The GoGlobal Blog

Author: Lauren Pflueger

I am a Sophomore from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Quinlan Business Honors program, studying Information Systems and Management with a minor in French. The study abroad process has been a pretty crazy one for me, with my potential destinations switching between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Paris, France, London, England, and Rome, Italy, all because of Covid-19! Still, I am so happy to be going to the Rome Center and having the opportunity to be abroad during these crazy times. I am most excited to learn about new parts of myself while abroad, gain more confidence, and be a part of as many culturally rich experiences as I can.
Travel Catch Up: The Joys and Pains of Meeting New People While Travelling

Travel Catch Up: The Joys and Pains of Meeting New People While Travelling

Hello all, it’s been a while since I’ve written, but I have a good reason for my absence- my laptop broke and it has been quite a journey to solve my tech issues. So, I come to you from an iPad, which is a little more inconvenient to type on, but I wanted to make another post catching up on the last few weeks!

Last I left off, I was in quarantine still and hoping that I would be out in time for spring break— luckily, I tested negative on Wednesday in time for in-person midterms, and on Thursday I jumped onto a plane!

Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon, oh my!

My first stop was Barcelona, Spain. I met up with my friend Ellie Stotz (who I had also traveled with in Venice and visited with in Paris) and we spent 3 days walking what felt like the entirety of the city, seeing a beach for the first time in what felt like forever, and experiencing true Barcelona culture: tapas and drinks at 5, dinner at 10, and clubbing until 3 in the morning.

Jamie, Ellie and I on our night out together!

 

 

 

 

 

One of the joys from this trip is that I got to meet Ellie’s roommate in Paris, Jamie. She was so fun, we went out with her and her friends from her hostel to a club, and met up with them again for dinner the following night. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to see Jamie again, and she goes to the University of Alabama, so it is unlikely that I will get to hang out with her again, which makes me sad. As I have come to learn, this is a theme from my travels, and also the theme of this post— meeting amazing people I want to be friends with, but having only a little time with them before I never see them again.

 

 

 

 

———

From there, we headed to Madrid. Ellie only had one day there before she had to quickly go back to Paris for a school project, and I had another 2 days there by myself. Ellie and I explored most of the highlights our first day, so the following two I got my first taste of solo traveling seeing some museums, visiting everything that we had missed, and finding plenty of cafés.

Because I was alone, I decided to take this opportunity to make some new friends (especially because I still am not the best at eating dinner alone!) My first day without Ellie I explored a ton of museums by myself, and revisited our favorite park, and met a boy named Nate who was studying in Madrid on a semester abroad from the University of Massachusetts. I also met a boy from Cornell that I hung out with the following day, so while I guess I was doing a “solo trip”, I wasn’t truly alone.

———

Then, I headed to my last destination for break, and potentially my favorite city of all the places I have visited, Lisbon, Portugal. It felt like a European San Francisco (somewhere I also love), complete with a giant red bridge, famous trolleys and hills, and beaches– though it had a lot more history and, of course, Portuguese culture.

We stayed in an amazing hostel where we made a lot of friends that we got to spend time with everyday. There was a group of boys from London staying there for a few weeks that we met, and we also made friends with some of the people who worked there. They stayed for free and worked as compensation, and boy was I jealous of that lifestyle— they just got to hang out with their friends and meet people from all over the world and make new friends all of the time.

The “closest” friend I made in Lisbon was a boy from Germany named Johan that was working at our hostel. This was someone I could definitely see myself being friends with, we had the same music taste and interests, and he was really fun, but I got 3 days with him before I came back to Rome. This was the first instance of me being really sad about leaving friends I had made, because this was someone that I truly felt a friendship forming with, but considering that he lives across the world, I will likely never see him again in my life. While I am jealous of the hostel-worker lifestyle, I’m not sure how they deal with people leaving all of the time, it’s hard to comprehend that these people come into then are likely gone from my life so quickly!

One big cross over episode

My next trip with friends was to Amsterdam in the first week of April! The theme of this trip was old friends meeting new friends— as a friend here put it, it was “one big cross-over episode”.

I went with my roommate Cosette, and learned that my friend from high school, Darren who studies at Georgia Tech and is currently abroad in Metz, France, was going the same weekend. He was traveling with 3 of his friends from school, and we met up with them at the Van Gogh Museum. It was really neat to see him again and to meet his friends, and for Cosette to meet him, I had never had college friends meet high school friends in person before! His friends, Emily, Anahita, and Katie were super cool, and I’m sad that I didn’t get to hang out with them more! (Are you noticing a theme yet?)

On Sunday Cosette and I hung out with a girl named Andrea who had been staying with us. She took one of the beds in the room in our hostel, and she is our friend Malena’s friend from high school! We explored markets and got some famous apple pie, and she was really cool to hang out with but it was odd to meet her without Malena being there. I’ll luckily see Darren when we’re both home, but the other 4 I likely won’t, which, again, so sad.

First Solo Adventure

For Easter break, I had my first solo trip! I was headed to London, England for 3 days, and Edinburgh, Scotland for 2 days. My first day in London I walked around as much of the city as I could, finding cute markets and a huge thrift store, seeing the Tate, a modern art museum, and getting dinner with one of the girls from my hostel, Linda who was from Munich.

The next day I did some more exploring, then actually got a cool opportunity to hang out with people! I had made a friend named Ella when I was staying at my hostel in Venice, and she lives in London working for Netflix. Ella invited me to hang out with her and her friends that afternoon/evening. Ella, and her friends Lydia and Megan, took me to Camden, and up to Primrose hill which had a view of all of London. That evening I got to meet their flat-mate Jonah, and they took me along to a going-away party for their friend Monika. They were all very sweet when I had to leave, giving me hugs and making me promise to follow them on Instagram and stay in touch.

I am not sure how people handled making friends while traveling back in the 90s and early 2000s. I am so thankful to have social media to be able to stay in contact with these people. Even if it’s just seeing a glimpse of their life every now and then, it’s still better than in the past, when it’d really just be chance to ever run into them or hear from them again!

———

My next stop was Edinburgh. I stayed in a really awesome hostel, right at the foot of the famous castle on the hill, and it was in a great area overall. I also had someone to meet when I got there! My friend Christian Kephart, back at Loyola in Chicago, had a friend from high school Dervla, who had moved there from Ireland. She moved back to the UK for university, to the University of Edinburgh, and agreed to show me around the city! The night I got in, she met me outside of my hostel and we went to a popular chain in the UK called Spoons for dinner and drinks. We ended up getting along extremely well (we have the same music taste and sense of humor, and love to tell/hear stories) and I went back to her apartment with her to hang out more! We also texted Christian to make sure he knew that his two friends were getting along.

(stolen from BeReal, the new social media app the 3 of them made me get) Alex and I are in the large picture, with Diego and Dervla in the top left!

 

 

 

The next day I walked, again, what felt like all of Edinburgh (I have a thing with walking 10+ miles while exploring new cities as I have learned). Then Dervla texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out again with her that day, and meet her flat-mates. So that afternoon I spent time in a famous park there called the Meadows with Dervla, and her two friends Alex and Diego. They were really cool and fun to get to know, and we ended up spending the rest of the day together, getting food, showing me things I had missed on my self-guided walking tour, and going back to their place for a movie.

 

I think that this group of people was the hardest to say goodbye to. How we interacted felt exactly like how my friends and I back in Rome and back in the States interact, and I really felt like we could have been great friends if I got more than 48 hours there. But unfortunately, they study in Scotland, and I study in Rome/Chicago. It was still amazing to meet them though, and I’m so glad I did. It made my Easter break a not-so-solo trip.

 

 

 

———

So, that’s me all caught up on trips with new people! I have less than 2 weeks now, and will give an update on my last few trips with friends, how I’m feeling about going home, and what finals season in Rome is like. For now I’ll leave some advice for any students that may be reading this who are considering going abroad:

1. Stay in hostels when you travel, don’t exclusively stay in Airbnb’s. It’s the classic way for young people to travel, and it’s an awesome way to meet new people. You can use the website HostelWorld to find well rated ones or ones that are good for young people/partying, and they’re much cheaper than other alternatives!

2. Put yourself out there to meet new people. Traveling with your friends is great, but there’s genuinely nothing better than being able to come back from your time abroad having made friends from all over the world. (Plus, you’ll always have somewhere to stay if you travel to where they live in the future!) Small groups when traveling with friends makes this easier!

3. Be active on Instagram. You may already be, or you may have gotten rid of it as a social-media cleanse, but it is a great way to keep in touch with anyone you may meet, whether it is people from your school studying abroad with you, or people you meet while traveling. It is also a wonderful way to document your time abroad, in case you don’t want to blog about it 😉 Many of my friends, including myself, have made separate accounts to document our time abroad, and it’s so nice to look back on, and is also a great way to keep friends and family updated on what you’re doing! (If you need an example, my account is lauren_goesabroad, feel free to check it out!)

 

Well, that’s it for now- if you read through all of this huge update, thanks for sticking with me!

Abroad During a Pandemic and War

Abroad During a Pandemic and War

Pandemic

I had been doing so well for 2 years, but I finally caught Covid-19. I am thankful in a way that I got it now because I am fully vaccinated with a booster, meaning that my symptoms have been all but nonexistent, and most importantly I didn’t spread it to any of my friends. I also was not traveling this weekend that I was stuck in quarantine since it was the weekend before midterms. No traveling or money was lost out on! That’s always a benefit.

I have been in quarantine since last Monday, February 21, when I got my test result back. I was in Paris that weekend visiting my roommate from last semester, and I caught it in France because when I came back to campus and did the mandatory testing for going out of the country, that’s when we found out. So, I’ve been in a little room by myself ever since. I am actually going on almost 9 days– I tested yesterday (Monday) after the mandatory 7 days and was still positive to my dismay. My friends and the resident life faculty have been really nice to me since I’ve been in here, friends have gotten me groceries, my roommate has brought me a ton of things that I forgot, and one of the Res Life people, Simone (who we all love here), even bought me a crepe yesterday because he felt bad that I was still positive.

Still, it’s been difficult. I’ve missed being outside and being with my friends, and it has been hard to focus and get a lot done. Considering that it is midterms week, my lack of motivation has not been ideal at all. It doesn’t feel good either, because, in theory, I have so much time, but I simply cannot force myself to do what I need to. I usually am one that needs a change of scenery, some physical exercise, and a good amount of coffee to be productive when I’m in a slump, and I have access to none of that here.

Nonetheless, I’m trying to do the best I can with what I have. When I tested positive, the nurse told me that I was “almost there,” so hopefully I will be okay tomorrow when I test again. If not, I have no idea what I will do! So I’m just trying to think positively for now. I will hopefully be negative, in person for my midterm exams, and on a plane to Spain for my spring break trip on Thursday night. Maybe putting it into writing will help it happen.

 

The Russia-Ukraine Situation

I have gotten a lot of texts from friends and family making sure that I am safe, and wondering if I will be sent home. Not that long ago, I was wondering the same thing myself. I was not very educated on the relations between Russia and Ukraine, besides the fact that Ukraine used to be a part of the Soviet Union. Since then, I have become much more educated, and I feel that it is my responsibility to.

The irony of being in Europe for this situation is not lost on me, it feels very fitting for someone who graduated in 2020, was told I wasn’t allowed on campus until 2021 and had to change their study abroad location many times over due to Covid. That being said, I do not at all intend to make this situation about me. I have been seeing a lot of discourse about how people in the West, Americans my age, in particular, are making this horrible situation about themselves, saying that “they’re going to be drafted into World War 3,” and that they’re “tired of living through historical events.” I do not intend to be one of these people. The fact of the matter is that we are bystanders to this horrible event, even me and my peers, who are in Europe as it is happening.

What I do know is this:

  • We (myself and the students here in Rome) are not being sent home early, and unless something truly terrible and unexpected happens, we will not be leaving until May as scheduled.
  • We are not in danger. The fighting has been in Ukraine and Ukraine only, and it is highly unlikely that Russia would expand fighting to other countries, given that Ukraine is surrounded by NATO countries, and this would *actually* trigger WWIII.
    • We are not in danger to the extent that we have not been limited in traveling for Spring break besides going to Ukraine. We’ve been warned about potential dangers or complications in the instance that we were traveling to countries accepting refugees such as Poland or Hungary, but that is all.
  • I need to be more proactive about keeping up with world news.

I have been educating myself on the history of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, as well as looking into ways to support Ukrainians during this time. Donating to grass-root organizations in Ukraine has been one of the most useful things I have found that I can do. Second to this is to not spread misinformation, and do what I can to suppress the “American” in me by not making this about myself, because the truth is, it doesn’t involve me at all and I am extremely privileged for that.

All in all, though, I am safe, the program will not be cut short, and I am doing my part to advocate against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and to support the Ukrainians where it is needed.

 

On a lighter note, I’ll be posting an update about my most recent travels soon, as well as where I am headed for Spring Break (pending I test negative tomorrow– wish me luck!).

How I’ve Been Recently + a Trip to Florence

How I’ve Been Recently + a Trip to Florence

Update on me

These past few days have been interesting, to say the least. At the very beginning of our semester here, the school psychologist talked with us about the different “stages” that study abroad students, or anyone who moves abroad for that matter, tend to go through. The first stage is one of excitement and anxiety; everything is new and slightly overwhelming, and the weeks are a blur of new people, new places, and new experiences. Once that initial excitement wears off, you enter into stage 2, which is characterized by stress, frustration, and homesickness. This is where I’m at, right on schedule. I love the people I’ve found here, but I am definitely craving a hug from my family. Difficult situations from other personal matters have also been coming at me all at once recently, so that’s contributing as well.

That isn’t to say I haven’t still been having tons of fun. That’s nearly impossible to do here– there’s too much to do and see to not find joy in it. However, I’ve also had to remind myself that it’s okay to not be doing something at every moment of the day. For anyone currently abroad or planning to go abroad, I offer this advice that I’ve had to remind myself of recently: it’s okay to say no to things and to still take time for yourself, just like you would if you were home. Sure, you may want to say yes to everything at the beginning, and want to do as much as possible in your short amount of time here, however, no one can go at that pace forever. You are in a new place, with new people, and it can be hard. And it is okay to take some time to yourself, to just stay in, and to find some peace. That’s what I’m doing right now, actually, as I am writing this. It’s hard to not feel like I’m missing out, but I know I’m going to be better for taking this time.

 

Update on Classes

Classes have been going pretty well so far– it’s been interesting to take an entire line-up of core classes and get a break from studying my majors and minor. I like learning Italian, but as someone who grew up monolingual, it’s a bit tricky to try to keep French (my minor) and Italian (my brand new language) separated in my head. I’ve found myself saying “merci” in response to people here, or only being able to think of the Italian word for something I want to say in French. I had a ton of respect for people who could speak multiple languages before this, and the respect and admiration have grown even more since attempting to do it myself.

I really enjoy my Baroque Art class, as we get to explore different places every week instead of sitting in a classroom listening to lectures. So far, we have seen the Vatican museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. I usually am not one to read every single thing assigned to me in class if it is optional, but knowing the history and context of what I am looking at is something that I really enjoy. I even made my first guy-friend here in that class- it doesn’t sound that impressive, but I swear it is an 8-1 girl to boy ratio here so I take it as a win.

My voice class has been okay, despite my inability to sing. The professor can sense that I am very nervous, and helps out a lot which is kind. I really enjoy my religion and gender class– those topics are things that I can talk about forever. It is really interesting to learn about it from a theological lens too since I am not a religious person myself. My writing class is all about love during the Renaissance, so that too I find pretty cool. I think I definitely lucked out on all of my class choices!

Speaking of classes, we usually don’t have classes on Fridays, but this week we did because the school gave us off on Wednesday to go to the Papal audience!

Pope Francis walking down the aisle through a ton of people leaning in for pictures and blessings (photo from another classmate)

Update on Travelling

Now for the interesting stuff– my second weekend trip! I went to Florence and was there with what felt like half of the JFRC student population. I was with 6 other girls where I was staying, we hung out with 3 others nearly every day, 12 of us went on a wine tasting together, and we saw a variety of other groups there either out in the streets, at museums, or on Michelangelo Hill watching the sunset.

On Friday, we got in and did a lot of walking and exploring. We were staying 2 streets away from the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the main church in Florence! We walked the main streets that were bustling with restaurants and stores, saw the Ponte Vecchio, crossed the river, and walked up to Michelangelo Hill to watch the sunset over the city. That night we found a great restaurant Dante e Beatrice. Our waiter took a liking to our friend Emma and gave us 30% off of our food plus free dessert and limoncello! (I highly recommend this place even without the discount!)

Saturday we went to an adorable café in the morning called Ben’s then walked over to an awesome market called Mercato Centrale Firenze. It had a bunch of stands for produce, meat, pasta, and pastries on the first floor, and on the second was an upscale food court of sorts, with a ton of restaurants and seating. Then we went off on a wine tour that explored the Chianti area, visiting two wineries, learning about the history of the area, and trying great wine that will make it quite hard to go back to the stuff that college kids can afford when I’m back at home.

Sunday our large group got lunch from a good salad place together, then broke off to do what we all wanted. I visited Galleria Academia and the Uffizi museum, and talked to an adorable artist who spoke to me in French and English about his art and what I could do to be involved in French culture while in Rome! I met back up with some others, and we shopped around and got gelato (of course) and food before heading to the bus station to get back to Rome.

 

This weekend, as I may have implied in the beginning, I am taking time for myself. We had a Friday class day this week (one of only 3) so we had a short weekend that was not the best for traveling. Instead, we are exploring more of Rome, and healing from the busy past 3 weeks. It feels like we’ve been here so much longer than that though! It’s been nice so though, not to get back from a trip and immediately be planning the next. I am even getting to save money because I’m booking things for trips more than a few days in advance, so that’s great!

I’ll sign off for now, thanks for reading.

Orvieto, Naples, Pompeii… and classes too

Orvieto, Naples, Pompeii… and classes too

Our first week of school felt much more subdued compared to last week, at least until classes ended for the week.

Personally, my classes all went well, I am in a voice class (despite my inability to sing) because my friends convinced me to join it, as well as a Baroque art class that visits sites throughout the city, a religion and gender class, a European masterpieces literary class, and Italian 101– Italian is required for all students here, which makes sense.

Most of the highlights for me came at the end of the week, which I’ll show below!

 

 

On Thursday evening, as you can see above, my friends Claudia, Emma, Malena, and I ventured downtown to pick up some of our books for class, then found an adorable coffee shop that I’ve already returned to.

 

 

 

We finished out the night by watching the movie Luca, which, if you have not already seen it, I highly recommend. It’s set in Italy so of course, we had to watch it, and later this semester my friends and I are hoping to visit the town that it is based in! It’s a part of the 5 towns that make up Cinque Terre, which is a collection of seaside towns that you can hike between.

 

 

 

On Friday we had a second day trip to a town called Orvietto, a small town raised up on a hill. The cliff sides that it is on make it look like it’s on top of a natural fortress, and that is exactly how the citizens used the hills over 700 years ago, as natural protection against invaders!

 

 

Cosette, Cladia, and I at the old fortress at the edge of Orvieto.

 

One of the most chaotic parts of this week was planning our weekend trip. Since we only had 2 days, we decided to stay close and visit Naples and Pompeii. Naples most definitely grew on me the longer we were there, and I wish that we would have known some of the history of the city so that we could have better planned our days, but it was still a great first trip! Pompeii was also really wonderful to learn about, and I highly recommend paying for a tour guide if you ever plan to visit.

Naples

The harbor and view across towards Vesuvius at sunset. It was breathtaking and we spent a long time here just looking out at the horizon and watching the colors of the sky and water change as the sun went down.

 

They weren’t lying about the pizza in Naples. We visited Sorbillos, and it was by far my most favorite pizza I’ve ever had

 

 

 

Pompeii

A view of Pompeii and the mountains and greenery in the background that we saw as we were leaving our tour.

 

 

 

Well, that was my second week! Maybe from the pictures, you might not believe it felt less chaotic than the week before, but settling into a routine with school helped. I’ve met such cool people and am continuing and meet more, and I’m excited for the coming weeks!

Orientation Week

Orientation Week

Man, I can’t remember the last time I was as exhausted as I was during orientation week. It was really fun though, meeting a bunch of new people, exploring our new home, and learning about the new school. Here’s a little recap of how the week went!

– Tuesday/Wednesday –

I flew out of the United States from Newark airport, and there were a *ton* of college students on that flight. There were people heading to John Felice like me, both from Loyola Chicago and from other schools like Marquette or Xavier, people from Loyola Maryland heading to their campus in Rome called John Cabot, and even people from an architecture school in Brooklyn! The families just trying to get home must have been so confused.

My flight was the first one in, we landed bright and early at 8 am. We got shown to our rooms and registered, and I met some pretty cool people. My roommate, Cosette, came in in the afternoon, and she was super nice, we got along from the get-go! It was a very long day on very little sleep, but it was capped off by a walk down to a really good pizza place with all of the students, plus Tiramisu for dessert.

 

The main statue/seating area in the courtyard on campus
Walking through the courtyard with Emma and Claudia
First Italian pizza at our community dinner on Wednesday night!

By this time, I had already met a lot of great people: two sophomores like me from Loyola Chicago, Malena and Claudia, who are both studying nursing; Emma, a junior from Marquette; Anisha, a senior finishing out her college career at Loyola here in Italy with us, just to name a few. Wednesday night we decided to go downtown to explore some places that are popular among students, and got to see the Colosseum at night which was so cool!

The Colosseum at night where my friends and I ended up after exploring Wednesday night.

– Thursday –

On Thursday we had the first two orientation meetings and went to a little café to explore and get coffee in between. Afterward, we wandered around our new neighborhood, Balduina, and found the grocery store near us. That evening we had a walking tour of the neighborhood, getting more in-depth information from the Rome Start kids, who are Freshmen that spend their whole first year of college at the JFRC campus instead of in Chicago!

– Friday –

This was our first day trip as a school! We went to a town about an hour and a half outside of Rome called Caprarola to visit Filla Farnese, a palace built in 1556 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. This cardinal finished building what his grandfather, Pope Paul III had started, and it is a beautiful structure that showcases Mannerist architecture and decorations. We had a guided tour of it and the gardens, and the trip was finished out with a community lunch at a nearby restaurant that had a great view of the town and mountains nearby.

A fresco on the ceiling of one of the rooms in Villa Farnese
The view of the village of Caprarola and the mountains in the distance

 

View of the back of the palace from the gardens, which are in traditional Italian style with a lot of “boxy” bushes

– Saturday –

A fountain at Piazza Navona, one of the most famous Piazzas in all of Rome
The fountain at the bottom of the Spanish steps, which is still fed by an ancient Roman aqueduct from thousands of years ago!

The biggest highlight of Saturday was our guided walking tour of Rome, we got to learn a lot about the history of many famous places in downtown Rome that I will definitely be going back to over the course of this semester.

We started at the Spanish Steps, and made our way down through Rome to the Pantheon, seeing cool plazas that had Medival, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture all in one place. Medival is plainer with few windows and no decoration, while Renaissance style has a certain brick pattern and more windows, and Baroque is super detailed and extravagant. It was super cool to see juxtaposed!

Friends at dinner in Piazza Navona– we stayed downtown after our walking tour
Malena, Anisha, Claudia, Emma, and I at the Trevi Fountain

 

 

– Sunday –

Me posing outside of the Vatican

Sunday was a semi-free day, that my friends and I capitalized on by going downtown. We actually decided to walk instead of taking the bus, figuring that we would be able to get to know the area and see more that way. We ended up walking over 9 miles, but it was for sure worth it.

Walking south of Balduina, we wound up outside of Vatican city after about 45 minutes. We were able to go in for free, to both the city and Saint Peter’s Basilica, and even caught the end of Pope Francis’ Sunday service out in the plaza! We continued to walk into downtown Rome and found a great little sandwich place a few blocks away from the Colosseum. We finished out our trip by wandering around the Roman Forum, looking at the ruins, and sitting down to read near a band playing on the street, listening to the music and reading books, soaking in the sun (which we definitely wouldn’t be seeing if we were back in Chicago) and the sights.

 

 

 

Overall, it was a very busy and tiring week, but filled with adventure and fun as well, and I was so excited to see what the next weeks would look like.

I have more pictures on my Instagram for this semester, @lauren_goesabroad !

First Time Blogging, Second Time in Rome

First Time Blogging, Second Time in Rome

I figure that I should start out by introducing myself to anyone who may read this: my name is Lauren Pflueger, and I’ll be writing to you all from Rome this semester! I’m a sophomore studying Information Systems and Management with a minor in French (if you’re wondering, yes, I am a tad concerned about having to keep up with French while also learning Italian). I love sports and running and music and coffee and travel and, as a less relevant fact, am currently watching Sex and the City, so am definitely channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw as I write this! (I’ll be more appropriate in my writing, of course, and I’m aware that this is a blog and not a column.)

Here’s a picture of me so you know who you’re reading!

My study abroad process has been quite an interesting one due to the current pandemic going on; I’m sure you’re all familiar with it? I was originally set to study at Loyola’s other campus in Ho Chi Mihn City in Vietnam, but that was canceled over the fall. Then, I was planning to go to the Paris School of Business (work on that minor and all of that), but that ended up not working out either. So, here we are, heading to Rome! Don’t get me wrong, Rome is a wonderful place and I am so looking forward to studying and living here, but as the title of this entry might imply, I’ve been to Rome before, thus had a motivation to try to live somewhere new. Granted, that trip was when I was 12 for 10 days– seeing as I am now 20, and will be spending multiple months here, I think it will be a much different experience.

Me in Venice at 12 years old

I won’t make this post too much longer, but I am going to share some things that I am hoping to talk about! I am in a year-long, long-distance relationship, with a cute, silly boy who runs track at a school called Xavier University, in Cincinnati, Ohio; the majority of our relationship has been long-distance actually, but we have yet to have an international long-distance relationship, so some of my experiences with that may trickle into this blog.

My boyfriend CJ and I at an outdoor museum in Pittsburgh, where we both live!

I also hope to write about your classic travel blog things, such as where I’m traveling to, both within Italy and out of it, as well as the people I meet and friendships that I make. They told us on the first night here to “make Rome our home”, so I’d love to document how that goes and see by the end if I actually succeed. I’ll also be talking about what school life is like here, and what it’s like making new friends in a foreign country, especially after an interesting past few semesters, socially speaking. I’ll maybe even have some recommendations for music I’m listening to, gelato flavors, or other great things I find for anyone reading this who may be coming here in the future!

I was hoping to post this before I got to explore here, but due to technical complications it’s a little late and so I’ve already had some adventures in Rome! I can’t wait to post an update about orientation week, and I also hope that someone besides me maybe read these (fingers crossed!)