UPDATED: Nov. 27, 2017 at 11:38 p.m.

Freshman year is a series of trials and errors, but junior Alex Ferrantelli found her first year at Syracuse University especially difficult when she faced medical problems within her family.

Right before school began, her grandmother, whom she had lived with her entire life, was diagnosed with cancer and died shortly after.

Today, Ferrantelli has a tattoo on her forearm that reads, “tu sei bella,” which means “you are beautiful,” in Italian in honor of the woman who practically raised her.

Ferrantelli recalls how her grandma would be on the porch every single day when she came home from school and would always say the phrase. Ferrantelli would say it back to her and so this became a routine among the two.

“After we said, ‘tue sei bella,’ to each other, she would always say, ‘Io sono vecchia,’ which means, ‘I’m old,’” Ferrantelli said. “I’d always be like, ‘No, you’re not old! You’re so beautiful.’”

Sophomore year, Ferrantelli decided to get the tattoo of the shared phrase between her and her grandma, to always keep a piece of her close.

But her parents weren’t absent from her life: two years ago, Ferrantelli got a tattoo of two overlapping hearts to represent the bond shared between her and her mother.

While the two were meant to get the tattoos together, Ferrantelli said that her mother chickened out.

“She told me she’d eventually get it and we’ll match so then it’ll mean something but for now, I just have these two hearts,” Ferrantelli said.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Alex Ferrantelli was misnamed in a photo caption. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on November 27, 2017 at 10:17 pm

Contact Raven: rarentas@syr.edu