# @marist on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccu8BVtsg-r
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/76449419-marist-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/1e1bf782fc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-04-24T12:14:04.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Marist College (@Marist) — https://gondola.cc/Marist

## Caption

𝓡𝓮𝓭 𝓕𝓸𝔁 𝓕𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼 🦊 

From a walking distance on Marist’s Poughkeepsie campus to now 1,000 miles apart, Celine Diaz and Joey Italia have taken the term ‘long distance’ to new heights. Celine in Madrid, Spain and Joey in Florence, Italy decided to take a leap of faith and spend their spring semester abroad, each embarking on their own adventures and delving into their heritages. But the decision wasn’t easy.

“The biggest thing was that he wasn't sure of was if he could get out of his comfort zone. And I was like, ‘We can do it together. It's going to be an experience that we can have for ourselves, but we'll be able to experience it together. Even though we're not in the exact same place or the same program, we're experiencing similar things, and if anything we can fall back on each other’.” - CD ‘23

“So during the process of applying when I was really teetering, I actually got a fortune cookie that said, ‘Pat yourself on the back for making that right choice’, and that was when I was literally 50/50 - I had no idea what I wanted to do. I kept that with me this whole time. And every time I looked at it, it made me feel more comfortable. [Now] every time I look back on that, or every time I open my journal to write about my experiences, I read that, and I definitely am happy that I made the right choice of coming here.” JI ‘23

However, the duo didn’t let the distance halter their relationship, in fact the experience only made them stronger.

“I saw him last week for my spring break, and we were just like, ‘Wow, [this is] coming to an end. We were so worried about this’. We've just grown so much - not apart from each other - but as people through this experience [and] in the best way possible. Because yes, we were able to see each other and give each other that comfort that we had at home if we needed, but we were able to grow our relationship parallel to one another.” - CD '23

Celine Diaz ‘23 & Joey Italia ’23 #RedFoxFeaturesAbroad

🎤: Bailey Colón
📸: Matthew Moraski

#Marist #RedFoxFamily #StudentStories #CampusLife #StudentRun #Connected #MaristItaly

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 827
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- **Comments:** 14

## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

connected, maristitaly, studentrun, campuslife, redfoxfeaturesabroad, marist, redfoxfamily, studentstories

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