Written by Georgia Tech-Europe Fall 2024 Blogger, Matteo Ruffo
Hi all! My name is Matteo Ruffo – I am a rising third-year aerospace engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and I will be attending GT-Europe this Fall.
I am from Connecticut originally, just outside of New York City, and I am the son of Southern Italian immigrants. As such, I am an avid soccer fan, with my favorite team being SSC Napoli. Soccer is the main sport I play competitively, but I also really like American football and basketball, and play water polo and basketball recreationally. I read and write a lot, and I am currently reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, the fourth book in his A Song of Ice And Fire series.
Ultimately, however, I love traveling with an unyielding passion.
I was fortunate enough for my parents to bring me back to my extended family in Calabria, the boot of Italy; spending Summers with my cousins and grandparents, we would take trips to Puglia, Rome, Milan, Florence, Tuscany, and Venice, and later on we did trips to Turin, Bologna, Rimini, San Marino, Sicily, and Pesaro, the latter of which I spent time playing for their soccer academy. I also had the fortune of playing in soccer competitions in Argentina, as well as visiting Iceland, Barcelona, Paris, and London in my youth as well. This nurturing brought up an immense love in me for traveling and geography, and both are aspects of me that to this day, I hold dear.
While I am immensely excited for the opportunities I will have at GT-Europe, it will not be my first study abroad program at Georgia Tech. During my freshman year, I embarked on a one-week study abroad to Rwanda with an energy and sustainability class I took, and in the Fall, I attended the Barcelona Fall Program with Georgia Tech, visiting countries such as Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, Hungary, Czechia, and Norway in the process.
I am extremely excited to embark on my second long-term study abroad, and I am equally excited for the opportunity to share my travels!
Read about Matteo’s Jordan trip and more here!