Italy – Page 5 – #RamblersAbroad

From Home to Rome

By Jessica Criollo | January 14, 2018

It’s been a crazy couple of days already. Well it’s actually only been 5 days. Throughout my time here, I have learned a lot. I’ve learned that snacks in airports are crazy expensive. I’ve learned that having a 9-hour flight can suck. I’ve learned that it is possible to get the stomach flu within the first two days abroad ANDD…I’ve technically learned a lot of things. Fun right?

There’s a lot you can expect when studying abroad but you are never truly prepared for it until you make it to your destination. So for those who are curious or want to know what one may go through when studying abroad, let me give you a recap of what I’ve gone through so far.

The first day was hectic and emotional because not only did I not know what to expect, but I was also not ready to say goodbye to my family, friends, and loved ones. It didn’t hit me that I was going to leave all of them for such a long until my final week at home. It was harder because I have never been away from home. Ever. So to study abroad in Rome, somewhere far far away, was a huge step. I started counting down the days and hours until I left and I was honestly dreading the little amount of time I had left. It wasn’t something I was used to.

So if you plan to study abroad, but you have never been away from home, expect to feel like this. Don’t worry though. That feeling will go away with all the great adventures and long walks you go on (literally). I only knew one person in my program, but with all of the outings I’ve had I’ve been able to make a good group of friends. Don’t be shy and, especially, don’t be sad to be away from home. Go head first and embark yourself in this incredible journey you are in!

Another thing…packing is hard. I literally wear a different set of clothes everyday, so to limit myself to only a suitcase and carry-on for my study abroad trip was a struggle. Right now, I still miss my clothes at home. Packing was hard because you literally want to bring everything, but also because you feel like you are leaving a part of you behind (not to be cheesy). Don’t panic! You will have tons of opportunities to buy stuff over there for a cheaper price and better quality. Also, you will have the opportunity to discover a new you through all the experiences you go through, which may include a new fashion style!

Don’t overpack, but also don’t underpack. Currently, I’ve been wearing the same yoga pants for 4 days because I only brought two pairs (sad times). Also, start packing ahead of time because you’re going to need all the time to weight your suitcases and triple check the clothes you bring. I know somebody here who actually forgot to bring their pajamas. Oh! Leave the heels at home. There is way too many hills and rocks for you to be able to efficiently walk in those.

Once I got through the struggle of packing and dealing with my feeling, I was able to start enjoying my journey. The very first day I got here I went to eat gelato and visit the Trevi Fountain. It was amazing! It didn’t feel like I was in Rome until that moment. It was great and I was low-key having a Lizzie McGuire moment when I threw my coin in the Trevi Fountain.

In that moment, I knew I’d enjoy my three to four months here. I was obviously going to miss home and everybody that was there. I was going to miss my mom’s food, my dog, the Chicago skyline, and everything about home. However, I knew that great experiences would be formed here. After going through so many orientation sessions and making some new friends, I am ready to start off school. I am ready to take on new challenges in a new country, surround myself in a different culture, and create memories that will last a lifetime.

For those of you who are reading this and are thinking about studying abroad…DO IT. Even if it is just a winter or summer term. It will be worth it. For those of you who are reading this for funsies or because you were curious…well now you know what I’ve gone through so far. It’s been a rollercoaster full of emotions, but in between all of that, memories have been made already.

I hope to make even more memories so I can continue updating you, but for now CIAO!

P.S: Here’s a picture of me finally visiting the Colosseum 🙂

My Internship in Rome (Final Week)

By Katherine Pelant | December 2, 2017

This semester in Rome, I was fortunate enough to get hired as a marketing intern for a company called The Roman Guy. The Roman Guy specializes in various VIP tours of different tourist attractions all around Rome, as well as several local food tours in different areas. As an assignment for my class ROST 370, I am required to reflect on my experience of working as an intern for this company.

This week at the Roman Guy, my boss assigned me several tasks that I had to complete by the end of the week. Some of these tasks were my usual assignments, like finding TripAdvisor reviews and posting them to our website, editing blogs using the blog life cycle rules, and posting three instagram pictures and two stories. However, since this was my last week working as an intern for the Roman Guy, I was also assigned some tasks that were very different. Instead of writing a Rome Key Attraction paper, I was assigned to write my own blog while following all of the rules that I learned this semester. There is so much more than what meets the eye about blog writing. When you write one, you have to follow about 15 different rules of the Blog Life Cycle. These rules range from what kind of title you chose, to the pictures you have, all the way down to how the grammar is composed. This was one of my challenges for this week, because although I learned all of the rules and worked with them throughout the semester, I found it hard to make your blog post still apply to them. For example, my blog could be about whatever I wanted it to be, so I chose to write about three different places in Italy that I went to while studying abroad and what my favorite memories were there. My coworkers loved this blog idea but it was hard to write since everything was in the past tense, which is a rule that the blog life cycle wants you to avoid. In order to make my blog pass all of the rules, I had to figure out how to edit my post and keep it in the past tense, but change some sentence structures in order for the blog to be completely green and good to post. Before starting my internship, I created three learning objectives that I wanted to achieve by the end of my internship. One of the learning objectives that I set for myself was to improve my writing. I believe that I definitely achieved this goal while working as an intern for the Roman Guy, because the majority of the tasks that I had to complete involved writing. This at first was another challenge of mine, because I was not that confident in myself and I thought that all of the tasks that I had to do that involved writing would not turn out well. I overcame this by becoming more confident in myself and my writing, and overall others have told me that I have improved significantly. So far, one of the most impressive things about my internship to date is my co workers and how well good they are at their job. They are some of the most creative people I know and they are always coming up with ideas that are outside of the box. Another thing that impresses me is how well my co workers work as a team together. They are all good friends, and yet they don’t let that get in the way of their work and they can all compose work with one another that is very professional. Overall, I am extremely happy that I decided to do this internship because it has helped me improve in many significant ways and it helped open my eyes up to what my future career could potentially look like. I am extremely blessed to have been able to work at The Roman Guy, and to have such amazing co workers that were constantly pushing me to do better and were so supportive of my decisions. I will forever remember and cherish the memories that I has working as an intern for this company. Thank you for reading about my journey working as an intern for the Roman Guy and ciao for now!

My Internship in Rome (Week 8)

By Katherine Pelant | November 16, 2017

This week at the Roman Guy, I was assigned multiple tasks that I had to complete by a specific time. Some of these tasks were similar to what I have completed in the past, and some others were brand new. Some of the tasks that I accomplished this week we’re finding TripAdvisor reviews and posting them to our website, editing several blog posts using the Blog Life Cycle, writing about The Vatican Museums for our Vatican Tours, posting three instagram pictures and two stories, inviting people on Facebook to like our page, and finding 10 different photos that I will use to help create a video for our Facebook page. Previous classroom knowledge has helped me because a lot of what I learned, such as tactics for gaining followers, in my previous marketing class is being used during this internship as well. Before starting my internship, I created a learning objectives that I wanted to achieve by the end of my internship. One of my learning objectives that I have been working towards completing is to improve my writing skills for blog posts, various social media apps, and articles. I am working towards achieving this objective, because every week I am assigned a different tourism site in Rome and I have to research it extensively and write a small article about it. After I am done writing it, I send it for my boss to be looked over which will then be posted to The Roman Guy’s website when it is complete. I have also been working on improving my writing, because I have to edit several blogs using rules from the Blog Life Cycle. This challenges me because I have to know how to not use a passive voice, use better transitions, and reword sentences to make them shorter because ultimately that is what helps make a blog post good. A challenge that I have been recently facing regarding my internship is transportation. This past week, getting to work was rough because I missed my train and it was delayed a couple of times, and I also had to deal with a crazy Italian lady that was on the train one day that was giving me a hard time for being an American. Although I can’t control other people’s actions, I am going to fix the other problem by leaving an extra 10 minutes early so that I can hopefully avoid missing the train and dealing with delays. So far, one of the most impressive things about my internship to date is how creative my coworkers are. They can come up with really neat ideas involving photography, video, and content posting, and they push me to think more outside of the box in order to make our content be different and catch peoples attention. For the following weeks, I am expected to take full control of our company’s Instagram, The Roman Foodie, and incorporate creative pictures onto the profile and post more frequently. I will also be working on more creative projects that involve creating and editing videos for our Facebook and Instagram page. Besides that as of now, I am expected to keep interacting with followers, writing and editing blog posts, and marketing our social media to followers. So far I have been loving my internship and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for me. Ciao for now!

My Internship in Rome (Week 7)

By Katherine Pelant | November 8, 2017

This week at The Roman Guy I finished writing an article about St. Peter’s Basilica Dome for our Vatican Tours. After I finish writing, I send it to my boss Francesca and she reviews it before it is finally published to the company’s website. Other tasks that I did this week including finding and posting TripAdvisor reviews to our website, editing a previous Rome Key Attraction article about the Colosseum, researching tactics on how to gain followers for the company’s Instagram account “The Roman Foodie”, and also editing blog posts on WordPress using the blog life cycle as my guideline. Lastly, I was in charge with coming up with six different creative video topics that my co workers can produce for our website, and I had to present them to my coworkers and get their advice and approval for which ones they would decide to use. Previous classroom knowledge has helped me because a lot of what I learned, like concepts such as tactics for gaining followers and marketing content, in my previous marketing class is being used during this internship as well. Before starting my internship, I created a learning objective that I wanted to achieve by the end of my internship. One of my learning objectives that I have been working towards completing is to learn how to monitor my followers activity involving my content and overall learn how to market my work successfully. I have been working towards achieving this learning objective, because this past week was primarily focused on instagram and how to gain and interact with followers. I have been researching and reading articles on different techniques on how to do this, and for next week I was even given a creative Instagram challenge from my boss in order to gain more followers and post more creative content. A problem that I have encountered involving my internship was that last week, my professor accidently broke my phone. I resolved this by purchasing a new Italian phone, and although my new phone has bad photo quality, I have thought of different ways to not let this affect my internship. I made a file that has good quality pictures in Google Docs so that for the future, I am able to use my other phone to access the photos and still be able to post. So far, the most impressive thing about my internship to date is getting to experience the teamwork that all of my coworkers have with one another. They all communicate very well and although they are all good friends, they don’t let that get in the way of their work and they complete all of their given tasks above and beyond. For the following weeks, I am expected to take full control of our company’s Instagram, The Roman Foodie, and incorporate more creative posts, videos, and stories, onto the profile. My boss is also in charge of creating different videos, and in the future I am expected to help out with that and get some video footage of different sites so that she can use it for the final copy. So far I have been loving my internship and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for me. Thanks for reading and ciao for now!

My Internship in Rome (Week 5) – Midterm Post

By Katherine Pelant | October 28, 2017

When I first started this internship, to be honest I did not know what to expect. I’ll admit that I was really excited but also scared over the thought of having an internship in a foreign country. Upon visiting the office for the first time, I expected it to be a huge office with a lot of workers. This surprised me when I first arrived, because the office is pretty small with only about 30 employees. It also surprised me how young the majority of my coworkers are. When I had my first meeting with my bosses Lorna and Sian, they told me that for my internship I would be doing a lot of research on different tourist destinations in Rome and a lot of writing. My internship so far has been filling this expectation, because every week I am given an assignment to finish a blog post about a tourist attraction. For example, this week I had the assignment of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. I spent one of my work days researching the history of the chapel, the artists who painted there, their artwork, and specific rules the chapel has upon visiting. After gathering all of this information, I then have to write a blog post about it and send it to my other boss Francesca when i’m finished for revision. She then looks it over and asks me to change anything if it needs it, and then she sends it over to the graphic design team who then publishes my post to the company’s website. I also expected this internship to be strengthening my marketing skills, and so far having this internship has been filling that expectation. Part of my job is to run the companies instagram, and this previous week I had to read different articles on how to appeal more to your audience and gain more followers. From this, I began to create more aesthetically pleasing posts which helped target a specific audience and ultimately helped us gain more followers. So far, the most interesting part of my internship is when I create different tourism attraction posts for our company’s website. It is interesting to me because I am improving my writing skills drastically and also it is interesting to keep learning new things about different attractions in Rome that I never knew before. It is also awesome to see my finished blog post on our company’s website because it makes me proud of my work. So far, one of the tasks that I have to do that I find the least interesting is editing blog posts using the blog life cycle. For each blog post, there is a checklist that our company has to follow to make sure that the blog has each aspect in order to make a strong post. This is my least favorite task because it usually takes a while to change a specific blog post because some are harder to edit than other ones. Also, it can be frustrating when you have done everything that you thought you could have to make a blog better but WordPress says that the post is not good and still needs more editing. So far, this academic internship has been improving my understanding of concepts that I learned from other marketing courses in college, but in a different way. In my internship, we use aspects like having a target audience and using general marketing tactics to make our company more well known. It is different in a sense because most of my marketing courses focused on marketing a huge corporation or a product, and this internship focuses on marketing our brand as well as a photo, event, or a blog post. Some personal learning goals that I have for this internship are to expand my marketing skills, strengthen my writing, and improve my creativity. So far, I have been achieving my goal of expanding my marketing skills and strengthening my writing, but at this point in my internship I am focusing on being more creative with our content and being more independent with my work. So far, that is my complete reflection about my internship and so far I am really enjoying it. I can’t wait to see what the future holds and how I will change as a person once this internship is completed.

Thanks for reading and ciao amici!

Capri State of Mind

By Cynthia Vieth | September 24, 2017

Another early morning for a wonderful day trip. Capri was on the top of everybody’s list of places to visit, so naturally we booked a last-minute train and ferry to the island. Coming in to the island by ferry offered a stunning view of the rocky cliffs and sparkling waters. I grew up spending summers on the East Coast, so I was extremely happy to be close to the water again. I wished there was a sailboat I could rent for cheap to get out on the water! We got there by 10am, and the place was already a hub of activity. There were buildings climbing their way up the steep hillside, and taxis with open roofs and small motor scooters weaved in and out between tourists.

The port area is full of boats, big and small!

The first thing we did when we got there was try and find out how to get to the Blue Grotto. We ended up paying 14 euros and getting on a tour boat, which we thought would take us inside the Blue Grotto, and take us on a tour around the island. The boat motored out of the small harbor and into more open water, with the sun glinting off the surface like hundreds of ice crystals. The air that whipped by held only the faintest traces of salt, but I could feel it sticking to my sun-warmed skin.

We passed by huge cliffs, other tour boats, and smaller, private ones. The guide pointed out major spots on the island, and we saw a few other grottos. They were small, and the tour boat would turn around and stick the back end, where we were sitting, in as far as it could go. The water was absolutely gorgeous, and was my favorite shade of blue. I’m grateful now for the opportunity to visit such a beautiful place!

The most disappointing thing was not getting to go inside the Blue Grotto. When the tour boat approached it, there were about eight other boats already there with passengers waiting to get in line for the rowboats that would enter the Blue Grotto. The guide told us that it would be a three hour wait, time that we didn’t have. So we went on our way with only a glimpse of the outside.

Back on dry land, we made our way to the small rocky beach. I hadn’t brought my swimsuit, but two of my friends had so they jumped right into the water. I stood taking pictures of my surroundings, while my other two friends walked a little down the beach to a outcropping made of huge rocks. I was content just to stand with the air blowing around me, shaded by the trees behind me.

The small, rocky beach where my friends swam.

We found lunch at a uncrowded little restaurant, one of many lining the touristy street. Three of my friends then had a ferry to catch to Sorrento, while my roommate, Audrey, and I stayed. We’d catch our ferry back to Naples at 6. In the hour we had left, we did our last minute shopping (I got a postcard and handmade sandals, and she got a sweatshirt) and got gelato from the place we’d been eyeing. The sun was now blocked by the island itself, so the port was in the shade, dropping the temperature a few degrees. It was still beautiful out, and I didn’t want to leave.

All in all, Capri is worth it. I had a great time, and although we didn’t get to go into the Blue Grotto or see much other than the port area of the island, it was worth getting up at 4am for. It’s a photographer’s dream, and so I was content.

My Internship in Rome (Week 1)

By Katherine Pelant | September 22, 2017

Ciao! This semester in Rome, I was fortunate enough to get hired as a marketing intern for a company called The Roman Guy. The Roman Guy specializes in various VIP tours of different tourist attractions all around Rome, as well as several local food tours in different areas. As an assignment for my class ROST 370, I am required to reflect on my experience of working as an intern for this company.

Specific tasks

Working as a marketing intern for The Roman Guy is an interesting job because all of my assigned tasks frequently change and I am never stuck doing the same thing. For my first week, my job has been very writing intensive as I have been working on creating and editing blogs, writing an article about the Colosseum for our Rome Key Attractions Page, and posting on our company’s food instagram (The Roman Foodie). So far, classroom knowledge has helped me a lot because I am able to use an abundance of information that I learned about marketing from taking the class this previous spring semester and apply it to what I am working on at my internship in order to help market our content better.

Learning objectives

As an intern, I was required to create several learning objectives that I want to achieve by the end of the semester. One of my biggest learning objectives was to improve my writing skills for blog posts and various social media apps, and have the whole marketing department critique my work for improvements. Little did I know that my first week on the job I would already be making progress towards my learning objective. I am not the most confident when it comes to my writing, but I am happy that my internship had my beginning tasks be writing intensive because then that way I can have more time to improve on this skill throughout the semester. There is a lot more to blogging than what meets the eye. At our company, we have a checklist called The Blog Lifecycle where there are about 15 different extensive tasks that need to be completed in order to have a successful blog post. My first day on the job, I learned all about the cycle and this is what I am using as my guideline in order to improve my writing skills and create a successful blog post which will ultimately help me make progress towards my learning objective.

Problems and Challenges

Some problems that I have had involving my internship is writing for an extensive period of time. Sometime I have to be writing the entire time I am working which can be around five hours. At first it was hard for me to stay focused, but now I am getting used to writing for a long period of time and also finding out about the free espresso machine in our office made everything a lot easier. Another one of my challenges is using public transportation to get to my work. During my first week, I learned how to correctly use the regional train the hard way as I accidently got on the wrong train and it took me about 25 minutes outside of Balduina. This was scary, because I had no idea where I was and it was getting pretty late at night. When I asked several people for help, they ignored me or told me that they didn’t know how to help me. Luckily, I found this one extremely generous lady who helped me get on the right train and she even taught me how to correctly use the Rome transportation system so that I would never make the same mistake again. Now I always leave a bit earlier so that I can make sure that I have enough time to get to where I need to in order to prevent getting on the wrong train from happening again.

What Impresses me about my internship

So far, the most impressive thing about my internship is all of my coworkers, as they are all extremely talented and good at their jobs. The Roman Guy is an extremely small company that is very successful, so it is amazing to see how the whole staff works together to create great content and get more customers. I am very lucky to be working in the marketing department with my coworkers Lorna, Sian, and Francesca, because they all very experienced in the marketing field and they all inspire me in many ways. It is only the first week and I already have learned many new things from them that I can apply to my future career.

Expectations for the future

In the future, I am expected to keep improve my writing skills as I have to create about 10 blog posts total for our company’s Key Attraction Page. I expect this to be very difficult, because each post needs to be thought out and edited carefully. It also takes a long period of time to create just one post, so I am ready for this challenge that I will be facing in the future.

I am so excited for the future and to see how my internship will help me grow as an individual, and I will keep posting updates on my work. Arrivederci!

Three Weeks in Rome

By Katherine Pelant | September 18, 2017

Ciao amici! I have been living in Rome for the past three weeks and it has been quite a ride! Every single day there are new towns to be explored, amazing new foods to try, and incredible people to meet. So far these past three weeks have been completely unforgettable, and here is an update on how things are going while studying abroad in Rome, Italy.

Week 1

At first, it was hard for me to adjust to my new life living in Rome. When I arrived, I found out that I would be in a single room because my roommate had dropped out of Loyola’s Rome program. This caught me off guard because I have shared a room with someone my whole life; my younger sister at home and a roommate in college. The first night was different but now I love having a nice quiet place to myself after a long day of socializing. The second day here, I met some of the most genuine people and I became friends with them very quickly. Our school organized a scavenger hunt all throughout downtown Rome for everyone to participate in. I went with my new friends, Anna, Maddie, Maria, Ashley, Jen, Cecily, and Riley but as soon as we stepped off the bus we were lost. This was a blessing in disguise, because as we were walking around the city we stumbled upon the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon which was an amazing surprise. The next day, our school spent a day at the Colosseum and The Roman Forum. Both of these historical sites completely took my breath away, and I couldn’t believe that the sites that I have always seen in magazines and in movies were right in front of me. On Sunday, our school took a class trip to Maccarese beach and I could not wait to take my first swim in the sea. However, my excitement quickly faded as my two friends, Maria and Jen, both got stung by Italian jellyfish as we were all swimming. Despite this, everything was completely fine after they realized the lifeguard who would be helping them looked like an Italian Zac Efron. As the day came to an end, our extremely sunburnt class made our way back to campus, as we all needed plenty of rest for our first day of classes the following day.

Week 2

The first week of classes were very laid back since it was syllabus week and everyone was still getting to know each other. It is so nice having class at the John Felice Rome Center, because everything is in the same building which means I can literally roll out of bed five minutes before my class starts and still be on time. The week went by very quickly, since we don’t have class on Fridays here which is the most amazing thing ever. On Friday, our school had a class trip to Umbria, Italy. When we arrived, I was astonished by how gorgeous the Italian countryside is in person. There were cobblestone streets everywhere, huge hills and mountains all around us, and cute little churches on every street. Our school took a boat ride to a small island where we got to try traditional mediterranean seafood. The food was interesting to say the least, but I am happy that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and tried some new food that I would never usually eat. The next day was by far my favorite day, as our class took a trip to Le Climate do Montefalco which was a beautiful winery in the countryside. We got to take a tour of the whole vineyard and taste some of the different types of wine that were made at the vineyard. After the vineyard, we went to a small village in the mountains where we toured an old church and a mummy cemetery. Everyone in my group was completely freaked out by the mummies, but I thought it was fascinating because it reminded me of The Catacombs in Paris that I went to in high school. After the museum, we had the option to attend mass of to explore the town. I originally wanted to attend the mass but my plans changed as I saw that the last bus left without me. Although I was bummed, it was a blessing in disguise because me and my friend Anna decided to hike in the hills and we found an old castle. The castle wa so beautiful even though it was damaged and falling apart. It had the best view of the whole entire town and it was a moment that I will never forget. After that, our class went back to the hotel where we had an amazing dinner of traditional pasta bolognese. The last day in Umbria, a huge storm came which resulted in some of the plans being canceled. Although this was a bummer, I was happy that it was raining because Italy has been in a severe drought for almost four months. The day seemed like it lasted forever, but I couldn’t wait to get back to the campus which is a place I now consider my home.

Week 3

After a long exhausting weekend of traveling in Umbria, I was excited to be back at school and I couldn’t wait to start exploring more of Rome. On Wednesday, our school had the Mass of the Holy Spirit to wrap up the end of orientation. The mass took place at one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever seen in my life called Chiesa di Sant’ Ignazio di Loyola. The interior of this church was some of the most intricate architecture and as the mass was going on, I couldn’t help but gaze all around the church and admire its beauty. After mass, we went out to dinner and I got to try the infamous pear pasta that everyone always talks about. It was one of the best things that I have ever tried and I can’t wait to go back and get more! The week came to a close and my friends and I took our first planned trip of the semester to the Amalfi Coast. We had to wake up on Friday at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch our train which left at 7. Although we barely slept and were extremely tired, it was all worth it when we got to the Amalfi Coast and saw how beautiful it was. My friends and I rented an Airbnb that was located on a lemon farm and was incredibly gorgeous. Our first day, we took a bus to a town called Positano which was personally my favorite part of the whole trip. When we arrived, we went out to eat and a restaurant that had the best view of the whole town, and I ate some amazing cream pasta. After lunch, we explored the town and went shopping where we bought limoncello, gifts for our friends and family, and a ton of new clothes that all put a huge dent in my bank account. As the day started to come to a close, we went to Positano’s main beach where we swam in the sea, watched the sunset, and saw a small local concert. Although it was the most amazing day, our bus ride home definitely put a damper on my friends and I. Everyone got extremely car sick because our bus driver was driving very fast and the roads on the Amalfi Coast are all hairpin turns which we are definitely not used to back in Chicago. Although that wasn’t the best experience, the end to our day was perfect because we got takeout gelato and pizza. The next day we had to wake up early again in order to take a ferry ride to the island of Capri. When we got to the island, I was amazed at how perfect the town looked with the gigantic cliffs and the crystal clear blue water. We had lunch and then took a private boat tour for two hours that I really enjoyed, but my friends did not since the waves were huge that day and it reminded us of being car sick the previous day. After the boat ride, we went to Anacapri where we took a chair lift to the highest point on the whole entire island. This was my favorite part of the day, because the view was incredible, as you could look out and see the other islands in the distance as well as look down at the whole entire town of Capri. After this, we went back to our airbnb and got the same takeout pizza from the night before because it was too good to pass up. On our last day, we explored the town of Sorrento and went on a shopping spree again. It was so much fun to bargain with all of the street vendors and get some of the best deals ever (I got an Italian leather purse for just 25 euros)! After a day of shopping, we departed on our long journey back to Rome. Although the Amalfi Coast was amazing, I couldn’t wait to get back to campus and be at the place that I now call home. These past three weeks have been full of amazing adventures that I will never forget, and I cannot wait what the future of me living in Rome has in store. Arrivederci!

Mass of the Holy Spirit

By Molly Skjerven | September 18, 2017

Last Wednesday we had our Mass of the Holy Spirit which concluded the orientation activities. Students traveled to Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola or the church of St. Ignatius of Loyola for a mass where we were blessed and encouraged to continue our journey of education in the eternal city. There is an altar to St. Robert Bellarmine, one of the many people I have to thank for my introduction to the Jesuits and all that they stand for.

After mass we celebrated our survival and completion of orientation to Rome with one of the best meals I have ever had, at Osteria l’anima. The highlights of the meal included the famous pear pasta that was absolutely to die for and the amazing company I had that night.

The Birthplace of Pizza

By Cynthia Vieth | September 17, 2017

At 3:30am on Saturday morning I rolled out of bed (well, not literally because I sleep on the top bunk), dressed, and grabbed the small backpack I had packed the night before. That day we were going to Naples! As it happened, the day before my roommate and I spontaneously bought cheap train tickets to Napoli. Friends joined us until we had a group of seven. Our train left at 5:30am, and we met in the lobby of JFRC at 4am to get a taxi to Roma Termini, where our train would be leaving from. We played the card game BS while waiting for the train, which served as a little pick-me-up for all of us groggy travelers.

We arrived in Naples at a little past 8am and immediately jumped on another train to Pompeii. This was unplanned, and resulted in a scramble for all of us to purchase tickets on the same train at the same time. The train ride to Pompeii was about 45mins, in which we snoozed, and we hopped off and took a shuttle to the archeological site.

Pompeii is an absolutely amazing place to experience. It is much larger than I expected, and seems like we only covered a small area in the three and a half hours we were there. We didn’t get a tour guide, which I partially regret, because we’re all broke college students and couldn’t spare the extra seven euros. So instead we walked and explored on our own.

The streets are made of huge, worn rocks that have been walked on a thousand times over by tourists. The walls and some bigger structures are still intact, and the first thing we went through was a large amphitheater. We followed our feet, catching snippets of information from tour guides as we went. Mount Vesuvius loomed in the background, but the most we did was observe it from a distance.

This amphitheater is one of the first things we saw walking into Pompeii.

One of the lesser traveled roads in Pompeii.

It’s easy to imagine what the flourishing city of Pompeii would’ve been like when you walk through their living spaces, walk the same streets, and see Mount Vesuvius. I could feel the history surrounding all of us.

After exploring the site, we exited and hung around the plaza browsing through the many souvenir shops. It was sunny and hot that day, so we all wanted water and some food. I bought some postcards and a cup of orange juice that was so worth the 4 euros.

By 3pm we were back in Naples and ready to find a yummy pizza place for an early dinner. Walking out of the train station in Naples at first made me nervous. Naples is a smaller city than Rome, population wise, however Naples immediately felt busier and more crowded. It is a bustling city, as they say. One of my friends said that they felt like Naples was the kind of city people warn you about concerning pickpockets, unapologetic cars and Vespa’s, and just overall danger. I felt unsafe for about 10minutes, but was always walking with our group of seven. After that I adjusted to the city and felt like not everybody was staring at us.

On our way to the pizza place, we stopped in a few stores. Andrew, the only guy in our group, stood patiently near the exit of each clothing store, waiting of the rest of us to be done. I was with him, though, because I’m not a big fan of shopping for clothes! Eventually we made it to a beautiful street that we walked most of in order to get to the pizza. It was narrow, with stores, shops, and a few churches on each side. Cars and motorcycles would honk and slip through the crowds of people walking, and we all kept an eye out for each other to make sure we wouldn’t get hit. Smaller streets led off of the busier one, and between the tightly packed buildings people hung string on which to dry their clothes on. The only downside of our walk was that it was around 85 degrees and the sun was setting right in our eyes.

The pizza place we decided on was quiet and the food was delicious. You can’t beat the prices in Naples, the birthplace of pizza, and the best part was that they had tiramisu for desert! I got a fried pizza that’s basically like a funnel cake. It was so, so good and was only 4 euros. Every pizza my friends ordered was amazing, even the traditional ones. We all got an equally delicious desert, and sat enjoying conversation.

Carole and her pizza from Pizzeria Donna Sofia.

The bill was paid and we set off down the street again to explore in the time we had before our train departed for Roma. It was more pleasant this time because the sun was further down on the horizon and not in our eyes, and we wandered in the general direction of the train station. By the end of the walk I could see why people would want to and wouldn’t want to visit Naples. The city itself has a fast-pace, and there is trash everywhere along with cigarette stubs. A huge part of downtown is residential, and there were street vendors along every street we walked.

Overall, I love the city. We weren’t there for very long, so we didn’t get to see many of the touristy places. If we go back, we’re definitely getting more pizza!