Rome via Brooklyn

Word count: 442

It has been a few days since I’ve made my first posts and I definitely have a lot to say. Our first week together in Rome! I know many of you have traveled to other countries before, arrived before us, or even plan to stay after, but this is my first time in another country. At first I was a little nervous about not having any activities I would like to do because we are in a city, but during the first weekend, I got the amazing opportunity to travel with Ramon and Hamood to another city. We went to the Amalfi coast and explore Amalfi, Minori and Positano. The views were beautiful and though the travel was exhausting, it was definitely worth it. On the way back we also stopped in Naples and had some great pizza! While I haven’t made it to Milan, I can only imagine me what they have in store because the fashion in Naples was also stunning. We hiked up many stairs to try a well rated restaurant, spent time at the beach which had stunningly clear water, and walked up the paths of positano to explore their shops. That part of the coast is extremely touristy and reminds almost of a big mall.

I definitely would not have been comfortable making such a long trip on my own, but having classmates with me really made the experience memorable and enjoyable because though I got pretty comfortable traveling around Rome quickly, learning to use the speed trains and the ferries was a whole different ball game.

When deciding which place I wanted to come for studying abroad, I wanted to choose a place that would be most similar to the US to help me adjust. I also know that a lot of the words are similar to Spanish which I know a little of, so translations for things like numbers come a little bit easier. But I also understood that Europe would also be different in many ways and was excited to learn about the culture of the locals. So far I have learned that they drink liquor often, but only for the taste. I’ve learned that certain things are to be paid for such as water at restaurants and ketchup packets. I have also learned most interesting about their transit which runs on the electric cablein the streets. Overall the first week took some adjusting but has been such an amazing experience and to add, out museum trips are teaching me so much about Roman history that I honestly wouldn’t have gone out of my way to learn before.