Viaggiando alla scoperta dei paesi troverai il continente in te stesso<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n With my best translating skills on hand, I interpret it as: traveling to discover different countries, you find a continent within yourself<\/strong> <\/i>(like I said, it’s the same idea\u00a0I want to express about this semester- except said profoundly). With that being said, although it is a cliche, cliches stem from some kind of truth in my eyes, and I feel like while traveling and being abroad, \u00a0I’ve discovered new aspects of myself.<\/p>\n The first\u00a0big change in my life is actually my career path and I have nothing but my placement at Kino Produzioni to thank for that. As a child of immigrant parents and now a single, self-employed single parent, I\u2019ve always felt the pressure to do something that was considered a \u201creal<\/i><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> job once I graduated from college. I knew from the start that I wasn\u2019t going to become any kind of doctor, dentist or lawyer. I don\u2019t have the patience for it, nor the interest and my hats off to people who <\/span>do<\/strong> want to study and do that work. And my mom\u2019s never pushed me towards those either, but I\u2019ve always felt pressured to really make something of myself in order to be able to support her after all that she\u2019s sacrificed for me. I never knew how to include my passion of the arts, particularly cinema, photography and music, into my future career- whatever that ended up being. Working at Kino this semester has been a blessing and the fact that I get to continue next semester is very exciting. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things I can potentially do in the future and I’m actually currently in the midst of applying to hopefully intern at the Chicago International Film Festival once I come back to the States! In general, my internship class has been super supportive and it’s been an absolute honor<\/strong> to work alongside all of these motivated and talented new friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another big change is my spirituality. No, I’m not any more religious than I was in the past. That I can tell you for sure. I’m still struggling to figure out just exactly what my relationship with whatever I really believe in is. However, being a part of a CLC while here in Rome has been enlightening. It’s \u00a0not only offered me a space to talk about things that my friends and I normally don’t, but a place to reflect upon that part of me that I’ve neglected for quite some time. Reflection in a lot of aspects of my life has become central to my stay in Rome. I often enjoyed my solo bus rides to and from my internship or my passegiatas around the neighborhood to the Zodiac, seeing it as a time to myself and a time to think. I find myself writing a lot more about my thoughts, thinking\u00a0a lot of my relationships with the people around me and the people back home, about short and long-term goals that I set for myself. It’s been really healthy for me.<\/p>\n Lastly, I’m currently stuck in a bittersweet limbo. On\u00a0the one hand, I have three of my closest friends coming to the JFRC in January for the spring. This is something I have been *low-key* waiting for all semester long. They\u2019ve spoiled me in in the realm of friendships by being amazing people that I can count on for anything– so needless to say, I\u2019ve missed them to pieces.<\/strong> I cannot wait for the honor of sharing my Rome with them and helping discover what the eternal city means to them.<\/p>\n Truthfully, before I came to Rome in August, a significant part of me was filled with anxiety. Now, an important thing to tell you all about myself is that I perceive myself to be a pretty quiet and shy person when I first meet people, but I\u2019m a <\/span>huge<\/b> people person. I love having conversations with others, I love being around friends. That\u2019s not to say I cannot handle being on my own or being independent, but growing up as an only child with no cousins my age– living at Loyola where I room with my best friends and have everyone around me was a welcoming change for me.\u00a0<\/span>Coming to Rome, a wave of deja vu was hitting me, because was as if freshman year of college was repeating itself. No one I knew well was coming abroad to the Rome center- but that ended up being a blessing in disguise, even if <\/span>I didn\u2019t initially anticipate Rome becoming home. The fact that I was dreading<\/strong> the goodbyes that I had to make to people that I\u2019ve known for less than four months is a testament to that. I really didn’t want to say goodbye to these friends that have opened their hearts to me just as much as I didn\u2019t want to say goodbye to my friends back in Chicago in August.\u00a0<\/span> There’s a strong sense of camaraderie (not unlike the Fellowship of the Ring for you\u00a0fellow LOTR nerds<\/em>)\u00a0with people that you experience the new and unknown with, and although I’m ecstatic\u00a0that I get one more semester in the eternal city, it will be immensely different without the new friends I’ve been blessed to meet this semester. Have safe flights home and a wonderful holiday season, everyone! Please know that you will always be a a part of “my Rome” and that it will not be the same without you. Grazie\u00a0a\u00a0tutti!<\/p>\n![\"IMG_1437\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1437-800x600.jpg\")
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>People who you talk to about studying abroad always\u00a0tell you all the time how difficult it might be to adjust to a new place– but they forget to mention how hard it is to leave, even for those like me who still have another semester to go. I mean, I’m not really leaving- but part of my Rome is. Witnessing everyone’s “lasts,”; last trips to the city center, last view of the Pantheon, last night out in Trastevere, last gelato– it was emotional. They never really talk about just how bittersweet the whole feeling is and how much you’re going to miss everyone, because you realize that there will never be a time like this, where we’re all together in this way, in this city. The night the group flight was leaving is a testament to that, as I have never seen that many people with so many tears in their eyes at 3am in the morning.<\/p>\n
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