As a last huzzah before Finals Week, last weekend my friends and I hopped onto a 3 hour plane to Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan Province of China and also known as the Home of the Giant Panda. We ended up staying there for two days and three nights, and by the end of the short-lived trip, we were very glad that we were able to squeeze it in before the end of the semester. It provided a last push for us to wrap up our study abroad semester in China.
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. We must address probably the most important, and definitely the most cutest, part of the trip. The first day we spent in Chengdu was spent squealing over the cute, sleepy, and amusingly clumsy pandas in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which was about an hour shuttle bus ride from our Airbnb. We had met up with an old friend of my friend, who was her exchange student many years ago and generously served as our navigator for the day, as he was a student of a relatively nearby university in Chengdu.
Our panda-watching group!
The park was filled with lush greenery that was mostly made up of tall bamboo stalks that at times towered over us and beautiful ponds and small lakes, where ducks and geese would literally swim up to you to greet you. It was magnificent to see all of that green. None of the zoos that I had been to before looked anything like the inside of this park, and the pictures don’t do it much justice.
Of course, it had endless amounts of designated panda enclosures, most of which were all outside. The pandas had plenty of room to roam around and to just… be pandas: all the enclosures had some sort of wooden playground structure that they could either nap on or lounge about and some trees that they could climb up and get stuck in should they please. It was just endless amounts of entertainment watching the pandas. For example, we watched one who was quite obviously stuck up high in a tree try his hardest to climb down but ultimately decided to just accept his fate for the time being. We also watched some adorable baby pandas stumble around, trying out their new paws. Whenever any one of us spotted a panda, it was instantly the greatest new thing we had ever seen. It’s a given that I bought a lot, and I mean a lot, of panda goodies at the various souvenir shops around the vast park.
Baby pandas!!!
After we had seen our fill of pandas (we probably spent a close to five hours or so at the park), we took the shuttle bus back to the area around our Airbnb, which happened to be near a huge shopping district filled with shopping malls. For an early dinner, we sat down and had the famous Sichuan spicy hotpot, where we ate a bunch of interesting meats, like stomach lining, duck blood, and liver, much to the insistence of our local friend. We were also served drinkable cold yogurt, in case we needed it to calm the fiery burn of that Sichuan spicy hot broth. Needless to say, we had quite the adventurous dinner that night!
Hotpot is a shared dish where there is a center pot with boiling broth. You are served raw meats and vegetables, and you basically cook the food in the broth. In the middle of this pot is the really spicy Sichuan broth, while the outside was the non-spicy broth. Yum!
To aid in digestion, we wandered into a random shopping mall and waddled around there for awhile with soup bellies. That was when my friend spotted a Vietnamese restaurant, and it was all over. We quickly made the decision to have tomorrow’s lunch there before we had dinner with my friend’s old math professor. It was a pretty easy decision, considering two out of the three of us were craving Vietnamese food and the third friend had been wanting to try Vietnamese food. Once night fell, we parted ways with my friend’s old exchange student, and we headed back to our Airbnb, where we played card games and talked for hours into the night.
The next morning, after sleeping in comfortably, we hurried over to that Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, stopping by to get $2 (you heard me) large brown sugar coffee lattes. I could barely contain my excitement as I flipped through the menu, feelings of nostalgia and homesickness and longing for home flooding my senses all at once. My friends were equally excited to have some Vietnamese food with me, sensing my eagerness, so we quickly ordered our food: two orders of pho (one chicken and the other beef), one order of bun, which is basically a cold noodle salad dish, one order of spring rolls, and one order of eggrolls.
The dish that brought me to tears.
Let me tell you, tears were shed all around that day. My friend, who for the first time ate eggrolls the Vietnamese way (wrapped up in lettuce and mint leaves), was also brought to tears at how good they were. But I cried for a different reason. The food genuinely tasted so similar to my mom’s home cooking, and the longing for home hit me harder than ever before. The sauce, nuoc mam, in particular was almost dead on similar. Just a drop of that garlicky, salty, sweet, and sour sauce by itself was enough to bring tears to my eyes, and it was a testament to how good the food was going to be. The refreshing bun dish perked up my taste buds, which, over the course of the semester, had slowly developed an unbearable craving of the fresh, floral, and bright flavors of Vietnamese cooking. It had taken me a trip to Chengdu to finally find some Vietnamese food in China, and the discovery of this restaurant made me that much more glad to have gone on this trip. Eating here was what gave me some energy to last for the rest of the semester. We were almost done, and I knew that I would be able to have that familiar and comforting Vietnamese food again.
We walked around the shopping mall until it was time to have dinner with my friend’s math teacher. He generously fed us a delicious Filipino dinner, and it was a pleasure to spend time at his wonderful apartment with his family. Before long, though, we had to go back to our Airbnb, pack our stuff, and then pull an all-nighter by playing cards and snacking on foods until it was time for us to leave for the airport. Our flight was at 6am, so we figured that it would be better to just stay up. We were back on campus by 9am, and after an emotionally and physically adventurous weekend, you know I passed out for a good while, dreaming of cute and cuddly pandas.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
-Justine
A Brew of Emotions: The Final Stretch (Last Week in Beijing)
There is one week left of my study abroad adventure in Beijing, and I am feeling a brew of emotions.
The first, excitement. For the past two weeks, I’ve felt really homesick, more homesick than I have ever felt before during this semester. It’s probably because the power of the holidays is on full blast back in the States. Missing the Thanksgiving celebration with all my friends and family was already hard enough, and seeing all the Christmas-related stuff on people’s social media hasn’t made it any less easier. So the thought of coming back to the U.S. and being bombarded with that holiday cheer is very exciting to me. I’m excited to just exist in my house again. I’m excited to see all of my friends again and catch up. I’m excited to eat Vietnamese food again. I’m excited to continue developing the relationships and the projects that I left behind all those months ago. I’m just excited, and I can hardly wait to jump on that plane back!
A picture of my family’s Christmas tree that my mom sent to me recently. I think this is the first year that I have not helped put up this tree.
The second, procrastination. As you probably already know, this last week is finals week, and instead of studying for my Chinese language finals or working on final presentations/essays, I am writing this blog post.
So that basically sums up that emotion.
The third, sadness. For the past four months, I’ve created countless numbers of memories, and I’ve taken an equal amount, if not more, pictures while I’ve been here. Scrolling through the pictures I’ve taken so far, I cannot help but feel sad to leave China. Here is where I’ve grown spiritually. Here is where I’ve conquered fears time and time again. Here is where I’ve seen a rich and beautiful culture and discovered that this country has dimensions that I’ve never thought even existed. To leave something so profound in my life makes me feel… empty? I don’t think that’s quite the right word, but it’s the best I’ve got. It makes me quite sad to leave behind this life that has challenged me in ways that I didn’t think would challenge me. It makes me even sadder to think about the friends that I’m parting ways with. The friendships that I’ve established here are some of the most enjoyable friendships I’ve ever had in my collegiate career. The people here are so vibrant, and being surrounded by them has allowed for me to grow into a better version of me. I’ll be leaving all of that behind, soon.
The Fall 2018 TBC Family
At our monthly (the last one for the semester) community meeting last week, TBC Student Development Director Ryan briefly talked about the possibility of going through reverse culture shock once we returned home. At the time of the meeting, I didn’t think much of it (mostly because I was distracted with the idea that they were serving us pizza after the meeting), but now that I’ve sat down to write this blog and to reflect upon what this past semester has meant to me, all of the things he talked about on the topic of reverse culture shock seems to be entirely plausible for me. Maybe the pace of life back at home will be so alien to me that it’ll seem… I don’t know, boring in comparison to the life here? Maybe I’ll be so overwhelmed with the go-go-go pace of back home that I’ll shut down? Who honestly knows how reverse culture shock will affect me, if it’ll affect me at all.
That leads to the fourth emotion that I’m marinating in, and it is perhaps the most profound one.
Anxiousness.
I call this emotion the most profound because I never thought that I would feel a little anxious to go home. I mean, I’m homesick. I’ve been longing to snuggle my dog, to goof around with my brother, to chatter with my family at the dinner table, to play hours upon hours of video games on my Nintendo Switch, to laugh with my friends, and yet I feel this tiny nagging sense of dread to return home even before I’ve come home.
The truth is, around the middle of the semester, I had a little bit of a crisis. One of the Chinese roommates for TBC whom I’m pretty good friends with was in the middle of applying for graduate school and studying for the GRE. Talking to him and watching him go through this process made me realize something: I only have three semesters left as a undergraduate student. Suddenly, the entire world seemed to have laid its entire weight on my shoulders. Horrible thoughts and feelings of falling behind on my studies because I’ve studied abroad creeped in, and a sense of paranoia flooded my senses. What if my studying abroad set me so far back that I wouldn’t be able to prepare for applying to graduate school on time? I still hadn’t looked at what graduate programs I wanted to even apply for. I didn’t even know what kind of programs I wanted to apply for. I had a plan for after graduation, but that was only a vague thought, not even a game plan. And here I was, in China.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t regret going abroad, and I won’t ever regret my time here. I just suffered a little from this realization that life seemed to have kept going without me back at home.
Well, this is where all of my friends and family would remind me: slow down, Justine. Remembering that advice allowed for me to jump off of that Paranoia Rocket off to Planet Anxiety and continue to enjoy my time here in Beijing while I still could. I knew that my fears were blown a little out of proportion, and I technically still had plenty of time, I just needed to use it well once I returned. But, to be completely honest with you, I might be strapped in to ride that rocket again now that my study abroad semester is coming to an end. It is the final stretch.
I know now that what I felt in the middle of this semester was like culture shock part two, and it was completely normal for me to have gone through that. As I get ready for finals this week and continue to swim around in this brew of jumbled emotions, I realize that I just need to take a deep breath. I need to remember that while it feels like life zoomed ahead of me back at home, I’ve also zoomed ahead in many other aspects. I’ve gained a new skill in speaking some Chinese. I’ve gained a spiritual understanding of myself. I’ve gained knowledge on China and Chinese culture, something that I’ll admit I misunderstood before I came. I’ve gained stories that I can share with everyone back at home. There are so many positive things that have come out of this amazing opportunity, and I have to keep them in mind as I come to terms with the experience ending.
Anxiousness doesn’t necessarily have to be negative. I can be anxious about a whole lot of different things in my life, and I figure that worrying about what the future has in store for me doesn’t do much good. It’s better to just sit back and enjoy the rocket ride rather than screaming the entire time.
I guess, what I’m try to say is that I’ll just have to see what’s in store for me when I return. I may not know what reverse culture shock will do to me, but I do know that I’ll treasure the least few days I have with TBC in Beijing and that I’ll return to the States ready to face the scary future more ready than ever.
Thanks for reading my blog this semester.
-Justine
Student, Evironmental Scientist, Sourdough Lover, and …Wife?
Who am I? A question for the ages. For most students, the answer is going to be fairly similar. You identify by the class year you are in, maybe you’ve decided on a major and maybe not, and you could even be a member of one club or another. For me, this answer is a little different and may even surprise you, it has definitely surprised some of my classmates! In the end, our identifiers shape who we are and how we interact with the world around us. That’s why my identity is so important to my study abroad journey.
This year, I am a senior Rambler at Loyola where I major in environmental science with IES and have a concentration in conservation and restoration ecology. I love to frequent the farmer’s market on Mondays, where I spend all my cash on sourdough and tamales, and I like to study by the lake on nice days. I have a name that professors find impossible to pronounce (by the way, it’s “ray-leen”) and I’ve even learned to recognize the face they all make when they get to me on the roster. I live in Rogers Park and have just begun riding my bike everywhere. This all sounds pretty familiar, right? Well, I’m also 25 years old and have been married to my husband, Andrew, for four and a half years. Are you surprised? Or did you read the title and completely ruin it?
Super cute right?
My story makes more sense once you know a little more about my past. I graduated from high school back in 2012 and completed my associate’s degree in 2014. Andrew and I just came back to college this past Fall after he completed his 5-year contract with the Marine Corps. We’ve made two major moves across the country between Northern Illinois and Southern California where we lived in a little desert town called Twentynine Palms. It was never my intention to take 4 years off from school, but life has a funny way of working out. While we lived in California, I worked as a vet tech. It was a job that I adored until I didn’t anymore. As it turns out, pet parents are really mean! I’ve always maintained my love of animals though.
Coming back to school is one of the most difficult adventures Andrew and I have embarked on and we’ve been through two deployments to the Middle East. There were 3 hours of commuting 5 days a week, depression, anxiety, financial issues, loss of adored pets, and even talks of divorce. This is what makes my journey a little more unique. I don’t have to only worry about classes, basketball games, and club meetings. I also have to worry about where our grocery money is going to come from, if all the bills for the month have been paid, or if Andrew and I are spending enough quality time together to maintain our marriage. That’s also why it was so hard to decide to study abroad.
After deployment #2
Now that I’ve given you way too much personal information, this brings me to where I’m at now. I chose to attend the GAIAS-Galápagos Extension Program through IES abroad where I am a part of their marine track. I am currently in Quito, Ecuador studying various aspects of marine ecology at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and I will be leaving for the Galápagos Islands in just 18 more days. I am so happy and thankful to be here and while I did all the work to get to where I’m at in life right now, it’s not without help from so many others.
First off, I have an incredibly supportive husband and family. If it weren’t for their help and insistence that I study abroad, I wouldn’t even have considered it. This program also comes with a rather large bill that is almost completely covered by 3 grants, 2 government loans, and 3 scholarships.
I am so thankful to be in Ecuador studying something I love and wouldn’t have a chance to study at Loyola. I’ve been here for a month and some days, I wake up and still can’t believe I’m actually here. There are so many aspects of this program that are incredibly amazing! Tune in for the next episode to learn more!
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!)
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 !
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!
A street in the Ponte neighborhood of Rome, in between the Tiber River and Piazza Navona. It had rained earlier in the day so everything was washed new and smelled fresh– the cigarette smell was even gone for a while too which was awesome!
We visited a café called Ex Circus run by a nice woman who is originally from New Zealand but grew up in Rome. They had a lot of drink options that aren’t typically seen in Italian cafés, featuring Malena working.
This drink was my first interaction with ice this whole trip! Europeans seem to have something against ice in drinks, everything is either hot or room temperature. I got an iced latte and a bagel it they were both delicious
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!
The medieval-era church in the town center– the style of architecture is so different than the buildings in the rest of the town, the contrast is really interesting to see. The detail of the carvings and paintings on the church was beautiful.
A street in Orvieto with a vendor selling flowers and other plants. We were right outside of the town hall.
A bakery that our tour guide pointed out– the bread in Orvieto is made without salt, and you can definitely taste the difference.
Another cute street that we first walked up when we started our tour of the town.
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
A little piazza we saw while walking around for over 10 miles exploring Naples!
Malena, Claudia and I posing in our AirB&B.
Naples felt much more lived-in than Rome did, and these small streets with peoples’ laundry was just one of the aspects that contributed to this feeling.
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
We saw the plaster casts of some people who died in Pompeii, including this child. Pompeii was further away from Mount Vesuvius, so the cause of death and destruction was debris from the volcano, as opposed to some closer towns which were impacted by lava and gases, leaving all organic matter carbonized.
Cosette, Claudia and I in the middle of one of the main roads in Pompeii. It was on this road that our tour guide pointed out some symbols on the streets that helped lead travelers that did not speak Latin to the famous brothel.
Some of the ruins of a main building in Pompeii, where judges and other officials worked.
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!
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!)
One of the largest churches in Italy, the Santa Maria was built in 1434 and is the largest landmark in Florence. It’s exterior is a combination of creams, pinks, greens, and golds, and is quite unlike the detailing and colors of any other majors churches I have seen.
Me posing on the Ponte Vecchio! The bridge used to be where there were a ton of markets selling fish and other produce, but now it is all high-end jewelry boutiques.
The view of the duomo (meaning house, more specifically now meaning the house of God, the word refers to a cathedral that has the seat of the Bishop in it) from our walk around Florence.
The sunset from Michelangelo Hill
From left to right: Isabel, Emma, Malena, Megan, Stacy, me — front: Claudia — back: Anisha
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.
A “street” in the market’s first floor.
The view from the 3rd floor of seating in the market, looking over the food court area.
Me, Bláithín, Alyssa, Megan and Stacy at the first winery.
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.
The David, by Michelangelo, a Renaissance piece that depicts the ideal human figure in the Galleria Academia.
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli in the Uffizi Galleries.
A statue and view of the frescoed ceiling in the Uffizi.
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 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!).
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.
One of the beaches we visited– we walked out onto the stone/sand pier for the views!
Me posing in front of the gorgeous fountain we found at a large park we stumbled into.
View over the city from Park Guell and the famous tiled benches!
My favorite house of the many throughout the city by architect and artist Gaudi.
View of La Sagrada Familia from the park across from it.
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.
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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.
The lake in the middle of El Retiro Parc, the “central park” of Madrid.
The Royal Palace of Madrid
Palaza Mayor, which our hostel was right down the street from.
One of the main government buildings, featuring some flags in support of Ukraine.
There was a lot of gorgeous architecture around El Retiro.
It was a cloudy day when we arrived in Madrid, but the view from the rooftop restaurant/common area of our hostel was still pretty cool.
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.
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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.
There were many artisans selling the tiles and other handmade and hand painted pottery that Lisbon is famous for!
A cute street with a great example of the famous tiling on facades of buildings throughout Lisbon.
We visited the old royal palace, and to our surprise and delight, the grounds were filled with peacocks!
Ellie posing on our way to a vegan restaurant for dinner.
The fountain in the plaza outside of our hostel, which also happened to be in the same building as the famous train station there!
The sun came out mid day, and the views over the city into the ocean was incredible
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!
Ellie sneakily captured a picture of Johan and I when we were all walking back to the hostel with the group of friends we made.
Our hostel! It was so cool, this is the picture of the main communal area, filled with plants and couches, from the stairs leading up to the private rooms. This was such an awesome place to stay.
Hostel friend 2: Liam, an artist and tattoo artist from London.
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?)
We visited the Keukenhof Gardens for the very first weekend of the Tulip Festival!
Just one of the many canals with cool houses. Fun fact, there are a lot of houses and buildings that are leaning forward or to the side because the structure under water had deteriorated a bit!
The canals at sun set were so gorgeous– this was right around the Anne Frank house.
One of Van Gogh’s final paintings before his death, at the Van Gogh museum.
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.
(left to right) Me, Cosette, Anahita, Katie, Emily and Darren took a selfie in front of the canals.
Darren and I took a picture to show our friends from high school that we had found each other in Amsterdam
Cosette, Andrea and I on our way to get some famous apple cake at Winkel 34, a cute cafe!
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.
I found Borough Market, a cute and crowded market with a ton of food vendors for lunch before heading to the Tate.
Tower Bridge, which was only a 10 minute walk from my hostel.
Brick Lane was also very close to my hostel, which has a ton of vintage shops and markets, including this, the largest market all underground!
On Saturday there were a ton of food vendors and artisans out on Brick Lane as well.
d!China town was all decorates
The British Museum was gigantic, I spent 2 1/2 hours there and felt like I barely scratched the surface!
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.
The view of London from Primrose hill.
Me, Ella, and Lydia (I stole this from Megan’s instagram story post, so don’t mind the stickers and tags!)
The houses in Primrose were so cute.
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!
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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.
The picture Dervla and I sent to Christian
One of the many famous Gothic churches throughout the city, this was on the Royal Mile.
My hostel and the view of the castle on the hill from it!
Diego and Dervla leading the way to one of their favorite look-out spots.
The view from the hill the 3 of them took me to!
(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.
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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!
