For the past few weeks I’ve been in a funk, feeling homesick and bored with my weekday routine. I needed a weekend getaway, so I went to Rome, as one does. Two of my friends, Alexia and Taylor, are studying abroad in the American University of Rome, so my roommate Ana and I packed our bags and jetted off for the weekend. Rome was a Rollins reunion. Aside from me and Ana, three other Rollins girls joined us, making a total of 7 girls. We explored the city and ate…a lot. They don’t exaggerate when they say that there is only Italian food in Italy, not that I’m complaining.
Even though we were there for only three days I feel like I got to know the city quite well, of course, I had the best tour guides with me. Alexia and Taylor took us to the famous “Wedding Cake” monument in Piazza Venezia, to the Pantheon where we had the best pizza, to the Coliseum and Trevi Fountain where we took obligatory tourist pics, Piazza Navona and Trastevere where we walked, shopped and gorged on gelato, and finally the Vatican where we got to visit St. Peter’s Basilica and hear Pope Francis speak, which was quite a surreal experience.
I didn’t realize how much I missed my Rollins girls until I was reunited with them. This weekend in Rome was just what I needed. It broke me away from my routine and gave me a chance to spend time with people I love. I came back with a new and more positive outlook about my life here in London. I feel ready to tackle the last month of my semester abroad, but I also realized how lucky I am to have a place like Rollins to call home.
I can already feel the bittersweet mixed emotions that come with the end of an era. Being abroad has been an important chapter in my life, and I feel sad that this once-in-a-lifetime experience is drawing to a close, but I’m also excited to go home and see family, and return to my second family at Rollins in January. I really am a lucky girl.
