First Week in Rome!

This past week in Rome has been full of fun, excitement and different firsts--plus, lots of pasta and gelato. While a bit overwhelming at times, overall, it’s been an amazing experience.

Life in Rome is very different from my life back in North Carolina, and this week has been full of surprises. If I had to choose, I would say that the biggest surprise has been the food. Eating is seen as a much more important process in Italy, compared to the U.S., and meals are a lot longer and drawn out. Both lunch and dinner are composed of several courses--usually around 3 to 4--which definitely came as a surprise to me, at first. Back home, I’m used to eating as quickly as possible and going, whereas here, lunch and dinner often last over 1.5 hours.

Meeting my CIEE group was exciting, and I was nervous at first. However, everyone gets along very well, and we’ve become close quickly. Getting to meet our local teachers was exciting, too. They are all super interesting and understanding, and I’m looking forward to learning even more about Rome from them. I really enjoy our classes, and how interactive they are, which is really different from regular classes I’ve had in the U.S. We’re almost always out and about, visiting monuments in person instead of just reading about them.

Communicating in Italian is still difficult for me, but I know a few basic phrases now. Ciao and grazie have replaced hi and thank you in my daily vocabulary. Hopefully, I’ll get more opportunities to practice Italian soon. Overall, I’ve had a really great first week in Rome. I’m excited to learn more and meet more people in my next two weeks here!