Nelson Madeddu ’16

I’m Italian and have now lived in Italy; Mumbai; India; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Rabat, Morocco; Paris, France; and Washington D.C. When looking into AUP, I was immediately attracted to the idea of an American educational system within a European capital of global power, since I was searching for a learning environment that would give me the freedom to choose my own academic path.

While at AUP, I wanted to finish as quickly as possible while also maintaining a healthy balance within my academic, professional, and social lives. The school was very supportive of my efforts, since it strives to meet the needs of all of its students, no matter their circumstances. Along with the wealth of opportunities that AUP had to offer, I found studying in Paris to be an immense privilege, one that AUP helped me take advantage of through the many study trips it offered.   

I cannot stress enough how invaluable an experience it is to be given access to this kind of a liberal arts education while living within a European setting. Not only did AUP effectively combine these two worlds but it also gifted me with a more complex understanding of my identity as a European, my perception of what academics could look like, and the sort of life that I could choose to lead. More personally, I found a small circle of friends and professors with whom I remain extremely close.   

 Living in Paris allowed me to perfect—not just learn, perfect—my French. It’s also simply undeniable that this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, one where I learned how to appreciate the small joys of life that we sometimes ignore. Thanks to the sheer variety of classes that helped me discover new academic passions and a definite direction for my studies, I’m now the youngest student in Georgetown University’s Master of Science Foreign Service program.