International Student Spotlight – Bianca Ferrario

By Julia Swain

Bianca Ferrario is a freshman nursing student from Milan, Italy. When Ferrario was in her freshman year of high school, her family moved to California, where her walk with Christ began. 

The transition from Italy to California was rough for Ferrario and her family, especially because it happened at the beginning of COVID-19.

“Me and my mother were stuck in a very small apartment in Italy because Covid was so bad and we couldn’t get out,” Ferrario said. “Thankfully we found a way to quarantine for two weeks in Aruba and then we arrived in California a couple of days before school started. Due to Covid, the first semester [of school] was online, and I didn’t know a soul, so I was very lonely.” 

Although the transition grew easier when Ferrario returned to school in person, she admits that she never really escaped feeling alienated from her peers.

“I always felt out of place in some way due to my cultural differences and just different understanding of the world due to our different backgrounds, but I learned a lot through good and bad experiences,” Ferrario said. 

After she was saved, she was asked to go on a mission trip with her church, and despite not wanting to go, she felt a nudge from the Lord that ended up changing her life path. 

“I didn’t want to [go] for whatever reason, my brain just wasn’t having it,” Ferrario said. “And so I ended up going on this mission trip because the lady that was organizing it kept pushing me to go.” 

They traveled to El Salvador to help set up a quinceanera for girls in orphanages in the area that they visited. While the entire trip impacted Ferrario, the last night enacted a major change in her heart.  

Ferrario and the rest of her team helped pack hundreds of sandwiches and served them to the homeless community. With the massive amount of hungry people, they ran out very quickly. Shortly after they ran out, an older man approached the truck and began crying when he found out there was no more food left. 

“I was in so much pain seeing him cry, so I asked if I could pray for him,” Ferrario said. “Then he started praying for me, and that’s when all of my tears started to rush out, I was so in awe of that moment. That man had nothing, and I had everything. [I asked myself] ‘Why is he praying for me?’ And it hit me that he had everything because he had Jesus.”

Following that interaction, Ferrario felt her perspective completely change. 

“I cried for the rest of that night, and that was truly my first interaction with the Holy Spirit,” Ferrario said. 

From there, Ferrario’s relationship with the Lord only grew. However, she believed that her faith was not strong enough for her to go to a secular school, leading her to look at Christian schools. 

“I looked at Christian colleges that offered pre-med and biology and chem majors,” Ferrario said. “I did not want to stay in California because I was used to moving around a lot, being in a place for 4 years was too much for me. I needed to change scenery.” 

Ferrario’s parents had one stipulation to her moving far away from home: they wanted her to be close to family. Her brother lived in Ohio, so she made the decision to look at schools in that area. 

Ferrario’s transition to Cedarville has been difficult, but through building a community with a multitude of international student organizations on campus, it has smoothed out. 

“Obviously Ohio is very different from both California and Italy, so just adjusting to a non-familiar environment is interesting,” Ferrario said. “It doesn’t feel homey, but now I’m getting used to it, and honestly, people have been helping out a lot. Being able to be a part of the international student family through MuKappa, MISO, GSO has been really helpful because you have someone that’s going through the same thing.” 

Her favorite part about Cedarville echoes what most students say; gathering together every day at 10 a.m. for chapel. 

“I love being able to stop throughout the day and everybody who just gathers in one place and they worship the Lord,” Ferrario said. “It is a really good time to grow as a person.”

Although she is adjusting well to her new “home,” she misses her home country’s staples. 

“I love the food, obviously,” Ferrario said. “I feel like that’s basic, but it has to be said. And the architecture, I feel like you walk around and there’s all this beauty in history and it feels incredible. Everything’s close by and it’s very accessible and there’s just so many cultures in one area, which is really cool.”

Ferrario shared her advice for someone who is moving far away from college for the first time. 

“If it’s something that the Lord is calling you to, he will give you the tools to get through it,” Ferrario said. “For me, I’ve been used to moving around a lot, being away from family, so it is just a question of just trusting in the Lord and you have people here that are going through the same thing, so just being able to speak up and say ‘Oh look, I’m struggling with this,’ and there’s always going to be someone that will help you out.” 

Julia Swain is a junior journalism student and the off-campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys concerts, coffee, and watching and analyzing any Cleveland sports team.