I’m here in Rome! It’s currently Day 8 and it still feels like a bit of a dream.

 

It’s been an incredible week. I’ve already gotten the chance to visit the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Roman Forman, the countryside of Farnese, walk miles around Rome and even speak Italian to the locals.

 

 

It has surprised me how quickly I was able to adapt. The first few days it was hard to get around but I already feel comfortable in this neighborhood and most importantly, I know where to get incredible gelato.

 

I’ve discovered that the Italian style of life is definitely something I could get used to. Eating five courses over three hours for dinner, not having to be on time, taking lots of walks and lots of naps, it really makes life less stressful.

 

A big adjustment has been communication with everyone back home. I don’t have data and on campus we can only get Wi-Fi in a few places. Honestly, it’s been nice. Finding our way around the city with just a map and a few Italian phrases has been a fun challenge.

 

This weekend I head to the Amalfi Coast and next weekend to Venice!

 

Also, fun fact: the dogs are cuter here.

Ciao!

I MADE IT! I have been waiting for this moment for what seems like an eternity. I was notified of my acceptance to the John Felice Rome Center (JFRC) back in July and have been counting down the days until my arrival ever since.

Traveling here took about 16 hours, but it was worth every sub-par airplane meal. My initial thoughts of my new surroundings went something like this: watch out for taxi scammers, graffiti is everywhere, culture shock is real, jet-lag is REALLY real, there is no direct way to get anywhere and traffic laws might as well be non-existent.

Our campus and dorms are nothing like the modern Lakeshore and Water Tower Campuses that we Loyola students are used to, but I have come to appreciate the Italian charm that the JFRC provides. The dorm room I was assigned is a bit smaller than other dorm rooms on lower floors, but it does have a little screened in balcony overlooking our beautiful courtyard. Few dorm rooms are able to get WiFi, but the forced detachment from my phone has been one of the best things for me. It has gotten my classmates and me out into this incredible neighborhood and country that surrounds us.

I tasted my first Italian gelato on night one and it was sooo good. My friends and myself got a bit lost attempting to navigate the streets, but this is such a great place to get lost in. We attempt to speak the little Italian we know with the locals. It usually results in a chuckle from them as we stumble our way through piecing together a simple sentence, but they seem to appreciate it. Italians are truly some of the kindest people I know.

Orientation hasn’t been the most fun when you’re still getting over some serious jet-lag, but the faculty and Student Life Assistants (SLAs) try and keep things as interesting and exciting as possible. The energy put forth by our staff is truly contagious. They make me so excited for every adventure and memory that is to come over these next few months.

A group of us attempted to work public transportation on the second night and go down to the area of Trastevere. Well, we utterly failed and ended up about a mile away from our destination. We got off our bus near the Vatican and got a more scenic evening than what we anticipated, but nobody seemed to mind. We eventually made it to Trastevere and it was so neat. It was the Italy I had pictured in my mind complete with narrow streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars (in Italy, “bars” are a place where you get coffee, but I’ll refer to them in the American way on here). Some of the bars in the area were undoubtedly geared toward Americans and the drinking culture we have, (it was €1 Shot “Braindestroyer Night” at one bar) but it was still a great night out in the city with friends. After another failed attempt with the public transportation, we began the forty-five minute walk back home in the rain. We only hit a small bump when the Italian police pulled us over in the vacant St. Peter’s Square to see what five, young Americans were doing there on a Thursday night. After I struggled to speak with them in Italian, a friend and myself ended up talking with them in, of all languages, Spanish. The run-in ended with joking over favorite NFL football teams and a “buonasera” (good evening). Needless to say, navigating the bus system has become a large priority we are all veryy slowly accomplishing.

I attended a neighborhood restaurant visit with about 100 other students on our third night. We were served a four-course meal complete with red wine to drink. The meal was delicious, but I would have to say that the tiramisu we were served for dessert was my favorite part. I can’t say that I am the most adventurous eater by any means, but I have been working on getting out of my comfort zone.

Day number four consisted of a trip to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. The city of Rome is filled with an incredible amount of history and beautiful architecture. To get to experience it daily is remarkable and I feel so blessed. It is crazy just how innovative the people must have been to construct such grand and intricate buildings centuries ago. Here I can hardly put together my niece’s toys even with clear instructions right in front of my face. After touring these two sites, I walked through some of downtown Rome with a few friends and tried my first Italian espresso. We were given a bus ride from campus to the Colosseum, but it was up to us to find our way home. We once again failed tremendously at this test. This was fine at first because we were in the beautiful and bustling downtown (it’s “saldi” (sale) season in the stores), but that was before 30 minutes turned into an hour and finally an hour and a half of being lost. We finally made it back to campus two hours after leaving the cafe. Needless to say, directions are not my thing (and apparently none of my friends’ either). I visited some classmates at The Zone (a hotel about a 15-minute walk away that houses several of our students), for some wine to end my over 13-mile walk of a day.

 

To sum up my journey this far, I would say this: I don’t always know where I’m going, but I feel so lucky to be making the journey.

 

Until next time,

Nick

It’s been a week since I have stepped foot onto Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Let me just say, I’ve seen so much it’s felt as though I’ve been here a year already! I was nervous to arrive as I had only been to the metropolis that is Paris, and I knew that everything was going to be different. And I was going to actually have to speak some French, as hesitant as I was to do so. But all my nerves washed away immediately when I got here. I was so comfortable. The buildings were older than anything that exists in the United States, and the language was beautiful, even coming from complete strangers on the street.

It’s still notable to say that culturally, of course, it took some adjusting. Especially with transportation. While I am comfortable with the CTA in Chicago, buses were a whole other story to me. Coming from the Marseille Airport to Aix was a journey on it’s own, trying to navigate the terminal and then find the correct bus. My friend Mariana and I arrived together, and after staying in a hotel close to the airport the first night, we made it on the bus to Aix. As we arrived to the gare, we took taxis to our dorm, Les Gazelles. Looking back on it now, the gare is not at all far from our dorm, and we could have most certainly walked. But I think it was better for us to take a taxi at the time than to get lost off the get go. But we made it.

My room here is small, but as it is only me in here, it’s the perfect size. I brought basically only clothes, sheets, and blanket with me, so I had to buy (or steal from the school, and by steal I mean they gave them to us) pots and pans, plates, and cooking utensils. Apparently everyone here cooks their own meals in the kitchen. As my roommate and I rarely cooked real food back in Fairfield, this was something that was going to take some getting used to. LIVE UPDATE: I have cooked myself THREE meals here so far. One was potatoes, carrots, and chicken, another was chicken, noodles and peppers with a curry sauce, and the other was a sandwich. I think I’m off to an excellent start.

But the part that was most nerve-racking to me was speaking French. I am not the most confident in my ability, but I know that I am not a bad speaker at all. The hardest part for me in orale comprehension. I can reply to what someone says to me easily, but first I just have to know what they said to me. Obviously native speakers speak significantly faster than any my teachers ever have, so I felt a little unprepared. But, I have to say, I think that I have been doing a great job so far. I’ve interacted with many people in stores, restaurants, as well as in blablacar (I will explain blablacar another time).

Classes have just started, and I’m excited to see where the semester will take me. It’s been just peachy thus far, so I can only imagine that it will get better from here! knock on wood!

From when I visited Nice this past weekend. Most beautiful city in the world!

Stapled on the last page of my passport is a small folded piece of paper stating my name and my Italian address. That, combined with my student visa on one of the stamp pages, has allowed me to live in Italy for the past four months. It is hard to believe that those days are officially behind me. I have left the country and am now traveling with a friend from home before I go back to the United States next week.

The question I have been asking this past week has been, where has the time gone? Within the blink of an eye I am finished with finals and it is almost Christmas!

While the semester as a whole was even better than I ever could have imagined, I have to admit that this last week was tough. The stress of finals combined with all of the feels I had knowing my time in Rome was coming to a quick halt made it hard to focus. I just wanted to be out in the city, exploring and eating gelato. Instead I was in the library, trying to finish up all of the final papers, tests and projects I had. The stress was overbearing, and no amount of pasta helped. I texted one of my friends who studied abroad last semester and explained how I felt. She said that it was very natural to feel overwhelmed-I was leaving my new home very soon and that was hard! But what helped me the most is when she told me, “everyone always talks about how hard the first week is but nobody ever tells you how hard the last week is”.

Hearing her echo exactly how I felt was very insightful. I took a good, hard look at who I was when I got to Rome in late August, and who I am now in December. Of course, the two are very different, and in a good way! I have always had a sense of adventure, but now it is heightened so much more because of all of the travel I have been able to do this semester. I am glad I go to school in a city like Chicago, where there are always things to explore!

At the beginning of the semester I started putting the hashtag #avventuradiamanda on all of my Instagram and Facebook pictures. At first it was for convenience, when you clicked on the hashtag it would take you to the pictures I posted while abroad. But the Italian translation of “adventure of Amanda” quickly became my silent mantra this semester. I could list all of the adventures I have had these past three and a half months, but that would be endless (booking hostels, finding train stations, stumbling on one of a kind book stores, climbing coastal hills, etc…)! Instead I invite you to go to Instagram and search the hashtag!

In the end, I have realized that leaving my new friends, Rome, Italy, and Europe is very different than leaving Chicago or Louisville. At least with Chicago and Louisville I can attach an exact date to my eventual return. With Rome, I am not exactly sure when that will be (soon I hope!). I guess that is all part of the adventure.

My excitement to see my family and to live in Chicago again builds everyday, but I also already miss Rome. Everyone always says it, and I believe but it is definitely true…

Rome=Home.

Last weekend was my first trip outside of the UK! My roommate Nita and I planned a trip to Amsterdam and it was a blast!

We don’t have classes on Friday, so originally the plan was to leave Thursday night. However, USAC had tickets for all people studying abroad to go see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of musicals, but I’m glad we decided to postpone our trip to stay and see the show. The Apollo Victoria is a beautiful theatre and the show was really good as well!

Friday morning our train for Amsterdam left early in the morning, so naturally we were running a little late. We had to convert all of our pounds to euros, which took more time than we thought, but luckily we had no trouble getting through customs and boarded our train just in time. Our train had a layover in Brussels, so I got a chance to try a real Belgian waffle, and it was incredible!

The first thing I noticed when we arrived in Amsterdam was the insane amount of bikes. Near the train station, there were plenty of cars and taxis, but the further you get into Amsterdam, there seem to be more bikes than people. I spent the entire weekend looking both ways multiple times before crossing the road to avoid getting hit by the aggressive bikers. Luckily, I managed to make it out of Amsterdam without any bruises caused by bikes (Nita was not as lucky).

The second thing I noticed about Amsterdam was how unpronounceable the street signs are. When I went to France in high school, I had a few years of French knowledge to back me up. When I went to Italy, I had a tour guide that spoke fluent Italian. I don’t speak Dutch. Nita doesn’t speak Dutch. And everything was in Dutch. I had no trouble communicating with anyone, seeing as everyone in Amsterdam speaks English, but it was still a strange experience not being able to read any part of the signs. It was also disorienting not being able to understand conversations going on around me.

Friday night we decided to explore the city a bit, and wandered upon a fair going on in Dam Square. I discovered very quickly that the best way to see Amsterdam is upside down, going 90mph. The ride was well worth the price because I spent about 15 minutes at the top of the 180ft ride waiting for people to board. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole weekend we were there, so needless to say after the ride we were drenched and freezing and decided to call it a night. Saturday and Sunday we packed in as much as we possibly could! We spent a good amount of time walking around, mostly because the public transportation in Amsterdam was confusing, chaotic, and all around bad. But also because walking truly is the best way to see a city! We bought 24 hour tickets for a boat that stopped at 8 different places along all the canals, which was a super convenient way to get around and sightsee. We managed to find a few nice, cheap museums and some really great places to get pancakes!

However, I think the most significant thing we did that weekend was see the Anne Frank house. It’s an incredibly popular museum in a very small space, so Nita and I wound up waiting in line for 45 minutes outside in the rain just to get in. Absolutely worth it. It felt surreal being in the house that Anne Frank and her family had hidden in during World War II, and it was so indescribably moving. At Otto Frank’s request (the only member of the Frank family that survived the war), the actual house and annex where they hid was kept bare to represent the emptiness that was left behind by all the death. There were quotes from the diary written on the wall, and further into the museum was Anne Frank’s actual diary. It’s difficult to describe how it felt, walking through a place that is so well known for such horrendous reasons. Personally, I think the most moving part of the whole experience was seeing pencil marks on one of the door frames, where Anne’s mother had measured her and her sister’s height during the time they were in hiding. For one, it was shocking to see just how long the family was in hiding, and how much they had grown in the two years they were there. Second, it reminded me that they were just kids. Measuring your kids’ growth on the wall is such a, for a lack of better word, normal thing to do. It really struck home and was such a humanizing factor. Being in the actual house was a lot more emotionally taxing than I could have expected, but it was absolutely one of the most moving things I’ve done since I started my European adventure last month.

Monday we had to check out of our hostel at 10am, but our train didn’t leave until 4pm, so we sat ourselves down at a restaurant and then a coffeehouse for most of the time because we didn’t want to lug our suitcases around the city! We boarded our train and traveled to Belgium with no problem. However, we cut it very close to missing our connecting train to London because we got stuck at the British boarder. Nita and I both have short term student visas, which requires us to show the customs officer our letter of acceptance to London Met every time we re-enter the country. We weren’t aware of that. Luckily, we had our London school IDs and Student Oyster cards (for using the Tube) with an expiration date on it, so we were allowed through. I’m really thankful that we did, because I did not like the idea of spending the night at the train station! That would have been a not so fun end to an otherwise fantastic trip!

 

 

When I was a high school senior trying to pick a college, a very important factor for me was a good study abroad program. I’ve always loved seeing new places and was set on spending a semester abroad. It’s a big reason why I chose Loyola. However, after further contemplation I knew I didn’t want to study on a foreign Loyola campus. I think it’s fantastic that Loyola makes it so easy to study abroad at one of their campus’s, and I was jealous when my roommate (currently studying in Rome) had one application while I had four. However, if I was going to study abroad I wanted to go all in. I’ve been at Loyola for two years, and I’ll be there for another year and a half come spring. Why not experience a completely different school system and attend a foreign institution? Thanks to Loyola’s incredible international program, my options were limitless. I could go anywhere. After looking into a lot of different options, I decided on England. Why? I’m a massive Harry Potter fan for one, but I’ve also always wanted to see England, experience the culture and the history, and hear the accents in person.

Also they speak English.

I’m not ashamed to admit that a big factor in choosing England was the absence of a language barrier. By not studying at a Loyola campus, I’m immersing myself completely into a different school. I took French through high school and took a year of Italian at Loyola, but my communication skills in both languages are very limited. If I was going to spend a semester abroad I didn’t want any difficulties communicating. After spending two days here, I knew I made the right choice. I’m totally and completely in love with London and its culture. I’ve always been a fan of big cities, and London has about the same amount of people as New York with ten times more history. While planning for my trip, I expected the culture to be similar to the US with a few little differences.

I was right. To an extent.

I went to the same public school district from first to twelfth grade. My first year at Loyola, I was surrounded by freshman that didn’t know what they were doing any more than I did. Coming to London, I’ve never felt more out of place in my life. The flat I rented is four other people traveling through USAC, so when I’m home I’m surrounded by Americans that are in the same position as me. However, as soon as I leave the American bubble of my flat, I’m very clearly foreign. After three and a half weeks here, I’d like to think I’m no longer an obvious tourist wandering the streets, but every time I open my mouth I’m very identifiable as American. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I’ve never been so conscious of my accent. I’m still thrown off when I get compliments on my accent because I’ve always considered the British accent to be appealing and the American accent to be viewed as annoying and loud. You always want what you don’t have I guess? (Side note: I’ve also been repeatedly mistaken for Australian, which has left me and my American flatmates baffled because I’m the only one that seems to get this comment.)

The accent is the dead giveaway of my international origin. However, after observing and having discussions with some classmates in London, there are quite a few small cultural differences that I didn’t consider. Slang, for example, is a big one. When I hold the door open for someone, I don’t get a “Thank you”, I get “Cheers!” Rather than ask “How are you?” Brits tend to ask “Are you alright?” which throws me off because my first question is “Yeah, why? Do I not look alright?” One of my personal favorites is the difference between pissed and pissed off. If someone is ‘pissed’ here, they’re drunk. If they’re ‘pissed off’, they’re angry. Apparently not as interchangeable as they are in the States. Similarly, spelling is another difference that seems small until you have to write a paper. While taking notes in classes, I’m trying to get in the habit of spelling ‘victimization’ as ‘victimisation’. I’d rather not lose marks for little spelling mistakes that aren’t actually mistakes to me!

Crossing the road proves to be difficult some days. I find myself looking both ways the entire time I cross because I forget which direction the cars are coming from. (Side note: You wouldn’t get hit by a truck here. You’d be hit by a lorry.) Jaywalking isn’t actually a thing here. You cross the road when you please, no one will stop you. You just have to be smart enough to not get hit.

To conclude this rambling blog post, I’ll say I’m definitely settling here. The UK is different (obviously), but similar enough to feel at home rather quickly. Starbucks tastes different. McDonald’s tastes different (Sorry Mom, I’m still eating fast food. At least I’m eating it less?). Chipotle gives you a LOT less in their burrito bowl (so, a normal serving size probably). My accent is obvious but I’m extremely thankful I speak the language fluently because I’ve met some really incredible and fascinating people while abroad, and I’m so very grateful we can understand each other fully. However, though I’m happy in an entirely English speaking country, I’m very much looking forward to traveling to other countries (the Netherlands, Italy, and hopefully France or Poland) where I’ll be fully immersed into another different culture with different languages. I’m eternally grateful to Loyola and to my family for providing this opportunity to get to experience so much. I’ve learned more about the world and about myself in these last few weeks than I have my whole college career, and I can’t wait to keep exploring!

 

France has been nothing but unforgettable so far. If you are like me, who has dreamed of spending at least a semester abroad in France since elementary school, then coming here will look like a dream and also the ultimate spot to travel to.

Let me start by saying that THERE IS SO MUCH TO SEE! That’s the best thing about living in Lyon, it is right in the heart of Europe. You can purchase a ticket of 55€ to Milan, a flight of 70€ to Barcelona, and a ticket of 1€ to Paris. It sounds almost unbelievable but that’s what’s so great about it all. With that being said, I have been able to see a few places so far around France and in two weeks, I will also be able to go visit Barcelona and hopefully Italy, pictures of which I am excited to share with everyone. Also, if you ever want to go to  cities such as Switzerland or Belgium, that can easily be planned to be a weekend trip or even a day trip, as each is only four hours away. So, make sure to visit Lyon at least once!

Out of all the places I have visited so far, I wanted to share with you some of my favorites so far. I will start with Marseille. My favorite thing about Marseille was the Mediterranean Sea. I grew up with the Mediterranean Sea as my vacation spot every summer, and going back definitely brought a little bit of nostalgia. If you ever go to Marseille, start by walking around Vieux Port. It has markets, cafés, museums nearby, stores, and all that you need to know about the history of Marseille, and its beauty as well. My favorite thing we did in Marseille was take a boat to one of the islands nearby, l’île de Frioul, and spend a couple of hours at this small, but beautiful little beach. Just to also touch a little base on the enriched history of Marseille, if you are on the boat going to one of the two closest islands located in Marseille, you will pass the Château d’If, which is very fascinating to see, as it used to be a fortress and after a while it became a prison, and therefore a setting for Alexander Dumas’s book, “Count of Monte Cristo”.

My next favorite spot in Marseille was the MuCEM, which stands for Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée. It is one of the best museums I have visited so far. What caught my attention about this museum especially was its architecture, specifically its outer wall, it was like no other building I had seen before. It is a little hard to describe so I made sure to attach pictures. Not only that, but it is located right by the sea, therefore not only do you get to know hands-on a little more about the history of Europe and the Mediterranean area, you also get to enjoy a beautiful view, maybe even a sunset, right by the Mediterranean Sea.

My next favorite place was Annecy. Annecy is the perfect, most characteristic little French town. What I love about Annecy is that it is very picturesque, everywhere you go. Not that other cities have not been scenic, but Annecy is the most quaint city I have visited so far. There is a market that is open every day and it has pretty much everything, whether it be food, clothes, shoes, purses, etc. If you ever have the chance to go there, also make sure to stop by one of the little coffee shops around, the service, the coffee, and the view is incredible, and very French. That’s the first time I truly felt like I was in France. Annecy has made sure to keep the antiquity, the history, and the traditions of the city as they were in the past, with little to no changes.

That’s all my stories so far. My advice to everyone who is on the edge of studying abroad to France, I highly recommend you come if you have the chance. Coming to France also means being able to visit at least three or four other cities in Europe, and on top of that it will be an unforgettable experience.

 

 

London is very different from Chicago, as expected, but I’ve noticed that some things are universal.

Like mice.

In my last post I mentioned that parts of my flat were duct taped together when I moved in. I wasn’t joking. We’ve figured out that the duct tape covering up the corner where the kitchen counter meets the wall is actually covering up a mouse hole. We’ve bought mouse traps (no-kill ones because none of us have the heart to buy anything else) and put all of our food in Tupperware and cupboards, but we’ve had no luck in catching any mice. Seems like our furry little flatmate may be here to stay. However, I’m still a firm believer that the good outweighs the bad as far as the situation of my flat. I’m still entirely in love with the location of where I live. One of my favorite things to do is get coffee (still not a fan of tea) and walk through Regent’s Park. It feels like I discover something new every time.

One very cool thing about being in a country I haven’t been to before is that there’s always something new to see. Last Friday, I woke up and realized I wanted to see Stonehenge. So that’s exactly what I did. A program called International Friends has extremely affordable student discounts to go on all sorts of trips across England and Europe. So on Friday two of my friends and I bought tickets for a tour of Stonehenge and Bath, an old Roman city about 100 miles away from London.

Stonehenge was actually a lot smaller than I first imagined it, but I feel like most big monuments are. It was almost surreal being there in person, just because it’s something I’ve only ever read about or seen on TV. The real reason behind Stonehenge being built is still a mystery, but I’m still fairly certain it was aliens. Next, our coach headed to Bath, and it was a super cute town! After taking a quick walking tour and learning a bit about the architecture and history, we were given a good chunk of time to wander the city ourselves. There were a bunch of little shops and cafes to stop at and we wound up spending a lot of time in the park.

This week we actually started doing things in classes. Unfortunately. Lucky for me I have some classes that seem like they’ll be pretty interesting! On Tuesdays I have Policing in Practice in the mornings and Victims and Crime in the afternoons. On Wednesday afternoon I have Crime, Media and Technology and on Thursday afternoon I have Serious and Serial Offenders. It’s a lot of Criminal Justice classes for one semester but luckily I’ll get credit for all of them back at Loyola. Getting used to the British school system is taking a bit of work though. There’s a lot more independent work and reading and a lot more talking and discussion in classes. Luckily I think I’m starting to get the hang of it (except for understanding the grading scale)!

Yesterday the 3 people in the flat above us, my 4 flatmates and I all went on a day trip to Brighton, which is a seaside town south of London. If you get tickets for times that aren’t super busy, you can actually travel England for very cheap! It was really nice spending some time out of the city with my friends, and hanging out on the pier was a ton of fun. I’ve begun to notice that I can only go on a few fair rides before I get a headache now, but I’m still really bad at carnival games, and I still really love fair food! We spent a lot of time after the pier wandering the streets and shops (there was a ton of very cool street art that you don’t really see in bigger cities) and hanging out at a seaside pub in the evening. Our train was a late one (in order to get the cheapest fare possible) and we were all exhausted on our way home, but it was an incredible day trip!

Due to our early morning/late night yesterday, I’ve spent most of the day lazing around the flat today, but luckily I have a four day weekend every week, so now I just have an extra day to put off my homework!