Reflection

The post is subtitled as such because there really isn’t anything I wished I didn’t do. Maybe I could have been a little smarter with figuring out when it was going to rain, and been a little safer crossing the street. That’s about it, though.

While studying abroad in Rome I visited Germany, England, Greece, Albania, the Netherlands, and Hungary. I think that’s a pretty good roster of countries. In Italy, I visited Napoli, Assisi, Avellino, Subiaco, Gaeta, Santa Severa, Palermo and Orvieto. I wished I had made it to more places in Italy, especially Bari, Venice, and Reggio Calabria. If I had more time in Sicily, I would have gone to Tunis or Malta. I would have also liked to visit Bosnia, Poland, Spain and Morocco.  Maybe next time.

Some people went to more countries than me, some went to fewer. It would be amazing to visit every country in Europe. I don’t think it’s necessarily better to visit a whole bunch of places. At the very least, you shouldn’t prioritize it over the place you chose to study. You could spend the whole semester inside of the Aurelian walls and not run out of things to do. I really believe it’s better to travel “deep” than “wide.” Getting a long stretch to marinate in each place you visit is really important.

I ate a lot of different sorts of food. I always tried to eat something new. In Sicily, I ate veal intestines. They weren’t that good. But maybe I’ll try them again. I went to McDonalds a few times. Everyone dumps on people who eat McDonalds in other countries. But it’s nice every once in a while. And a McDonalds in central Rome is one of the few places you will never see and American.

I made a few Italian friends. I could have made more, and I wish I did. I guess I was too focused on getting along with the other people in my program. But this was nice too, and I think I’ll cherish relationships with other IES Abroad people for the foreseeable future.

I could have worked harder at school. The faculty at IES Abroad Rome is really amazing and the classes offered are an augmentation, not a hinderance, to immersion in your host country. I saw dozens, if not hundreds of works of ancient Roman art. I am very grateful for this experience, perhaps because it’s the most unique aspect of studying abroad versus just visiting on your own.

I never played guitar on the street in Rome. I had a guitar. I even had a friend who would have come and played with me.  But I never got my self organized. This might be my biggest regret. But I suppose I have plenty of time to play guitar back in the USA. I think if I had run out of money sooner it would have forced me to go out and play for money, because I couldn’t get a job.

I think the one thing rule that I can make for myself is that I should have spent as little time as possible inside my apartment looking at my phone. This isn’t really a piece of hidden knowledge. I think everyone believes this. I knew this at the beginning of the semester. And I often lived up to it. But not as much as I should have.

Part of the rule is you should just do more things. If you have the choice between doing and not doing something, you should do something. Soon you won’t be in Italy, and then you will wish you had done more things. Life back home can wait. You are young! Do things that make you a little uncomfortable, things that don’t seem so fun in the moment but that you will remember for a while. Pretty soon we’ll be all be old, and if we go on vacation we won’t have energy to do anything other sit around at the hotel and buy “World’s Greatest Dad” t-shirts. So make the most of your study abroad. That’s the only advice I can give for certain.

"Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble!"

- Zorba The Greek, Nikos Kazantakis