Maria Speggiorin (she, her hers) is a PhD candidate in the German Department at Georgetown University. At the end of her BA in Modern Languages and Literature (English and German) at the University of Trento, Maria focused on learner’s autonomy for her final thesis. Maria then further studied in the field of Second Language Acquisition in her Master at the University of Ca’ Foscari in Venice (focus on German) and graduated with a thesis on Experiential Learning and the delivery of Second Language classes through visual art. She then pursued a Master in Germanic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, developing a strong interest in academic research and deciding to further pursue a PhD degree in the Germanic Studies Department at Georgetown with a focus on Second Language Acquisition. Maria’s research interests include Second Language Acquisition with a focus on Virtual Learning, Virtual Exchanges (VE) and the use of technology fostering effective learners’ autonomy. Her current dissertation focuses on US-based students’ expression of cultural identities during a one-semester Virtual Exchange with English learners based in Germany.