21 Days, 3 Credits, Eternal Memories

Rome via Brooklyn

    lucyacurran's avatar

    lucyacurran

    2–3 minutes

    Day 0: At last, Rome!

    Word count: 442

    Hi everyone! I got to Italy a little over a week ago to do some traveling with my boyfriend before the program began. We worked our way south from our starting point in Venice, making many a stop in between before arriving in Rome on Friday.

    At the moment, I’m most excited to sleep in the same bed for more than a few nights in a row, and to have access to a washing machine. I’m also of course excited for all the historic art and buildings, as well as to get to know everyone better.

    The most perfect little kitty I met on my walk today

    This is my first “real” trip abroad since I went to Prague with my dad circa age 12, and now that my boyfriend has gone off on the rest of his travels, it’s my first time being so alone this far from home. I know I’ll only be alone until later today, but it’s still a weird feeling.

    Nobody gave me too much advice, per se, but I was given lots of recommendations by friends who had previously studied abroad. I also had so many magical little interactions with travelers I met along the way; a trio who we chatted with in Florence and later ran into again in Rome; an Italian woman who my boyfriend helped carry her suitcase up a hill in Siena and who was later on our same bus to Rome; a classics professor from Philly at the cat sanctuary who was also preparing to lead a study abroad. It’s all felt very serendipitous, very meant to be.

    My airport experience and flight here were uneventful, and although I barely slept on the longer overnight flight, I knocked out immediately on the one hour connecting flight from Zurich to Venice. I had no impromptu conversations, and there was no line at all at customs, which was beautiful. Here’s hoping the way back is just as easy.

    Water taxi from the airport!

    I am feeling really happy that I got here so early and had time to familiarize myself with general things just through experience, which wasn’t very prepared of me, but it did work. And the coffee break Italian podcast definitely helped with being able to feel a bit more comfortable and polite. I really like the word uscita, mostly because it’s fun to say but also because when you’re exhausted from a long travel and sightseeing day, an exit sign is the best sight in the world.

    I’ll end here, but I’m very excited to start off the trip and see everyone later today!

    This little shrine was so beautiful

    4 responses to “Day 0: At last, Rome!”

    1. Liv Yarrow Avatar
      Liv Yarrow

      I took a picture of that very shrine a couple of hours ago! Beautiful post. Well done. Don’t forget to come back and add a quote from the assigned reading.

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    2. Danielle Avatar
      Danielle

      I am most excited about visiting new places. One place I saw was a blue hot springs. I didn’t have any conversations in the airport besides asking someone how to find our baggage claim number but I did talk to the lady who was checking my luggage in at the hostel. She told me she was from Michigan and here for a month during which time she was volunteering at the hostel. One of my coworkers gave me the advice of not accepting drinks from anyone or setting them down as well. My favorite Italian word is still gelato, I had a great coffee flavored cup near the train station. I also like the word grazie because it’s polite and sounds nice.

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    3. hamood92306 Avatar
      hamood92306

      I felt the same way as you. Prague is gorgeous and while I’ve never been, I’ve been to a few countries in the past few years. Despite this, I felt, and still feel, wildly unprepared for this trip. So many times a day, I catch myself thinking, “What am I doing?” in amazement at the circumstances. Doing a trip like this is so unlike me, and I’m happy to venture out of my comfort zone. Also, the cat sanctuary sounds like a dream come true, so I’ll have to check it out!

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    4. paoladvalentin Avatar
      paoladvalentin

      Hello Lucy!! First of all I have to say I am loving your cat picture! One of my favorite parts of being here is seeing all the animals, whether it be live ones or depictions of them on artifacts! What is your favorite representation you have seen of an animal thus far? Its nice to read that you have been in Italy for some time before we began our trip, I feel like that gives you a lot more perspective and some more time as you have slightly less of an adjustment period, would you say that you have felt more comfortable and more present these past few days as a result of that? As time has gone on here I have also begun to share in your love of exit signs, sometimes they are the immense relief needed after walking on our feet all day, to me an exit sign means the bed back at the apartment is approaching, and hopefully following that is a good rest!

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