I chose to do this study abroad program with the intent of meeting my personal goals of gaining independence, experiencing what it is like to be a foreigner, and being fully immersed in a completely new place.  My educational goals were to experience a place firsthand rather than through pictures in textbooks, to fully devote my attention to studying liberal arts (in a place for a short amount of time, and to be a dedicated scholar.  During the program I learned that I was looking to travel as a traveler, rather than travel as a tourist.   

Little did I know that the study abroad experience would be somewhat of a last deep breath of breadth prior to a long deep dive into a major.  I had long fantasized myself perusing stacks of thick, musty books in a grand old library, studying the liberal arts.  What a waste that could have been though, studying off of books when I could have stood face to face with history and art, which is what I did.  Despite this, my trip was more of a first look than a last glance. 

I had never travelled to any country outside the US, except for Canada.  Preparing for the trip was a strange experience.  Usually before a major step I visualize my experience, but this time I had nothing to craft my images around, except for what I’d seen about Rome in movies and history books.  I was kind of in a numbed state until after the first week.  Had I really hopped on a plane and flown across the Atlantic Ocean?  Was I really on a different continent, in a foreign country, a world famous city built upon layers of history?  It did not seem believable.  It felt like a dream or an illusion.  When I came home it was so easy to adjust back to home, it felt like I’d never left at all. 

Stepping off the plane and setting foot on Italian soil was slightly disappointing.  I was in slight disbelief because the highways, shops, apartments, and gray weather looked just like those in the US, only with Italian signs instead of English ones. 

When people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, it is difficult to answer.  There were so many incredible things I saw, more amazing famous art compressed in five weeks than I’ve ever seen in my entire life so far.  It is such a humbling experience to be immersed in a world of rich culture and history.  One particularly outstanding sight I saw was a gigantic cave, which could supposedly fit the entire Cathedral of Milan inside its main room.  Throughout the cave were huge stalagmites that looked like shiny wax.  All senses of scale and size were thrown off.  I think the reason why this cave was significant to me was that it was an incredible nature-made piece of art; it was so different from the incredible man-made art we’d seen all the previous weeks. 

When people ask me what I miss about Rome, they are not things I would have understood before leaving.  I miss walking down alleyways alone, with only a phone, keys, notebook, and pencil.  I miss deciding to walk in a direction, and just walking, walking, walking, wandering, getting lost, but never feeling scared and never getting bored.  Rome is vast and sprawling with large, grandiose sights tucked behind winding alleyways, like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona.  But Rome is also detailed down to the tiny foam roses on the flower crowns sold in Trastevere in the late afternoon, and the graffiti left from invasions of Villa Farnesina, unnoticeable to the unsuspecting eye.  I miss noticing a new detail along my walk to class, even though I’d walked that route dozens of times.  I miss deciding to go to the store and being there less than five minutes later.  I miss sitting in a piazza in silence, alone, with my sketchbook and passively soaking in Rome in every way, through all senses.  I miss feeling at home, yet also being a foreigner.  Nothing quite feels right, settled, normal.  I am kept on my toes all the time, and when I wish to speak I must think carefully first, the words don’t just tumble out. 

Going to Rome made me a child again, struggling to verbalize my thoughts, struggling to find my way around.  But going to Rome also made me an adult.  Nobody asked when I’d be home, told me when to sleep, warned me about spending too much, or worried when I went out at night.  I have little travel experience, but I suspect that travelling to foreign places keeps us young.  Strange, scary, exciting new environments sharpen our senses, exercise new muscles, and reopen drooping eyelids.   I intend to travel more in the future.

Surprisingly, there were not many surprises in terms of what I did with my time in Rome and how I was affected.    The predictions I made and hopes I expressed in my experiential learning application became reality.  Nevertheless, there were disappointments, one in particular was the group dynamics, but I think it offered insight and strength, gifts amidst the unfortunate circumstances.  Preparing for the trip I had anxiety about how I would get along with the others in the group; it was my biggest worry--aside from how I was going to get to the Rome Center from the airport.  From orientations and others I’d talked to, classmates would make or break my study abroad experience.  After that, my fantasy of a close bonding experience with 25 strangers in which we would collectively be transformed and grow to become lifelong friends was discarded.  I braced myself for all sorts of conflicts, but inside I still hoped everything would be good.  Most everything did turn out well, but in my naïveté I thought everyone would get along with everyone.  Others told me that it is natural for large groups to cluster into smaller ones.  It was quite a learning experience for me, though.  Separation is natural, I just did not know it.  These types of situations, being in close quarters with many different strangers and learning to get along, will be helpful to me later in life.  It could help with my future career, where I know it will involve some sort of collaboration, but also in any aspect of life. 

Before this program I had never taken an art history class.  From what I’d heard others say about art history, I assumed it would be boring and tedious.  What a blessing it was to have Professor Ricardo as my very first art history teacher!  He made art history come alive.  As one of the most intelligent and exuberant people I have ever met, he entertained us with art history.  His clear passion is contagious. 

This program has also taught me about how I react in a vacuum, where I have no family members or community with expectations of me, nor any habitual behaviors.  The most stressful moment on the trip for me was our group trip to Milan when I had a one hour break between lunch and meeting back with the group to catch our train to Rome.  The day before I had seen something I wanted to get my little sister from the Disney store, but I didn’t have enough Euros on me.  I wavered back and forth about whether to go get it or just forget it since I was so pressed for time.  According to Google Maps the store was more than a 25 minute walk.  I decided to go for it.  I knew I was taking a huge risk, especially since my phone had no more data.  I wove through streets that looked familiar and eventually found my way to the store, with only minor struggles.  I got many dirty looks since I was speed-walking, and people don’t generally rush around to places in Italy.  At the store I asked the cashier for directions back to the hotel, but she didn’t know where it was.  I nearly ran through Milan’s fashion district, with a live opera performance in the background.  I got lost while trying to take an unsuccessful shortcut.  I had to duck into a café to ask for directions.  Eventually I caught up with some of my classmates and even though we had to run back to the hotel my most stressful moments were over. 

This program gave me the great gift of experiencing travel, and as a traveler, whose intent is to know the city’s heart and spirit, not just its top-ten-must-sees.  I may have taken a lot of photos, but photos were not what I was most after.  My purpose was to gain experience, independence, knowledge, and perspective.  Rome gave me all of those, as well as much more. 

--

I chose to do this study abroad program with the intent of meeting my personal goals of gaining independence, experiencing what it is like to be a foreigner, and being fully immersed in a completely new place.  My educational goals were to experience a place firsthand rather than through pictures in textbooks, to fully devote my attention to studying liberal arts (in a place for a short amount of time, and to be a dedicated scholar.  During the program I learned that I was looking to travel as a traveler, rather than travel as a tourist.   

 

Little did I know that the study abroad experience would be somewhat of a last deep breath of breadth prior to a long deep dive into a major.  I had long fantasized myself perusing stacks of thick, musty books in a grand old library, studying the liberal arts.  What a waste that could have been though, studying off of books when I could have stood face to face with history and art, which is what I did.  Despite this, my trip was more of a first look than a last glance. 

 

I had never travelled to any country outside the US, except for Canada.  Preparing for the trip was a strange experience.  Usually before a major step I visualize my experience, but this time I had nothing to craft my images around, except for what I’d seen about Rome in movies and history books.  I was kind of in a numbed state until after the first week.  Had I really hopped on a plane and flown across the Atlantic Ocean?  Was I really on a different continent, in a foreign country, a world famous city built upon layers of history?  It did not seem believable.  It felt like a dream or an illusion.  When I came home it was so easy to adjust back to home, it felt like I’d never left at all. 

Stepping off the plane and setting foot on Italian soil was slightly disappointing.  I was in slight disbelief because the highways, shops, apartments, and gray weather looked just like those in the US, only with Italian signs instead of English ones. 

 

When people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, it is difficult to answer.  There were so many incredible things I saw, more amazing famous art compressed in five weeks than I’ve ever seen in my entire life so far.  It is such a humbling experience to be immersed in a world of rich culture and history.  One particularly outstanding sight I saw was a gigantic cave, which could supposedly fit the entire Cathedral of Milan inside its main room.  Throughout the cave were huge stalagmites that looked like shiny wax.  All senses of scale and size were thrown off.  I think the reason why this cave was significant to me was that it was an incredible nature-made piece of art; it was so different from the incredible man-made art we’d seen all the previous weeks. 

 

When people ask me what I miss about Rome, they are not things I would have understood before leaving.  I miss walking down alleyways alone, with only a phone, keys, notebook, and pencil.  I miss deciding to walk in a direction, and just walking, walking, walking, wandering, getting lost, but never feeling scared and never getting bored.  Rome is vast and sprawling with large, grandiose sights tucked behind winding alleyways, like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona.  But Rome is also detailed down to the tiny foam roses on the flower crowns sold in Trastevere in the late afternoon, and the graffiti left from invasions of Villa Farnesina, unnoticeable to the unsuspecting eye.  I miss noticing a new detail along my walk to class, even though I’d walked that route dozens of times.  I miss deciding to go to the store and being there less than five minutes later.  I miss sitting in a piazza in silence, alone, with my sketchbook and passively soaking in Rome in every way, through all senses.  I miss feeling at home, yet also being a foreigner.  Nothing quite feels right, settled, normal.  I am kept on my toes all the time, and when I wish to speak I must think carefully first, the words don’t just tumble out. 

 

Going to Rome made me a child again, struggling to verbalize my thoughts, struggling to find my way around.  But going to Rome also made me an adult.  Nobody asked when I’d be home, told me when to sleep, warned me about spending too much, or worried when I went out at night.  I have little travel experience, but I suspect that travelling to foreign places keeps us young.  Strange, scary, exciting new environments sharpen our senses, exercise new muscles, and reopen drooping eyelids.   I intend to travel more in the future.

 

Surprisingly, there were not many surprises in terms of what I did with my time in Rome and how I was affected.    The predictions I made and hopes I expressed in my experiential learning application became reality.  Nevertheless, there were disappointments, one in particular was the group dynamics, but I think it offered insight and strength, gifts amidst the unfortunate circumstances.  Preparing for the trip I had anxiety about how I would get along with the others in the group; it was my biggest worry--aside from how I was going to get to the Rome Center from the airport.  From orientations and others I’d talked to, classmates would make or break my study abroad experience.  After that, my fantasy of a close bonding experience with 25 strangers in which we would collectively be transformed and grow to become lifelong friends was discarded.  I braced myself for all sorts of conflicts, but inside I still hoped everything would be good.  Most everything did turn out well, but in my naïveté I thought everyone would get along with everyone.  Others told me that it is natural for large groups to cluster into smaller ones.  It was quite a learning experience for me, though.  Separation is natural, I just did not know it.  These types of situations, being in close quarters with many different strangers and learning to get along, will be helpful to me later in life.  It could help with my future career, where I know it will involve some sort of collaboration, but also in any aspect of life. 

 

Before this program I had never taken an art history class.  From what I’d heard others say about art history, I assumed it would be boring and tedious.  What a blessing it was to have Professor Ricardo as my very first art history teacher!  He made art history come alive.  As one of the most intelligent and exuberant people I have ever met, he entertained us with art history.  His clear passion is contagious. 

 

This program has also taught me about how I react in a vacuum, where I have no family members or community with expectations of me, nor any habitual behaviors.  The most stressful moment on the trip for me was our group trip to Milan when I had a one hour break between lunch and meeting back with the group to catch our train to Rome.  The day before I had seen something I wanted to get my little sister from the Disney store, but I didn’t have enough Euros on me.  I wavered back and forth about whether to go get it or just forget it since I was so pressed for time.  According to Google Maps the store was more than a 25 minute walk.  I decided to go for it.  I knew I was taking a huge risk, especially since my phone had no more data.  I wove through streets that looked familiar and eventually found my way to the store, with only minor struggles.  I got many dirty looks since I was speed-walking, and people don’t generally rush around to places in Italy.  At the store I asked the cashier for directions back to the hotel, but she didn’t know where it was.  I nearly ran through Milan’s fashion district, with a live opera performance in the background.  I got lost while trying to take an unsuccessful shortcut.  I had to duck into a café to ask for directions.  Eventually I caught up with some of my classmates and even though we had to run back to the hotel my most stressful moments were over. 

 

This program gave me the great gift of experiencing travel, and as a traveler, whose intent is to know the city’s heart and spirit, not just its top-ten-must-sees.  I may have taken a lot of photos, but photos were not what I was most after.  My purpose was to gain experience, independence, knowledge, and perspective.  Rome gave me all of those, as well as much more. 

--

Submitted:

I chose to do this study abroad program with the intent of meeting my personal goals of gaining independence, experiencing what it is like to be a foreigner, and being fully immersed in a completely new place.  My educational goals were to experience a place firsthand rather than through pictures in textbooks, to fully devote my attention to studying liberal arts (in a place for a short amount of time, and to be a dedicated scholar.

 

Little did I know that the study abroad experience would be somewhat of a last deep breath of breadth prior to a long deep dive into a major.  I had long fantasized myself perusing stacks of thick, musty books in a grand old library, studying the liberal arts.  What a waste that could have been though, studying off of books when I could have stood face to face with history and art, which is what I did.  Despite this, my trip was more of a first look than a last glance. 

 

I had never travelled to any country outside the US, except for Canada.  Preparing for the trip was a strange experience.  Usually before a major step I visualize my experience, but this time I had nothing to craft my images around, except for what I’d seen about Rome in movies and history books.  I was kind of in a numbed state until after the first week.  Had I really hopped on a plane and flown across the Atlantic Ocean?  Was I really on a different continent, in a foreign country, a world famous city built upon layers of history?  It did not seem believable.  It felt like a dream or an illusion.  When I came home it was so easy to adjust back to home, it felt like I’d never left at all. 

Stepping off the plane and setting foot on Italian soil was slightly disappointing.  I was in slight disbelief because the highways, shops, apartments, and gray weather looked just like those in the US, only with Italian signs instead of English ones. 

 

When people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, it is difficult to answer.  There were so many incredible things I saw, more amazing famous art compressed in five weeks than I’ve ever seen in my entire life so far.  It is such a humbling experience to be immersed in a world of rich culture and history.  One particularly outstanding sight I saw was a gigantic cave, which could supposedly fit the entire Cathedral of Milan inside its main room.  Throughout the cave were huge stalagmites that looked like shiny wax.  All senses of scale and size were thrown off.  I think the reason why this cave was significant to me was that it was an incredible nature-made piece of art; it was so different from the incredible man-made art we’d seen all the previous weeks. 

 

When people ask me what I miss about Rome, they are not things I would have understood before leaving.  I miss walking down alleyways alone, with only a phone, keys, notebook, and pencil.  I miss deciding to walk in a direction, and just walking, walking, walking, wandering, getting lost, but never feeling scared and never getting bored.  Rome is vast and sprawling with large, grandiose sights tucked behind winding alleyways, like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona.  But Rome is also detailed down to the tiny foam roses on the flower crowns sold in Trastevere in the late afternoon, and the graffiti left from invasions of Villa Farnesina, unnoticeable to the unsuspecting eye.  I miss noticing a new detail along my walk to class, even though I’d walked that route dozens of times.  I miss deciding to go to the store and being there less than five minutes later.  I miss sitting in a piazza in silence, alone, with my sketchbook and passively soaking in Rome in every way, through all senses.  I miss feeling at home, yet also being a foreigner.  Nothing quite feels right, settled, normal.  I am kept on my toes all the time, and when I wish to speak I must think carefully first, the words don’t just tumble out. 

 

Going to Rome made me a child again, struggling to verbalize my thoughts, struggling to find my way around.  But going to Rome also made me an adult.  Nobody asked when I’d be home, told me when to sleep, warned me about spending too much, or worried when I went out at night.  I have little travel experience, but I suspect that travelling to foreign places keeps us young.  Strange, scary, exciting new environments sharpen our senses, exercise new muscles, and reopen drooping eyelids.   I intend to travel more in the future.

 

Surprisingly, there were not many surprises in terms of what I did with my time in Rome and how I was affected.    The predictions I made and hopes I expressed in my experiential learning application became reality.  Nevertheless, there were disappointments, one in particular was the group dynamics, but I think it offered insight and strength, gifts amidst the unfortunate circumstances.  Preparing for the trip I had anxiety about how I would get along with the others in the group; it was my biggest worry--aside from how I was going to get to the Rome Center from the airport.  From orientations and others I’d talked to, classmates would make or break my study abroad experience.  After that, my fantasy of a close bonding experience with 25 strangers in which we would collectively be transformed and grow to become lifelong friends was discarded.  I braced myself for all sorts of conflicts, but inside I still hoped everything would be good.  Most everything did turn out well, but in my naïveté I thought everyone would get along with everyone.  Others told me that it is natural for large groups to cluster into smaller ones.  It was quite a learning experience for me, though.  Separation is natural, I just did not know it.  These types of situations, being in close quarters with many different strangers and learning to get along, will be helpful to me later in life.  It could help with my future career, where I know it will involve some sort of collaboration, but also in any aspect of life. 

 

Before this program I had never taken an art history class.  From what I’d heard others say about art history, I assumed it would be boring and tedious.  What a blessing it was to have Professor Ricardo as my very first art history teacher!  He made art history come alive.  As one of the most intelligent and exuberant people I have ever met, he entertained us with art history.  His clear passion is contagious. 

 

This program has also taught me about how I react in a vacuum, where I have no family members or community with expectations of me, nor any habitual behaviors.  The most stressful moment on the trip for me was our group trip to Milan when I had a one hour break between lunch and meeting back with the group to catch our train to Rome.  The day before I had seen something I wanted to get my little sister from the Disney store, but I didn’t have enough Euros on me.  I wavered back and forth about whether to go get it or just forget it since I was so pressed for time.  According to Google Maps the store was more than a 25 minute walk.  I decided to go for it.  I knew I was taking a huge risk, especially since my phone had no more data.  I wove through streets that looked familiar and eventually found my way to the store, with only minor struggles.  I got many dirty looks since I was speed-walking, and people don’t generally rush around to places in Italy.  At the store I asked the cashier for directions back to the hotel, but she didn’t know where it was.  I nearly ran through Milan’s fashion district, with a live opera performance in the background.  I got lost while trying to take an unsuccessful shortcut.  I had to duck into a café to ask for directions.  Eventually I caught up with some of my classmates and even though we had to run back to the hotel my most stressful moments were over. 

 

This program gave me the great gift of experiencing travel as a traveler, whose intent is to know the city’s heart and spirit.  This differs from being a tourist, whose intent is to experience its top-ten-must-sees (a clear distinction made by Italo Calvino in his book, Invisible Cities).  I may have taken a lot of photos, but photos were not what I was most after; my purpose was to gain experience, independence, knowledge, and perspective.  Rome gave me all of those and much more.