Erin Miller

In response to a call for updates from the study abroad program at the University of Colorado —

In January of 2005, I followed three other students through an arch-covered ally, rolling my large suitcase down the crumbling stone steps that led to our new apartment on Via de Aquila, Perugia, Italia. Two of my future roommates, Crissy and Dave, also hailed from the University of Colorado. Over the next five months, we spent sunny afternoons sitting together on le scalie leading up to the duomo, watched the English movies at the opera house on Tuesday nights, and ate six-hour dinners with our Italian friends. We bonded on long walks to nowhere in particular, and while searching for garbage bags to drape over us as we stood on one island or another, our packs loaded on our backs, and the rain pouring down on us.

Recently, I caught up with my fellow study abroad alumni. Crissy Codi is a full-time yoga instructor in Denver, Colorado. She recently finished her graduate degree in sports and performance psychology and was a counselor throughout graduate school. She eventually hopes to do a mix of counseling and consulting. For now, she does a lot of cycling, snowboarding and yoga. I am living and working in DC after finishing my graduate degree in public health at Columbia University. I am currently serving as a special assistant at the Department Health and Human Services and working on policies related to the implementation of the recently passed health reform law. All we know about Dave Savier “Dave Save,” is that he sometimes appears at Anthony’s pizza in the early hours of the morning.