My identity is the lens that I look at the world through. It\u2019s how I experience the world. I have never been out of the country, I\u2019m from a small town where everyone new everybody, and this will be the longest time I\u2019m away from my family. I\u2019m definitely prepare for a bit of culture shock and homesickness. However, I refuse to stay in my comfort zone. I\u2019m not willing to sacrifice the amazing opportunities my education has gifted me. I have always been a \u201cplay it safe\u201d person \u2013 not really a risk taker. I think I surprised a lot of my family and friends when I told them that I was studying abroad. I haven\u2019t jumped head first into this though, I\u2019m still an aggressive planner and a bit of a control freak. I think in some ways that has always been a strength of mine. I plan for what\u2019s coming and have a backup plan for when something goes wrong. I have always had a steady routine and I get a certain level of satisfaction from that. In Rome, I think this side of myself will allow me to stay focused on school in a new environment but also help me plan to do and see as much as possible before coming back home. However, I also think I\u2019ll feel disoriented the first few weeks and I probably won\u2019t acclimate to the Italian culture immediately \u2013 especially their lax view on time. But, from this experience I just want to learn as much as possible about where I\u2019m living and about the person who I can be. I\u2019m excited to meet people whose world view is completely different than mine. I\u2019m a firm believer that people should challenge themselves more and open themselves up to new experiences that may challenge their world view. I think I\u2019ll meet people who\u2019s identify strongly with their culture and tradition. I think that strongly identifying with culture, traditions and your heritage is a source of comfort for many people. I think it may give people confidence in what they do and how they do it. I\u2019m a little uncertain about being an outsider in this culture, I hope that I will meet people who will help me and be tolerate of my missteps as I navigate a new world. I fear that I could be excluded from the experiences Italy has to offer. However, I know I will encounter some Italians who are willing to help immerse myself in the culture and I will encounter some Italians who choose to exclude me from their culture. I think it\u2019s probably more important to not be discouraged by a bad interaction and be persistent when trying to interact with a new culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My identity is the lens that I look at the world through. It\u2019s how I experience the world. I have never been out of the country, I\u2019m from a small town where everyone new everybody, and this will be the longest time I\u2019m away from my family. I\u2019m definitely prepare for a bit of culture…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":570,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-isarome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18565,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564\/revisions\/18565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}