{"id":12410,"date":"2018-02-02T09:39:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T14:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=12410"},"modified":"2018-02-02T09:39:31","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T14:39:31","slug":"not-like-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=12410","title":{"rendered":"Not Like Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been in Rome for a little over three weeks now, and when I started to brainstorm this blog post, I wasn\u2019t quite sure what to write about. So much has happened! I\u2019ve taken a trip with the JFRC; I\u2019ve gone to Florence and Pisa with friends; I\u2019ve seen the pope!!! Rather than listing everything I\u2019ve done, though, I thought I could use this blog post to reflect on my experience so far. During orientation, the JFRC staff members encouraged us to explore Rome and to get lost<\/em> in Rome. They said this is the best way to find cool things! Among all these reminders, one thing really stuck in my head: Go to a place, and don\u2019t try to change it. Don\u2019t try to make it like you. See what\u2019s different, and let it be different. So while I\u2019m here in Rome this semester, I am challenging myself to embrace this different country, language, and lifestyle<\/em>. Sometimes it\u2019s scary to be surrounded by so much difference. But in the few weeks I\u2019ve been here, I\u2019ve already noticed how it feels to adventure and let a place be different. And let that different place make you a little different too! So here are a few things I\u2019ve noticed so far\u2026<\/p>\n

In Rome, meals take forever<\/em>. They tell you that before you get here, but you think it\u2019s going to be an exaggeration. During my orientation trip to Agropoli, Italy, we sat at lunch one day for over three hours. And while the food was amazing (we had these hush puppy-type things that were so good<\/em>), we all got pretty antsy. I have always been a quick eater, so these meals were a little challenging at first. I still get frustrated when, at the end of a meal, you have to ask the waiter for the check or he won\u2019t bring it for what feels like hours. Italians are social creatures! They like slow digestion and good dinner conversations! Long meals are starting to feel more normal to me, and I\u2019m trying my best to enjoy my dinner company and the food I get to eat (and the wine I get to drink).<\/p>\n

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A goat cheese stuffed tomato on arugula, balsamic, and pesto.<\/p>\n

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Lasagna from Florence!<\/p>\n

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So much gelato.<\/p>\n

Because I go to school in Chicago and try to travel around the city when I can, I am used to public transportation that is reliable and runs on a strict schedule. In Rome, on the other hand, bus drivers go on strike fairly often. Busses don\u2019t run on any schedule we\u2019ve been able to figure out. I\u2019ve sat on a bus twice now that has broken down on the way home. My friends were stuck behind a bus today that had caught on fire<\/em>. I\u2019m not saying that I never use the busses here (I actually just bought a monthly bus pass yesterday), but walking has become my new favorite mode of transportation. The city of Rome is very walkable, and it makes me feel better to know I\u2019m walking off some of the calories I\u2019m eating! Similar to the long meals, I have started to become accustomed to the fact that getting somewhere will probably take a while, whether I\u2019m walking there or bussing there. The Italians like to take their time, so I\u2019m trying to be patient and enjoy what\u2019s happening around me at all times!<\/p>\n

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Us walking around in Florence!<\/p>\n

In Rome, people don\u2019t usually have dryers in their homes. We have dryers here at the JFRC, but they don\u2019t work very well. So my roommate and I have been hang-drying our clothes around our room. We like it because we save the 2 euro we would spend on a dry cycle, and we buy gelato instead! It\u2019s a good trade off if you ask me.<\/p>\n

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More gelato!<\/p>\n

Breakfast here is much lighter compared to breakfast in the US. I even heard someone call Italian breakfast \u201cdessert for breakfast.\u201d While I miss pancakes and hash browns and bacon and drip coffee very dearly, I am actually really enjoying the cappuccino and cornetto I have for breakfast every morning. Cornettos are basically croissants that have filling (I always get the Nutella filled ones) and powdered sugar or some kind of glaze on top. And cappuccinos are so foamy and probably better for me than the large coffees I get at home.<\/p>\n

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One of the best cornettos yet!<\/p>\n

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The best cappuccino I’ve had so far. This was in Pisa!<\/p>\n

All that being said, I\u2019ve found it\u2019s important to find a few things that remind you of home. I still enjoy a good Coca Cola and some peanut M&Ms. And I\u2019m really craving a good cheeseburger (even though I\u2019ve resisted going to an Italian McDonald\u2019s). Finding a balance between new and familiar is important to prevent burnout, and I\u2019m learning how much I can handle as I go! I\u2019m really excited to see where the next few months take me.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading,<\/p>\n

Ciao!<\/p>\n

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Our group in Pisa.<\/p>\n

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Front row for the Papal Audience!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been in Rome for a little over three weeks now, and when I started to brainstorm this blog post, I wasn\u2019t quite sure what to write about. So much has happened! I\u2019ve taken a trip with the JFRC; I\u2019ve gone to Florence and Pisa with friends; I\u2019ve seen the pope!!! Rather than listing … <\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1],"tags":[265,266,426],"class_list":["post-12410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy","category-uncategorized","tag-florence","tag-food","tag-pisa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}