When telling friends and family about my upcoming semester abroad their reactions were somewhat typical.  They would usually express their excitement and envy all the while adding a bit of curiosity about how I would spend my time in one of the most famous cities in the world.  People would usually exclaim their envy about two things in particular, the food and wine.  Now that I have settled into my abroad experience and been fortunate enough to have an internship, I can say with confidence, that the food and wine are perfect avenues

On Wednesday, the third nonconsecutive day of my internship, I walked to class with a bounce in my step.  I had such an enjoyable and fun first meeting with the Italian middle schoolers last week that I had been looking forward to my teaching day all weekend.  As I crossed Piazza Venezia, my mind wandered to what would happen in class today.  Would I be teacher or teaching assistant? Would the classes be rowdier or calmer than last week? Did I prepare enough information to occupy the classes for their hour of English?

In my first blog I mentioned the importance of being flexible and adaptable in the work environment of Italian politics. Since then, those traits have taken on a brand new importance for me as I continue to navigate the internship portion of my study abroad experience in Rome. Despite the best efforts of our office, our deputy failed to win in the national elections at the end of February. Understandably, everyone was very disappointed in the result.

Since I arrived at day one of my internship in Italian Parliament, my personal mantra has been to keep an open mind and to be prepared to expect the unexpected. As most Italian parents do, my mom tried to make a useful analogy using food to help me out: “You have to be like a meatball and just roll with it!” Of course, it’s a slightly harder task for a third-year political science major to be calm in a country where both the language and the government are foreign entities.

Hola!

Note: In my last post, I accidentally called the TGV the TVG. My apologies.

This past week has been incredible, going to places I never imagined I would ever go. We left Bosnia on Saturday and arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia that night. I had heard about the incredible beaches and sunny weather, but I didn’t know anything about the city. The part where we stayed was a fairly typical urban, touristy beach area, but the old town is a whole different story. When I first saw it, I was convinced I was walking into a castle. The entire town is a magnificent white fortress surrounded completely by a solid wall.