1. An aspect of the host culture that I was not expecting to experience was the lack of alone time/space. Due to the size of our rooms and apartment, it was very evident we would be spending a lot of time in the presence of our roommates or friends. This is not a bad thing, just something that I was not expecting. It was a great opportunity for me to get closer to my roommates, both the ones I was close with before arriving in Rome and not. We all learned how to work around each other so that we were not stepping on each other’s toes, especially when cooking, doing laundry, or doing homework.
2. While in America, especially at Rollins, we are used to much more space (even separate rooms), but I thought this was a great experience to deepen my connections with my peers. In our Italian language and culture class we were taught that families are very close in Italy. There is an abundant amount of “stay-at-home-kids” in Italy for the purpose of being able to stay very close to their family and adopt their living techniques. This was very clear after living in such close quarters with everyone and I gained a newfound respect for being close to others, physically and emotionally.
3. This experience was one of the best things I could have done for myself to grow as an individual and mature immensely and I would without a doubt recommend it to anyone considering studying abroad. It is a very different lifestyle than what I was used to. Italian’s take their time to enjoy everything and isn’t nearly as fast paced as America. I think one way someone would view my experience from home is as a four-month vacation. However, that surely is not the case. The classes here are very similar to the ones at Rollins and during the week it is pretty similar to a week of class back at home. During the week you attend classes, and after you have your free time to explore and do assignments. While we did do more exploring than I would have done at home, we still had to balance our schoolwork.
4. After reflecting on my time here, I know that in the future I am going to be very accepting of different lifestyles and cultures. I was so blessed being able to travel on the weekends and experience many different cultures, which I think that I can take back to America and implement into my daily life. It opened my eyes to other ways that people live, and I think that now, even more than before I will be more noticing of it and will want to immerse myself in different groups/cultures/activities at home.
