Study Abroad – Page 4 – College Admission at Loyola

Summer is Coming

By Meredith Simmons | April 28, 2016

As we wrap up the projects and exams and say goodbye to our freshman year, It’s interesting to look back and see just how much we’ve changed over the last nine months. In August I was eighteen and anxious. I started this year without any friends, I started this year with a roommate, I started this year on the dance team, and I started this year with no idea how much I would love Loyola.

Now I’m nineteen, which isn’t really a big difference, but at the same time it kind of is. This time next year I’ll be twenty and I know now that that day is coming much sooner than I ever imagined. I still feel like I moved in a week ago sometimes. I’m a much different person now than I was a week after move in though. I’ve made a lot of good decisions, and a lot of bad decisions, but most of all I’ve made a lot of memories.

Ending freshman year is kind of surreal. I don’t really know if i’m ready to not be the new kid anymore. I mean once you’re a sophomore you know what college is about, you’re still learning, but you’ve been around the block a few times already. That’s going to be weird.

Next year people start going to study abroad. They start specializing and looking for internships. The real world is gonna be coming at us even faster. I’m glad that this year I’ve found what I think I want to do with my life, and next year I want to do even more to make my future a reality.

Freshman year is fun, it’s a lot of learning both in and out of the classroom, and a lot of finding yourself. You find out a lot about yourself freshman year, and you start to understand who the people you went to high school with really are. People change after high school, and some people really don’t.

If you’re an incoming freshman, get excited, and don’t worry, because yeah it will be hard but it will also be totally worth it!

Summer at Loyola

By | April 15, 2016

Although summer usually means a long clean break from school, many students at Loyola choose to spend their time on campus, taking classes online, studying abroad or pursuing an on campus job. This summer is the first summer I’ve decided to spend away from home.

I’m working for a Loyola department called Conference Services. In the summer, Loyola flips a majority of it’s housing into a hotel setting. This allows for large groups of outside people to stay on campus for events such as medical conferences, summer camps or weddings. (Did you know that Loyola’s chapel has a waiting list for weddings and it could take up to two years to get off of the waiting list?!?) As an employee, it is my job to check people in and out of the buildings and to make sure their basic living needs are met. I’m not quite sure what to expect from this experience but I’m excited to begin building my resume. I think this job will add to my growing customer service skills. Wish me luck!

Aside from attending my full time job, I will be taking two classes. At Loyola there are three summer sessions: A, B and C. Summer semesters A and B fall consecutively next to each other but C semester occurs during the last half of session A and the first half of semester B. During my first semester I will be taking an online Theology class. Online classes at Loyola will either have a class time where you have to be online at a certain time or there will be no online sessions. With the mandatory online sessions, they will give you a software that will allow you to actively tune in to a lecture from your professor.

In class summer sessions, that take up 3 credit hours will usually run twice a week for three hours each. During summer semester B I will be taking Environmental Ethics for my tier 2 Philosophy core (general ed.)

Loyola does offer classes at our Rome, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City campuses and they will run for about 6 weeks like the classes here do. If you do study abroad for the summer, I recommend only taking a maximum of two classes. There’s so much to explore while studying abroad, so you may as well take advantage of it while you’re there!

For more information about summers at Loyola, Visit this Link

Studying Aboard at Madrid

By | March 24, 2016

SLUcampus — Saint Louis University Campus

I am so thrilled to have been accepted to the Saint Louis University in Madrid, Spain! I will be spending my fall semester of 2016 in Madrid! I will learn about a different culture and live with a host family for about 4 months. This is really exiting! My friends will also be joining me, so the more the merrier. Hopefully, we get a chance to visit all over Europe. I feel like this will be such a wonderful and awesome experience, but I will be miss my friends and family. Luckily I will be able to facetime them while I am abroad. Now, that I have officially been accepted into the program I have a few additional steps to complete. I need to submit my fees and a complete my student visa. Madrid here I come! See you on August 30th.

The Process of Studying Aboard

By | February 12, 2016

Studying aboard is something that didn’t cross my mind when thinking about my college experience. The person who opened my eyes to studying aboard at Loyola was my academic adviser. Being a nursing major, I have a strict outline of my four year plan and the only time I can study aboard is the fall semester of 2016, so I had to look into it. My academic adviser told me to start off by making an appointment with the study aboard office to get more information about the different places I can study aboard. There are many places you can study aboard from Australia to the Middle East to Europe and many more. The location was going to be a hard decision because I could go anywhere. First, I decided to see what universities would accept my Federal and state grants and Loyola scholarships. That narrowed it down to about 9 universities. After that, I decided to see what universities offer courses aboard that will count towards my graduation requirements. That really narrowed it down to two places: The John Felice Rome Center and Saint Louis University at Madrid. Deciding between the two was tough because they both offer great programs and different experiences, but Madrid stood out to me because I would be able to live with a host family. This will really help me experience life in Madrid and get to better know the culture.

Now I just needed to talk to my parents. I had to convince them why studying aboard would be a great opportunity so I brought many brochures from the study aboard office to show them. To my surprise, they were actually open to the idea because they didn’t want to stop me from doing something I was really excited about. The next step was applying to study aboard. First, I had to do an application for Loyola and then a second application for Saint Louis University. The application for Loyola was short and simple. It asked more details about where I was going and what semester I would be abroad. However, for Saint Louis University, their application required a bit more. I needed an essay, a resume, and two letters of recommendation to submit along with my application. I recently was able to secure all of those documents and now all I have to is wait to hear back! Hopefully it will be a yes!

Why Your Next Semester Should be at the JFRC

By | May 3, 2015

They say a semester abroad will change your life. They say it will be an unforgettable experience where you learn so much about yourself and the world around you. They say your mind will be opened to new ideas, cultures, and people. Well, after my semester in Rome I would have to say that I agree with all of “them”. Spending my spring semester at the the John Felice Rome Center was the best decision I’ve made in my college career, and I think it very well could be the best one you’ll make too.

Here’s why you want to become a JFRC alum…

The JFRC is as much Loyola’s campus as the Water Tower Campus, so all of your credits transfer and you don’t have to shed an ounce of your Rambler pride.
Living in a building with 200 other students gives you an instant and welcoming community. Plus plenty of travel buddies to choose from.
Pizza. Pasta. Gelato.
No classes on Friday means you always have an extra long weekend for your European travels.
The experienced Student Life Team always has your back–whether that means giving you directions in Rome or figuring out how to order Chinese food in Italian, they’ll help you out.
The Eternal City will offer you (nearly) an eternity of adventures.
You get to learn Italian, a bellissimo language that will help you feel more at home in Italy.
You’ll learn to appreciate the way Italians live life–slow walks, fast espresso, and the most inconsistent bus system I’ve ever seen.
When you get tired of planning trips for yourself, you can sign up for a pre-planned study trip led by the JFRC crew.
You will be changed over the course of the semester, but all for the better.

I’ve only been gone for 2 days and I’m already wishing I was back. So do yourself a favor and give the John Felice Rome Center a chance. Oh and when you get there, have some gelato for me.

Time for a Study Break…or a Trip to Pompeii

By | May 3, 2015

Since the beginning of the semester my friends and I have been talking about taking a trip to Pompeii. We talked about going a few different weekends, but we never got ourselves together and made the day trip. Then all of the sudden it was the week before finals and we decided we needed to get our act together and head down the coast to Pompeii.

To get to Pompeii from Rome we took the train from Termini station to Naples where we transferred to a local train that dropped us off just down the street from the city’s ruins. We ended up buying tickets for Pompeii and Herculaneum for 20 Euro—another city that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption that we visited later that day.

With help from the guide book I had with me and the brochure provided we gave ourselves a pretty solid tour of the city. Pompeii was a lot bigger than I expected and not covered in ash at all like I thought it might be. The city was set up like a typical ancient Roman town with a large gate at the entrance, a Forum where most of the political, judicial, and religious matters would have taken place, and cobbled streets lined with villas.

Many of the buildings in the city were actually quite well preserved so we got a glimpse of a traditional Roman bathhouse and several villas with beautiful frescoes and mosaics. The Romans were masters of engineering as can be seen in marvels like the Colosseum, but I was just as impressed by the no-slip tiled floors in the bath. And especially impressed by the “fast food restaurants” we saw throughout the town. It was uncommon for Pompeiians to cook lunch at their homes so there were counters set up with spaces for pots to keep warm or cool for people to enjoy quick lunches together during the day.

Pompeii’s most famed remnants are the plaster casts of the people who once lived there. These eerie molds show them in their final moments and left me feeling uneasy. Without these casts it’s easy to imagine that this city just deteriorated over time, but these offer a reminder to the devastating end of this city. Most of the plaster molds are actually in a museum in Naples, which we were unable to visit, but I’m sure it would be worth the trip.

After lunch, we spent the rest of our afternoon in Herculaneum. This smaller town closer to the coast was even more well-preserved than Pompeii. And because it is lesser known there weren’t as many tourists—never a bad thing. If you ever get the chance I would visit both of these cities since they offer different looks into the past.

Even though we were cutting it close to the end of the semester, we managed to sneak this trip in and it worked out as quite the nice study break. I’m still a little taken aback by the fact that a trip to Pompeii could count as a Finals study break. Yea, I don’t mind studying in Rome at all.

JFRC Prom Night

By | April 25, 2015

Well, I suppose the End of Semester Banquet wan’t exactly prom, but close enough. Getting dressed up, posing for pictures, eating a fancy meal, and spending a night out in Roma as one big JFRC community had it feeling just about like my senior prom. Well, besides the fact that my senior prom wasn’t in Italy.

Our “Night Among the Ruins” began with some pictures in the JFRC courtyard before we all hopped onto the coach buses that shuttled us to our dinner destination. We went all the way from the northside of Rome down through the south passed the neighborhood of Testaccio. Our bus ride was accompanied with some good music and a nice little sight-seeing tour of Roma. The restaurant that hosted our banquet had a really nice courtyard area where we had a “cocktail hour” before our meal.

One of the full year students opened up the final festivities with a welcome speech about just how incredible and transformative his experience at the John Felice Rome Center has been for him. Even though I had only a semester, rather than a full year, to enjoy the JFRC I definitely agree with him that this has been a time in my life where I have been “transformed” and will remember this experience for the rest of my life. Then after a few toasts and an opening prayer dinner was served.

Our first course was a pesto rice dish followed by a pasta dish with tomato sauce and bacon–both delicious. We took a break course number two to have an end of the semester awards ceremony. There were 6 students presented with academic awards chosen by their professors as having done outstanding work in those subject areas. The next round of awards were probably everyone’s favorites of the night. All the students nominated each other to win a variety of superlatives. We had categories like Best Roommates, Italy’s Next Top Model, Most Likely to Be an SLA, Best Italian Look, Most Likely to Walk into a Fountain While Texting, and Killin’ the #SelfieGame. I’d say we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in the last 100 days because everyone definitely deserved their awards.

Students were also recognized for participating in extra-curricular activities and awards were given out to two students for their involvement in volunteer work throughout the semester. While the 2nd round of awards were being handed out we were served course number three–beef and potatoes. Before too long the administration was giving farewell speeches to the 4 Student Life Assistants who will not be returning next semester and we were enjoying one of my favorite Italian desserts, tiramissu. With a few closing toasts and speeches from the faculty another student closed the evening with a speech about her semester. She too talked about how the JFRC has changed her and made her apart of a whole new and awesome community.

We were only here for 100 days, but now Rome feels like home. We were only here for 100 days, but I built friendships that will last a lifetime. We were only here for 100 days, but we have learned more than we could have imagined and transformed in ways we haven’t realized yet. We were only here for 100 days, and these 100 days have been some of my favorite so far.

Finals Week and Final Roman Adventures

By | April 23, 2015

Somehow this semester slipped past me and now here I am trying to write end of the semester papers and study for finals…in Rome. It’s hard enough to push through finals week in Chicago and now I’m finding it even harder here. My classes are starting to feel like actual classes and I have to prepare to fly back to the States in just one week. Where did my semester go?

My course load definitely isn’t as intense as usual because I am taking less credits this semester. The harder part about my finals week is going to be balancing my studies with finishing off my Roman Bucket List. I lucked out with a pretty good finals schedule that should allow me ample time for sight-seeing…assuming of course I get this 2,000 word essay finished.

My friends and I worked out a schedule so that we can make the most of this last week abroad:

THURSDAY: The last day of classes at the JFRC is followed up by the End of Semester Banquet. “A Night Among the Ruins” more lovingly referred to as JFRC Prom, will be the last time that all of the students, faculty, and Student Life Assistants will be together as one big group. We’ll celebrate an absolutely incredible semester with good Italian food, an awards ceremony, and some really great people.

FRIDAY: The JFRC’s Fine Arts Festival begins on Friday. Early in the afternoon students who earned the International Leadership Certificate will give poster presentations to the administration about their leadership experience abroad. At 5 that evening is the JFRC players performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (which I’m in!), using the JFRC’s courtyard as our stage. This performance is followed by an art exhibit from the sculpture class and fiction readings from the writing fiction course.

SATURDAY: Final exams begin! All students will be taking their Italian exams on Saturday and to celebrate crossing final #1 off the agenda my friends and I plan to celebrate by going out to dinner at a Roman restaurant we have yet to visit.

SUNDAY: For a bit of a study break 2 of my friends and I planned a day trip to Pompeii–one Italian destination we had yet to visit. Don’t worry though, we’ll be studying on the train.

MONDAY: It’ll be back to the books for most of us (especially for me as I have 2 tests on Tuesday). So I see potential for a mid-afternoon gelato break. That evening the Fine Arts Festival continues with vocal performances from the voice class and a viewing of the short films created by the film class.

TUESDAY: My last day of testing with finals for my European Novel course and my Italy Culture and Context course. Hopefully there will be time for an afternoon nap to refuel and go on a Roman adventure that evening–I’m thinking about finding a good spot to watch the sunset over the Eternal City.

WEDNESDAY: One of my friends is done early with her finals as well so we’ll spend the day exploring the city. The number one sight on our list is “The Keyhole”–a literal keyhole on a gate that perfectly frames a view of St. Peter’s Basillica.

THURSDAY: By this point hopefully I will have started the expedition that is packing my suitcase for the journey home and making sure my room is all cleaned up before spending one last night in the city. One of our SLAs mapped out a walking tour of Rome (gelato stops included) that hits all of the major sights. So I’ll have a chance to say good-bye to Roma–for now anyway.

Friday morning the entire JFRC has to be cleared out by 10 in the morning and all 235 of us will be on to our next adventures. Some are staying in Europe for another week or so, a few spending most of the summer here, and then there’s those of us (like me) who will be returning to the States. See you in a week, America!

Taking Our Turn With International Leadership

By | April 19, 2015

Before I set out for my semester abroad people told me that my experience would be one of the most enriching experiences of my life–and an experience that would look good on a resume. I planned on coming abroad regardless of adding a line to my resume, but when I first got here I wasn’t sure how exactly I could even put my study abroad experience into a few sentences that would get me hired. I didn’t think that “Studied in Rome and had the time of her life” would translate quite how I wanted it to. But the John Felice Rome Center had my back this semester and thanks to a new program I easily earned a certificate that allows me to put “Study Abroad” on my resume that says more than “I experienced Italy for 4 months”.

This semester Student Life Assistant Jessica and the JFRC’s Director Emilio Iodice put into place the JFRC Student Life Leadership Certificate. The goal of this certificate was to offer students something tangible to market their study abroad experience with by participating in activities and organizations they would have been involved in regardless. To earn the certificate students had to complete 4 of the following: Enroll in Emilio Iodice’s leadership course, be a member of Student Activities Committee and organize or lead an event, participate in calcio as a captain or commissioner, go on the WWII study trip, write a reflection paper in any format (as in this blog post!), volunteer at panini distribution or the Ronald McDonald House, or attend two of the four monthly leadership workshops. Then at the end of the semester (this coming Friday, actually) students will give poster presentations reflecting on their leadership experiences from the semester.

This certificate has enriched my study abroad experience by allowing me to market the past four months of my life in a positive way to future employers, so that they know I did more than prance around Europe seeing sights and eating good food. All of the programs and clubs that counted towards my certificate are things I would’ve been involved in anyway this semester. And now I’ve got proof that I was enriched as a person and of course as a leader this semester.

“Global Leadership” is an intimidating term that I’ve heard tossed around here and there, but now I’ve realized that this term is much more accessible than I thought. My time here has shown me that a good leader is a good leader no matter where in the world they are. And when you become a “Global Leader” you are certainly more aware of the world and more willing to adapt yourself to someone else’s culture in order to lead to the best of their ability. I don’t think I could pinpoint all the ways I’ve been changed this semester, but when I get home I know it will be obvious to others and myself that my time abroad impacted my life in positive ways.

One of My Favorite Trips Yet: Milano & Lago Maggiore

By | April 18, 2015

Although we are down to our final weeks abroad our Italian adventures still aren’t over. This past weekend I joined a group of 28 students from the John Felice Rome Center as we went on the last study trip of the semester to Northern Italy. This trip was a dream come true for our Student Life Assistant Jessica who studied in Milano in high school and has since wanted to take a group of students back to her favorite part of Italy. And she set us up with one of my favorite weekend trips of the semester.

We set out for Termini Station bright and early Friday morning and boarded a high speed train for Milano. We checked into our hotel first then set out for downtown. We made our way across the city center to eat lunch on the steps of the Duomo. This epic cathedral makes for a pretty nice picnic backdrop. We picnic-ed like true Italians and enjoyed panzerotti, these incredible “mini calzones” with a crust that tastes more like a doughnut and is filled with tomato sauce and cheese. Now that we were refueled we had a chance to tour the inside of the Duomo. This gothic style cathedral was very Notre Dame esq and is one of the only churches of this style in Italy. We got to climb up to the roof which allowed for beautiful views of the city and of the countless spires that make this building so intricate.

That afternoon we passed through the oldest mall in Europe, toured La Scala Opera House, and then either went shopping or on a church crawl. (I opted for the churches). After meeting back up with our group at the Duomo we all went out for dinner together for some tasty Milanese cuisine.

Saturday morning we went back to the train station and on to our next destination, Lago Maggiore. This massive lake is nestled in the Italian alps and has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. We stayed in the lakeside town of Stressa in a hotel that was right on the water. Shortly after arriving we hopped on a ferry to Isola Pescatore where we ate lunch. Then our ferry took us to the next island over, Isola Bella. This island is literally named “Beautiful Island” and that couldn’t have been more true. This entire island is actually a villa and gardens where I could’ve spent the whole day just soaking up the sun in those incredible gardens. But we took the ferry back to Stressa and enjoyed our evening exploring the town.

Sunday morning I made a point of getting up extra early to watch the sunrise over the lake. It was beyond worth it and one of my favorite parts of the weekend. The rest of the morning our group took a hike through the woods on the hills surrounding the lake. We ended up walking about 6 miles over to the next town, but on the way we got some incredible views of the lake and the mountains in the distance. (Thankfully though we took a ferry back to Stressa). Before getting back on the train to start our journey for Roma we enjoyed a bittersweet last group meal at a restaurant in Stressa.

This trip definitely made me fall in love with Northern Italy, so I hope that someday I get the chance to go back and experience it all over again. And I most certainly could not have asked for a better last weekend trip.