Category: Italy: ISA Rome

A time I experienced cultural confrontation was when I was traveling to the town center of Rome at night with a few of my roommates to go shopping. We decided to take the bus because it was a really far walk. It took us a while to find out how the buses operated, but we…

As I am getting ready to go abroad I have been trying to prepare myself for all that comes with the change; change with school, housing, people, language. I have heard everything from “this will be the best experience of my life” to “this will be such a big change”. I found myself contemplating for…

One important aspect of American culture would be dressing in athleisure. Commonly Americans dress in basic clothing that works with the weather. It is very uncommon for Americans to dress formally on a regular basis when going out to various places. We dress very casually when going to places like school, work, grocery stores, gyms…

As an American who has never been to Europe, some aspects of the culture were new to me. This was not necessarily a bad thing, however, it took some getting used to.  One thing that required me to adjust to the most was the service culture, especially at restaurants in Italy and throughout the European…

Traveling abroad and having the opportunity to study and live in Rome, Italy was a life-altering experience. Many people do not have the opportunity to study abroad, let alone visit other countries across the world. Settling into new surroundings and an entirely new environment that I am not used to make it a bit of…

When I was growing up, I lived in a small town so therefore the biggest aspect that I had to adjust to when arriving in Rome was the population size. While this isn’t necessarily a cultural difference (compared to America), I did notice some slight differences in Culture while living in a large city like…

American culture is a melting pot of various cultures from around the world, and it is known for its diversity. The United States has a population that is made up of immigrants from many different countries, which has greatly influenced the culture of the country. The culture is also heavily influenced by the indigenous peoples…

When studying abroad, I was surprised by how slow-paced the lifestyle in Italy was. Whether it was going up to pay for the check or trying to go into a certain store during “riposo”, an early afternoon break for shops, the average person lived a more relaxed and conscious life. People took pride in seeing…

Traveling to Rome was an unforgettable experience. With any experience comes hard adjustments and since this was my first time traveling anywhere I definitely faced some challenges. There were aspects in my host country that I was not used to and had to adjust to very quickly. A big adjustment for me was the sense…

After being home for a while now, it has given me time to reflect on my experience abroad in Italy. To say the least, it was an incredible time and I was very thankful for the opportunity to go. While in Italy, I got to visit 5 different countries and a bunch of different cities…