As a child, Laura Mattioli would play outside her school and call up to her mother in their home across the street.

Each day Mattioli’s mother came to the window and responded with a wave and a smile.

“It was comforting as a young child to have her so close,” Mattioli responded

Little did Mattioli know, years later she would go on to travel the world – Spain, Denmark, England, the United States and Brazil - separated from her mother. Throughout her journeys, however, she always had her Italian culture and language to help remind her of home.

It was difficult for Mattioli, 26, to be away from her mother and friends in her hometown of Pesaro, Italy, her homepage. She comforts herself by teaching the Italian language, bringing her back to her cultural roots.

Many young Italians who venture beyond their ancestral homes don’t return to live as adults. But Mattioli has returned to Pesaro to be with her family, bringing back lessons from around the world.

In Pesaro, she has the bare necessities, and she is happy because she is surrounded by relatives and friends who love her and because her roots are there. But this doesn’t mean she wants to stay forever.

She was seventeen when she first left the country. Mattioli and a friend stayed with a family in London looking after their three children. It was Mattioli’s first time on her own.

“I learned that life is beautiful,” she said.

After six months in London, Mattioli returned to Pesaro briefly. Then she went to Brazil.

In Brazil, she learned to speak Portuguese and settled in the capital Sao Paulo for two and a half months. She taught Italian in a private school.

Mattioli found Sao Paulo to be much different then any other city she had ever visited.

“It has the second largest population in the world, it rains frequently and the people who live there drown themselves in work, although the workaholics are not really Brazilian,” she said.

The Brazilian people that Laura came to love and know live in tiny shacks on the beach. They showed her how unnecessary the materialistic items that we surround ourselves with truly are. Mattioli saw the real way to enjoy life, to be thankful for the air that fills her lungs and for the people in her life who love her.

“I got to lay on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world,” Mattioli said. “I swam with dolphins and learned how to make macrame jewelry.”

Through Laura’s journeys she has attempted to diminish the linguistic barrier that separates cultures.

Mattioli attended Linque e Letterature Straniere, the University of Foreign Languages in Urbino, Italy. She received a degree in English and Spanish, so that she could teach foreigners and students in public schools.