I’m Sara, yes Sara without the H. I was born in an anonymous town in the middle of nowhere, in the industrial Northern Italy. I grew up with my fingers sticky from pasta dough and my face powdered with flour, helping my grandmother to make the most loved meals in the world. I was tossed in my grandma’s arms at age 4—when my parents divorced—and I lived a spoon-fed life until I was 8, when I moved with my father and his new wife to what would have become my hometown. Bosisio Parini—a name that barely appears on any map—was the place I spent most of my life in: two-thousand people, three churches, and the lake, puddle of memories. But despite its stunning beauty, that limiting environment granted no future for us. So I had to jump, take the biggest leap of my life: on the 22nd of December 2009 I moved to the Big Apple with my mother and sister, leaving my dad to Italy to support us financially. I was thrown in the illogical world of slang and French fries, but somehow—fantastically—I managed to become part of it without gaining fifty pounds. I may speak with my hands, but I swear one can barely hear my accent. I feel more American than ever, although I’ll never forget my origins; that little village—to me—is that one place where you feel like you left your anchor. I mean—would have been a pretty heavy load to carry overseas, all the way to New York city.

I believe art is anything that serves as a medium to transmit emotions for someone to perceive them through their own filter on the other side. I like art that has strong messages and that challenges the standards, the accepted values and the conventions. When I go to museums I tend to drift away on my own and look for minor pieces–sort of like a treasure hunt… I always imagine there is a hidden piece, a painting everybody passes by, an ignored masterpiece that only I could truly appreciate and decode. I’m not a big fan of paintings with huge lines across them, but I do think that they are art and they are good art too. My favorite painter isAlbert Bierstadt, and I was so excited when we went to the Brooklyn museum and I got to see “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains” again (it was a huge painting that took up the whole wall and had a valley and the sun cutting through the clouds).

I am an Astronomy intern at the Museum of Natural History, I play guitar, sing, play volleyball, model, and I love going to concerts. My biggest dream is to become an astronaut!