May 24, 2007

Rome, Italy

Hello from Italy!

I have chosen to study abroad in Italy this summer and take two business classes. I will be spending 5 weeks in Rome taking OPS301 and Italian.

May 19
After an extremely long flight and weeks of preparation I finally arrived in Rome on May 19th. What an amazing place that is so different from America. When I first got to the airport it was all a little overwhelming for me because I wasn't really too sure what to expect. However, after only being here for 3 days I feel so welcome because everyone is so nice. When we first arrived in Rome at our apartment Medaglie D'Oro, my roommates and I chose to not even unpack and instead start exploring everything that was around us. My friends Annette, Lauren, and Sara and I headed straight for the Vatican and walked around the streets of downtown Rome. We tried our best just to take it all in and get used to the fact that we were in Rome for the next 5 weeks.

We all had a little jetlag from the trip but just pushed through it because we decided to follow the famous saying "When in Rome...." It turned out to be a great idea because we had a fabulous meal at a little restaurant, went and saw our University in Rome, and even got around to unpacking a little. That night we headed out to make friends with all the other people on our trip and went to a few pubs around the Spanish Steps. It was a lot of fun and I think it got all of us really excited for what is to come.

May 20
The next day was Sunday so we woke up early and decided to go see some more of the sites. The four of us went back to the Vatican at first and just missed a blessing by the Pope. We plan to go back early this week though so we can see St. Peters Basilica and also the Sistine Chapel. After that we went toward the Coliseum which is just an amazing Roman structure. We went inside and took many pictures. It's hard to believe that it was built by hand. WOW! After that we walked the streets of Rome some more, tried to stop ourselves from shopping, and then went back home. It had been a long day and we were all pretty exhausted.

A group of about 12 of us then went out to dinner and tasted some more fine Italian cuisine. Then it was time to go to a pub closer to us called Elliots which had a bit of an Irish twist. It was very interesting and another fun night out in Italy.

May 21-23
This week was our first week of classes. Sometimes I forget that I'm here to study but I was definitely reminded of that very quickly. My Italian class is a lot of fun.....only nine people and I can tell we are going to learn a lot. OPS301 has everyone in it and we all keep each other entertained. Hopefully the teachers will go easy on us! We eat lunch at our University with the Italian boys and they speak pretty good English. We can at least hold a conversation so it's really fun to learn about the culture from them. Everyone here is so nice and while I'm still adjusting to things like the Metro and the language I can tell that studying abroad this summer is definitely going to be worth it!

Ciao,

Steph

PICTURES FROM MY FIRST WEEK!!