Brookdale Gilman Scholar Expands His World in Italy

Brookdale Community College student Alek Monahan of Brick, N.J., recently returned from six weeks in Italy, where he studied at the American University of Rome with support from the prestigious U.S. Department of State Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Monahan is pursuing an Associate of Science degree at Brookdale, with coursework preparing him for future studies in Plant Agriculture and Horticulture. He currently installs ornamental and edible gardens for a landscape company while also serving as a student assistant at Brookdale’s Wall campus.

For Monahan, studying in Italy offered an opportunity to experience firsthand the connections among agriculture, food, culture, and community—subjects closely related to his academic and career interests.

“These past six weeks have been so world-expanding, it’s hard to pick just one memorable experience,” Monahan said.

One experience that stood out was a five-hour hike along the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast. Along the trail, Monahan encountered local farmers traveling with horses and donkeys carrying wood used to construct trellises for farms built into the steep mountainsides.

“They’ve built their farms on the sides of mountains, cutting terraces into the steep cliffs that resemble staircases of earth,” he said. “Everything flourishes, and the people were so kind, welcoming, and laid back.”

Near the end of the hike, he encountered another memorable scene: a group of farmers gathered below the trail, drumming, singing, and dancing.

“It was beautiful,” he said.

Monahan also spent two nights in Monteriggioni, a small medieval walled village in Tuscany, during its medieval festival. The experience offered him a glimpse into how people once lived off the land and relied on locally available foods.

Another highlight came not from a particular destination, but from the people Monahan met along the way. While traveling from Venice to Pisa, he realized that over the course of a single day he had communicated with people in four languages: English, Italian, Chinese, and Arabic.

At a Chinese-owned café, he thanked the owners in Chinese after hearing other customers do the same. Later, he ordered lunch in Italian, something he had become increasingly comfortable doing during his six weeks abroad.

The day ended in Pisa, where Monahan and a friend shared an Uber to the train station with a young couple from Jordan. Drawing on a few Arabic greetings he had learned from his Palestinian godfather, Mohammad, Monahan said goodbye with “Assalamualaikum,” meaning “Peace be upon you.”

“You could see on their faces how happy they were to be greeted with a familiar phrase from home,” Monahan recalled. “I felt so grateful at the end of this day to feel like I could connect with people from all over the world, even in small ways like this.”

Those connections have become one of the most lasting lessons of his experience abroad.

“Six weeks abroad expanded my world and made me want to travel even more than I did before,” Monahan said. “It was cathartic, in a way, to learn that I could influence and inspire people who influence and inspire me. No matter where you go, people are alike in many ways, and there are so many chances to connect, even if your lives are completely different. I would love to experience more of that connection in the future.”

The journey also carried deeply personal meaning for Monahan. His mother had dreamed of studying art in Italy and had been learning Italian and preparing to move there before becoming a mother. She passed away before having the opportunity to fulfill that dream.

“This opportunity is really special to me because it was always my mom’s dream to study art in Italy,” Monahan said. “Having the chance to be able to live out her dream for her was deeply meaningful and healing. I left pictures of her everywhere.

A Gilman Scholarship Success Story

The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program helps undergraduate students with financial need study or intern abroad, expanding access to international educational experiences.

In 2026, Brookdale was recognized as a Gilman Program 25th Anniversary Top Producing Institution, reflecting the College’s commitment to helping students overcome financial barriers to studying abroad.

Brookdale promotes global engagement through international education, study abroad opportunities, co-curricular programming, and global perspectives incorporated into the curriculum. Students can participate in semester-long, winter term (Jan-Term), and summer study abroad programs, as well as short-term faculty-led experiences, internships, and community service opportunities abroad.

For more information about study abroad opportunities at Brookdale Community College, visit brookdalecc.edu/study-abroad.