The GoGlobal Blog

Author: Samuel Schuldenberg

I am a sophomore nursing student at Loyola University Chicago. From Dallas, Texas, I chose Chicago to gain a new experience in a big city that not many people were getting that I saw going to state schools down south. I am the oldest of 7 siblings and many more cousins, and I want to be a model of a free spirit and outgoingness to my family. I think in life you are a culmination of your experiences and what better way to add to your collection of experiences than to study abroad halfway across the world. I am most excited to find the best coffee shops and small dining places around Rome and other cities in Italy, and take in as much as I can during my 107 days in Europe.
Amalfi -> Pompei -> Napoli(:

Amalfi -> Pompei -> Napoli(:

After a few train rides, some fun cabs, and a random boat trip, I was able to pack three cities into my first weekend out of Rome.

Running on about 4 hours of sleep, a few friends and I took a cab to the train station. Pretty neat experience with a driver who sang Mama Mia to us. We took a train down to Salerno, Italy, where we were going to catch a bus to the Amalfi coast. If you have ever been to Europe, you know that the bus system isn’t always very reliable. We waited an hour for this bus, and when it finally showed up, IT DROVE RIGHT PAST US!! We made friends with some other American’s who were on their honeymoon, also trying to get to Amalfi, and they invited us to catch a cab with them to take a ferry instead. We had no other options so we decided to tag along. It’s about 1:00 and we are on a boat sailing along the coast and it was the most beautiful site ever. The buildings of the small cities are so simple and colorful, and the ocean was so blue. Our plans didn’t go exactly how we thought, but I’m glad we didn’t have control over them. We layed out on the beach of Amalfi for a few hours with a bottle of champagne and it was the perfect way to spend my afternoon. Highly recommend Amalfi to EVERYONE! It is amazing.

Later that night we head back to Salerno where we take a train to Pompei, where we have a hostel. We woke up early the next day to check out the ruins which were so cool. If you haven’t been, the city of Pompei was buried by lava and was dug up. The city was huge and so interesting to get a glimpse of how they lived back then. Afterward, we took another train to Napoli, where we checked into another hostel and went out to explore the town a little. This is where I had the BEST cheese and ham appetizer I have ever had and probably will ever have. Everywhere I have been in Italy, the thing that always catches my eye are the streets. Black cobblestone, no street signs, people driving in cars and mopeds honking everywhere. And the sunlight reflecting off of the buildings is so pretty. Later we came back to the dinner that the hostel provided. Homemade, Italian style pasta, and let me tell you, pasta here is soooo much better than America!

The next day we walked through the town of Napoli and made it to the coastline where we walked to a castle and looked at the amazing view of the city from about 100 yards out in the ocean. The view was breathtaking, to say the least. And we couldn’t stop in Napoli and not get pizza, so that’s just what we did. Walked a little further down the coast and stopped at a random place and had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. After our time there we made our way back to Rome.

Pretty successful weekend. After a week of classes, some exams, and seeing the Pope on Wednesday, I’ll be exploring Florence!

Entering Roma

Entering Roma

After a short trip of 14 hours from Chicago to Rome, I finally dropped my bags off in my dorm at the John Felice Rome Center and began my semester of studying abroad in Europe.

I’m super excited to keep everyone back home updated on what I’m doing, where I’m going, and talk about my experiences for the next 3 1/2 months. Already I have visited the Colosseum, the ruins of the Roman Forum, a couple of Churches, gotten lost in the streets of Rome, made friends with local shop owners and bartenders, ordered every single cup of coffee in Italian, and planned the next 4 weekends of traveling with people in the 4 days I’ve been here, which seems like 2 weeks already.

Orientation has been a beating with all the activities and amount of walking we are doing. And the jet lag doesn’t help with any of it. But it has been a great few days meeting all the other students here from Loyola Chicago, and a bunch of other Universities. My roommate, Kyle, is from Hawaii and studies at Santa Clara University and has introduced me to the group of students that have come from there. Today I started talking to a Junior, Hannah, from Xavier University and ended up exploring and taking pictures with her and my friend Beth.

I am continuing my nursing studies while here, along with 24 other sophomore nursing majors from Loyola. Balancing the 18 credits I’m taking and exploring the city of Rome and trying to travel around Europe is going to be interesting, to say the least. But I think this semester is going to be the best few months.

Oh yeah, the wine and gelato are pretty good here(: