The Spanish writer Enrique Jardiel Poncela (1901-1952) once said, “travel is essential and the thirst for travel, a clear sign of intelligence.” The sentiment of this great Spanish playwright describes Antonella Carducci Artenisio, an IE University student who at only 19 has already seen 26 countries on four continents, to a tee. She is young and entrepreneurial, energetic and vital, someone for whom the world has no boundaries; she hopes, one day, to be a great business lawyer.
Antonella Carducci Artenisio, who speaks five languages (Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, and French), also has two nationalities: American and Italian. If we had to choose just one word to describe her, it would have to be “cosmopolitan.” She is now immersed in what is becoming one of the greatest journeys of her life: her university experience.
Photo by: Roberto Arribas
She is a double major in business administration and law at IE University in Segovia, on her way to fulfilling one of her childhood dreams: to become a lawyer. “Since childhood I was always very curious. I wanted to know where the limit of everything we do was, and I found it in law. I have always believed that the world could be a fairer place. I wanted to become a lawyer because of that; I want to contribute to there being more justice in the world.”
Within just a few minutes of talking to her, anyone can tell she is intellectually ambitious. She exudes vitality, is proactive, determined, filled with entrepreneurial spirit, and is also a good athlete and a tireless traveler.
The word “stop” is not in her vocabulary. When her studies allow it, she is either traveling the world to learn about different ways of life and cultures, playing extraordinary sports, or volunteering to help people in need. She can’t sit still: she’s all action.
Antonella Carducci Artenisio has been to 11 countries in North and South America (Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Cuba, and the United States), 11 European countries (Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, and England), two countries in Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), along with Australia and China. She has already set foot on four continents (Antarctica is still waiting for her, but it’s just a matter of time). In every country she visits, Carducci Artenisio tries to understand the society she finds there, immersing herself in a different way of life, and trying the food. She strongly believes in maintaining differences, in diversity of cultures, in fusion. “Learning about ways of life that are different from your own opens your mind and enriches you as a human being,” she says.
Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…” The young IE University student is like a sponge, using each of her trips to soak up cultures and to learn traditions and customs that are different from hers.
“China is the country that surprised me the most. It was very different from what I had imagined. Even the buildings there have meaningful symbols, nothing is random, everything is very thought out,” she says. Of her many trips, she joyfully remembers seeing the sun rise over the Serengeti in Tanzania, home to lions, leopards, elephants, and rhinoceroses. In Australia, she still remembers the incredible sunset she saw over Uluru (also called Ayers Rock), a nine-kilometer rock formation, and the orange color that flooded the landscape. Trips, trips, and more trips… like her stay in the Amazon region of Ecuador, where she worked as a volunteer with the indigenous population.
The young, altruistic Carducci Artenisio has always had a caring side. She has done volunteer work at Fundeporte, in the South of Quito, an organization that works to help thousands of children with limited resources daily, and at the Special Olympics, also in Ecuador, where every Saturday she played sports with and helped disabled people living in extreme poverty. “Since I was a kid, I was instilled with how important it is to be caring and to help those who have less,” says the young student, who also did community service work in England, helping the homeless and those who lacked the most basic resources.
Sports and adventure are the other two constants in Antonella Carducci Artenisio’s life. She has practiced vaulting, gymnastics on horseback (while the horse is galloping); she has climbed Cotopaxi, a nearly 6,000-meter-high volcano in Ecuador, the second highest in the country and one of the most active in the world; and she has scuba dived with sharks, along with many other extreme sports.
Now in Segovia, she has one clear goal: study law and business administration so that in the future she can work as a business lawyer; that is her dream. She is a serious student, studying and working hard every day. She participates in her classes; she is a class representative this term, and she’s always involved in activities at the university. Such a small city like Segovia could be a problem for Antonella Carducci Artenisio, but it’s not. She’s in love with Segovia; “it’s a unique city, I love exploring and finding hidden treasures, the houses in the historic center fascinate me, and I also really like the food, like the Segovia-style mushrooms and ponche, a delicious dessert.” St. Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” Antonella Carducci Artenisio, despite her young age, has already read a library full with her dynamic lifestyle. Segovia will surely be a very special chapter in the great book of her life, filled with action and discovery.