Before studying abroad everyone talks about how you have culture shock and you get homesick. Once the excitement dies down, you begin to miss you’re home, family, friends, lifestyle. However, so far I feel great! Of course I miss my family and friends but it’s hard to miss home when you are constantly travelling or meeting new people! In all honesty, I think when I return home, I’ll have reverse culture shock. My friends and I travelled to London for the weekend and it was an amazing experience. We stayed in a hostel (which I had never done before) and it killed most of the prejudices and misconceptions I had. It was very interesting to see how different London was to Rome, even though they are so close. London’s transportation was always on time. It was efficient and clean. Rome’s transportation is completely unreliable. In London, you’re tickets are checked and rechecked whereas in Rome, if you pay or not is basically up to ur own moral judgement. Even the people were different. In London, people were less friendly, they minded their own business and appreciated quick movements and had no time to stop. In Rome, people take their time to greet everyone, their loud and laid back and even take naps in the middle of the day!
This is not to say that one country is better than the other. It’s to show that each country has it’s own charm and way of life even though they’re quite close! I can’t wait to travel to other countries and compare them to Rome as well.