Today, I leave the city I’ve called home for 109 days. Rome has been wonderful and I loved the city, but I realized in these last few weeks that it’s the people who have made my time here truly great. I wasn’t expecting to make close friendships while studying abroad, and now I have friends from all over the country and even a couple from the UK! I never would have expected this. Leaving them today was by far the hardest thing I’ve done this trip. These friends not only made my time in Rome memorable, but they also helped make Rome feel like home. It feels like we have been living in Rome and together forever, not just a few months.
The best part about these new friends is that I grew in ways that I think will be quite shocking to my friends and family back home. In my first blog post before coming to Rome I talked about my hesitance in studying abroad and said that I’m not a risk-taker. Rome changed that completely! At first, it felt like I had to try every experience and do as many new and exciting things as possible because – well you know- “when in Rome.” But reflecting back, I realize that I’m genuinely interested in experience this world. I don’t want to be set in a routine, like I was back home. I am carrying my “Roman attitude” back to the US with me and I’ve found I am actually excited for all the opportunities that the future holds for me.
I am graduating in the Spring when I get home. I feel that studying abroad was essential for my own personal growth. I realized how big this world is, but how similar people from all over the globe really are. I worried before I arrived in Rome about being excluded from the culture. But every Italian I met has been in very accommodating to my basic level Italian and eager to share their culture and customs with me. Even more shocking to me, was that they also wanted to know about America and my home. I always felt welcome in Rome and I think the hospitality that Romans showed me helped ease my worries and made me feel at home.
I think my ignorance about traveling was really why I worried before coming to Rome. This trip was the first time I left the US and the longest I’ve gone without seeing my family and my friends who I’ve known since I was a child. I think I prepared myself for the worst-case scenario or maybe just kept imagining the worst-case scenario. Either way, my expectations were exceeded. I fell in love with Rome and I am sad to leave. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to go home and see everyone! My friends and family are picking me up from the airport and I already know I’ll be balling my eyes out when I see them. At the same time, I’m getting weepy about leaving Rome and reflecting on my experience. They are definitely happy tears! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun and met so many interesting people for such an extended time period.
Now my worry is going home. I wonder if I will experience culture shock coming back to the US. I’m worried about going back to a place where I was comfortable in my routine. Will I resent my home after the first elation of being home? Will my town feel too small for who I am and what my interests are now? Will I be as close to my friends as I was before I came to Rome? Will I ever have this much fun again? These are the worries I have now. But, they are small worries. Just filtering through the back of my mind and I know from my experience coming to Rome that these worries are not helpful and I will be okay no matter what.