursue, she hopes to write a book someday.

Tedstone also hopes to incorporate her love for film into her work.

“I love stories. Hearing them, reading them, telling them, writing them… So hopefully I can find something that allows me to do that while also make a living. The reason I’m going to Italy to study English is because I feel [that in order] to be a great writer, I have to go somewhere outside everything I know. I have to experience the world from a different perspective,” Tedstone said.

Moving to another country can be nerve-wracking for many people, especially after coming straight from high school. Tedstone is more anxious about not liking John Cabot and worried that her classes will be too surface-level.

After what Tedstone calls “being stuck in this town where nothing happens,” she is extremely excited about living in Italy. She knows she is going to fall in love with the country and is not nervous at all about her life abroad.

“I’ve seen movies and read stories set in other places around the world and I’ve always known that at some point I have to see the world,” she said.

“I’m truly excited to experience the world from a completely new perspective,” Tedstone said. “I do anticipate a crisis a few weeks into my time there… something like, ‘what the heck am I doing in Rome?’ But again, and this is one thing I live by: everything will work itself out.”