We are in our last week here in Italy. I cannot believe that it has already been 8 weeks. I feel like we just go here and we just started this incredible journey but it is coming to a close. I knew that it would go by quickly since we were having so much fun but I didn't realize this fast. As we finish up our last week here in Rome, I cannot help but think about the beginning and where it all started. Where we all were scared and did not know quite what to expect. This journey has made us all more aware of our surroundings and made us quite comfortable being any where in the world.
I came to Italy a little bit scared but mostly excited. I was afraid of being that far away from everyone that I loved so much but I was so excited to be on this journey and make new friends. The few weeks leading up to this journey were the hardest. I did not even feel that I was ready to leave the country and be away from everyone yet. It came as a shock that I was leaving in such a short while, but the time had come. When we got to Italy, everyone was so excited to be there and see everything that we weren't even scared to be away anymore. I will never forget the firsts in Italy, the first time we saw the Coliseum will always be the most memorable for me. I will always remember that moment in time and the way that I felt seeing such a great monument to Rome.
This experience has shaped me into a great person and a world traveler. I cannot imagine living my life now without traveling and going new places. It would just not be me to stay in the U.S. anymore. Without this journey to guide me, I would not know that I wanted to travel the globe. I appreciate this experience so much because it has made me more aware of what I want out of life now and who I am now. We visited so many cities in Italy that I had never heard of before coming on this trip and they were absolutely fantastic. It was very weird to be in another country and be so far away from the U.S. but it was well worth the flight. I cannot imagine my life without coming on this fantastic journey. It is weird for me to know how many places I have been in just a short while. It still does not seem real that I have been everywhere that I have.
Walking around the streets of Italy, seems surreal still. I still feel like it a dream that I have not yet woken up from. In a few short days, we will go back to America and back to our everyday lives. This is quite the saddest thing I have ever said in a blog. We have to go back to reality. We can't just stay in Italy forever?! No, we have to make more money and finish our studies in America. This makes me sad because I have met so many great people on this trip. It is amazing to think that I would not have met any of these people if I had not come on this trip and my life would be totally different right now. I now have to go back to America and live my life and I hope that I do not just forget about this experience entirely, but I do not think that I will. I cannot imagine living my life without remembering and taking back my experience with me to the States.
This journey has been full of amazing experiences and new learning experiences. I now know how to get around in the world's largest cities. It is amazing to think back on my experiences and laugh about the moments that I was crying during. Like almost missing my plane back to Rome from London this past weekend. Like missing my bus stop to campus and having to walk 2 miles. There were times that I just wanted to scream because I didn't understand something, but only a couple. Now, I think back on these past 8 weeks with full-hearted emotion. I think back on it with so much love. I had the time of my life and I want to take back this experience with me to the U.S. I cannot wait to tell everyone back home about my journey and share with them my experiences. Ciao for the last time from Italy!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Sociology 490 Week 6 Last Blog!
We finished up week 6 this past Sunday, I cannot believe but we are almost done with our journey here in Italy. I could not be any more saddened by this fact. I feel like it was just yesterday we were in our first week at our new campus in Italy, but it was more than 7 weeks ago. We were stumbling over our Italian the first week and did not know what to do unless we were around our trusted translator, Danilo. But, here we are in the seventh week now and we know how to order things in Italian and greet mostly anyone on the streets. We have come in contact with people of all races, ages, and ethnicities. My eyes have been opened more than ever through this experience. From the buses to the subways, we always have an eye on our bags and belongings because you never know who could be a pickpocket. I don't say this to scare any of you that are reading this blog. This is just the way you have to be in any big city.
I have found myself calling this place my home and I like it a lot. We go off every weekend on our weekend trips and then we are all excited to go home, back to Rome. We are learning Italian very well, I may add. This last Thursday, we had to interview Italians about their healthcare in a local market. Did I mention, most of them did not know any English?? We were told how to ask them if they wanted to take a survey for our university. We went up to them to ask and many told us no but we just had to keep going and ask other people until we got all 10 interviews done. My partner and I had this same experience with the fact that people would say no and we just had to carry on. We finally found a huge group of University students and they spoke English!! We got all of our interviews done, yay! It was pretty difficult to ask people to do these surveys in Italian but we did just fine after asking a couple people. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it challenged us to use our Italian and ask random people questions.
I cannot believe that we know enough Italian now to go up to random people and ask them things in Italian! It just goes to show how much we have learned throughout our journey here in Rome. In these interviews with Italians, we found that some of them had not even been to a hospital in their lives. This surprised us since they have universal healthcare in Italy. I still do not know what my position is on universal healthcare because we keep reading things in our healthcare book and it keeps changing my mind about it. For this week, we finished the book and it did not help my opinion on the issue since I keep getting more knowledge on the issue and it just gets me confused on my position. In our book, Farrel's article speaks about infant mortality rates and life expectancies. He states that the U.S. ranks 29th in the world for infant mortality rate and 48th in life expectancy. This is very surprising since I feel that we are all around a healthy country.
I am not sure how I feel still about the universal healthcare issue but doing these interviews with Italians that have universal healthcare has helped. I found during these interviews that most Italians do not like the universal healthcare system that they have. The topic that we also had to discuss is Can we cure disease through the power of prayer? I do not believe that this is possible but you do need spiritual power to keep up your hopes and to help you keep fighting against a disease. You need hope to keep fighting in these situtations and if you do not have this, you could just give up. I do think that the power of prayer is important in fighting off a disease but it cannot be cured without medical help. I have enjoyed so much this experience and I have loved learning about healthcare this class as a whole. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blogs as well!
I have found myself calling this place my home and I like it a lot. We go off every weekend on our weekend trips and then we are all excited to go home, back to Rome. We are learning Italian very well, I may add. This last Thursday, we had to interview Italians about their healthcare in a local market. Did I mention, most of them did not know any English?? We were told how to ask them if they wanted to take a survey for our university. We went up to them to ask and many told us no but we just had to keep going and ask other people until we got all 10 interviews done. My partner and I had this same experience with the fact that people would say no and we just had to carry on. We finally found a huge group of University students and they spoke English!! We got all of our interviews done, yay! It was pretty difficult to ask people to do these surveys in Italian but we did just fine after asking a couple people. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it challenged us to use our Italian and ask random people questions.
I cannot believe that we know enough Italian now to go up to random people and ask them things in Italian! It just goes to show how much we have learned throughout our journey here in Rome. In these interviews with Italians, we found that some of them had not even been to a hospital in their lives. This surprised us since they have universal healthcare in Italy. I still do not know what my position is on universal healthcare because we keep reading things in our healthcare book and it keeps changing my mind about it. For this week, we finished the book and it did not help my opinion on the issue since I keep getting more knowledge on the issue and it just gets me confused on my position. In our book, Farrel's article speaks about infant mortality rates and life expectancies. He states that the U.S. ranks 29th in the world for infant mortality rate and 48th in life expectancy. This is very surprising since I feel that we are all around a healthy country.
I am not sure how I feel still about the universal healthcare issue but doing these interviews with Italians that have universal healthcare has helped. I found during these interviews that most Italians do not like the universal healthcare system that they have. The topic that we also had to discuss is Can we cure disease through the power of prayer? I do not believe that this is possible but you do need spiritual power to keep up your hopes and to help you keep fighting against a disease. You need hope to keep fighting in these situtations and if you do not have this, you could just give up. I do think that the power of prayer is important in fighting off a disease but it cannot be cured without medical help. I have enjoyed so much this experience and I have loved learning about healthcare this class as a whole. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blogs as well!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Global Learning Week 6!
I cannot believe it once again, but we have come to the end of another week here in Rome. This week was a very eventful one and one that I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of. We went to the Vatican City twice this week and it was a blast! On Monday, we climbed the Dome of St. Peter's Basillica. It was almost 600 stairs to get to the top of the Dome. By the end of the climb to the top, we were all dying and very out of breath, but the sight at the top was more than I could have every imagined. It was crazy to think that we had climbed up to the top and had such an amazing view of Rome from the top of that place so high up. The walk down from the top was a little less tiring but it was scarier for me since you could see the stairs and see yourself going round and round to the bottom. It was an experience of a lifetime and I am glad that I got to see that!
On Tuesday, we went into the Vatican City! We had to go through security and then we went underground to below St. Peter's Basillica. We were very appreciative to be let underground since they only let 100 people a day underground! We got to see the underneath of St. Peter's Basillica and the remains of St. Peter! I could not catch my breath thinking about what I had seen that day. The remains of St. Peter, he is the most influential person in the Catholic history behind Jesus of course...I couldn't believe that we had actually gotten to see that with our own eyes. After we saw this amazing tomb, we had a student-led tour of St. Peter's Basillica by Brandon and Katie. They did a great job and we were very pleased with what we got to see. After the tour, we got lunch at a little pizza place just outside the city, it was delicious! We then had class in St. Peter's Square.
On Wednesday, we had a free day and I am gonna be honest I used it to catch up on sleep and do some homework. Then, we had movie night and watched Home Alone, classic! Thursday, we had American breakfast!! It was made by our very own Professor and Mike! It was delicious, I think it was extra delicious because we haven't had real American breakfast in so long! Thank you Professor for all your hard work to prepare that for us! Then, we hopped on the train to Rome to go to San Lorenzo Market to do our healthcare interviews. We had to interview people in Italian! It was kind of difficult to just go up to people and ask them if they wanted to fill out a survey but we got the hang of it.
On Friday, we left for Sorrento. We had to take a lot of transportation to get there but it was worth it once we finally got there. We took the fast train and then a train from Naples to Sorrento. It was so beautiful and I could not believe that we were there in such a beautiful place and it was surreal that it was our last weekend together as a group. We enjoyed our weekend so much and did not want it to end. Naples was kind of sketchy though, it was kind of dirty and we were pretty excited to leave that place to go back to our temporary home in Rome! This week in class we started to read The Talented Mr. Ripley. It is a very good book about a young man who is sent on a journey to a city just South of Naples to find another young man and bring him back to America. It is beginning to be a very good book and we are getting very into it. I realized when we were in Naples and I was reading the book, that we had waited to read the book until we were in Naples, so that we were familiar with the territory. I cannot wait to continue to get into the book further and finish it before class the last week!
On Tuesday, we went into the Vatican City! We had to go through security and then we went underground to below St. Peter's Basillica. We were very appreciative to be let underground since they only let 100 people a day underground! We got to see the underneath of St. Peter's Basillica and the remains of St. Peter! I could not catch my breath thinking about what I had seen that day. The remains of St. Peter, he is the most influential person in the Catholic history behind Jesus of course...I couldn't believe that we had actually gotten to see that with our own eyes. After we saw this amazing tomb, we had a student-led tour of St. Peter's Basillica by Brandon and Katie. They did a great job and we were very pleased with what we got to see. After the tour, we got lunch at a little pizza place just outside the city, it was delicious! We then had class in St. Peter's Square.
On Wednesday, we had a free day and I am gonna be honest I used it to catch up on sleep and do some homework. Then, we had movie night and watched Home Alone, classic! Thursday, we had American breakfast!! It was made by our very own Professor and Mike! It was delicious, I think it was extra delicious because we haven't had real American breakfast in so long! Thank you Professor for all your hard work to prepare that for us! Then, we hopped on the train to Rome to go to San Lorenzo Market to do our healthcare interviews. We had to interview people in Italian! It was kind of difficult to just go up to people and ask them if they wanted to fill out a survey but we got the hang of it.
On Friday, we left for Sorrento. We had to take a lot of transportation to get there but it was worth it once we finally got there. We took the fast train and then a train from Naples to Sorrento. It was so beautiful and I could not believe that we were there in such a beautiful place and it was surreal that it was our last weekend together as a group. We enjoyed our weekend so much and did not want it to end. Naples was kind of sketchy though, it was kind of dirty and we were pretty excited to leave that place to go back to our temporary home in Rome! This week in class we started to read The Talented Mr. Ripley. It is a very good book about a young man who is sent on a journey to a city just South of Naples to find another young man and bring him back to America. It is beginning to be a very good book and we are getting very into it. I realized when we were in Naples and I was reading the book, that we had waited to read the book until we were in Naples, so that we were familiar with the territory. I cannot wait to continue to get into the book further and finish it before class the last week!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
SOC 490 Week 5
This week in our sociology class, we have been talking about open-ended insurance programs and if they are good or bad. We had a very good discussion in this class this week about this topic. We had a lot of people that had very good points. In the readings for this week, we discussed how open-ended payments for insurance were effecting the health care field. A couple of the readings suggested that the open-ended payments promote people to take advantage of the health care system. There are also a couple of readings that discuss the fact that open-ended payments do not make people take advantage of the health care system. In Gladwell's part of the book, he discusses how we do not need to worry about these people taking advantage of the health care system because who really wants to go to the hospital when they do not need to. This reading made me actually think about changing my opinion about whether health care is a right or a privilege because he put in so many real life situations. There was one part of the reading that talks about an average American just trying to pay their bills and not being able to afford health care and they did not have enough money to even get teeth pulled when they were badly infected. So they just let them fall out on their own or pulled them themselves. I cannot imagine pulling my own teeth or letting something get to that point when it is so bad. It makes me sad to think about how many people do not have health insurance and have to live without the basic care in their lives.
In the other readings, we discussed how the U.S. needs or does not need to implement the Universal Health Care act. The readings discussed how the U.S. is so much higher in things like infant mortality rate and lower in things like span of life for our citizens. In other countries with universal health care, they seem to take care of their citizens and then they live longer and they do not have as many problems. This is sad but true. To quote the author Henry Aaron, "The U.S. health care system is as large as the entire economy of France." This is very weird to me but after reading it, I understand fully that this is true. We have so many jobs just in health care and this is continuing to grow throughout the years.
The question, "Do you control your health?" came up again in class this week. Everyone had differenct answers once again and people had the answers like, but and kinda. I think you do to an extent. You could have a genetic disease and of course you did not control getting that. But just as an example, diabetes could be genetic or your fault for getting it. You could have type 1, which is usually genetic or you could have type 2 which is your fault usually from being over weight. People could also be genetically prone to heart disease or get it from eating too much fast food, etc. This question will never have a straight forward answer because there are so many things that come into play while answering it.
In the other readings, we discussed how the U.S. needs or does not need to implement the Universal Health Care act. The readings discussed how the U.S. is so much higher in things like infant mortality rate and lower in things like span of life for our citizens. In other countries with universal health care, they seem to take care of their citizens and then they live longer and they do not have as many problems. This is sad but true. To quote the author Henry Aaron, "The U.S. health care system is as large as the entire economy of France." This is very weird to me but after reading it, I understand fully that this is true. We have so many jobs just in health care and this is continuing to grow throughout the years.
The question, "Do you control your health?" came up again in class this week. Everyone had differenct answers once again and people had the answers like, but and kinda. I think you do to an extent. You could have a genetic disease and of course you did not control getting that. But just as an example, diabetes could be genetic or your fault for getting it. You could have type 1, which is usually genetic or you could have type 2 which is your fault usually from being over weight. People could also be genetically prone to heart disease or get it from eating too much fast food, etc. This question will never have a straight forward answer because there are so many things that come into play while answering it.
Monday, November 26, 2012
GL 350 Week 5!!
Week 5 has come and gone and I can't believe we just started week 6. These past 5 weeks have been the best in my life thus far and I find myself thinking, "will anything ever come close to this experience?" I can't imagine anything yet...We have seen so much and been to so many places, I cannot imagine going home yet and I can't imagine what life would have been like without going on this trip. I have found myself thinking that I go home in less than 20 days and then it is back to real life America. Back to work, school, and everyday Ohio activities. Being on this trip, I feel as if time has stopped and I will go back to everything just as it was when I left, but I know it will not be like this. I know that things will be changed: the weather, the people, my house will be decorated for Christmas, and most of all I will be a totally different person. I will have been to Europe and many of the countries in the continent, I will be a world traveller. I don't mean this blog to be depressing to all my fellow Romers to talk about home like this, but it is weird to think about, isn't it?
In 5 short weeks, we have seen a lot of Rome and for those of us that went on free weekend trips, we saw many different countries. This is crazy to me. I have learned so much and I have enjoyed every single minute of this experience. I know that when I get home, I will have to tell everyone about my experience many times but it will all be worth it to share my stories. I am so excited to go home and share my experience with everyone and mainly see all my loved ones and more importantly, it will be Christmas time!! My favorite time of the year!! But, before I head home for the ending of this experience, there are many more things I still want to see and 2 more weekend trips that I am stoked about!! Now, I got that off my chest, lets talk about week 5.
In the Italians, the book we are reading for this class, Barzini states, "...when he realizes that things are seldom what they seem , words not always what they sound like, and most of what he learned in school, in the army or from his elders, and what he read in many grave books is complete nonsense." I feel like this quote sums up our whole trip. We are learning so many things about not only ourselves but the world around us through just seeing it and not in the classroom. I love this aspect of the trip since I am a very visual learner and I love learning. I think everyone should have to study abroad at some point in their lifetime since you learn so many things that you would not learn if they did not go on these trips.
Week five was all about leisure time basically. We went to a museum of medical arts on Monday, it was very interesting to see all of the tools that people used back in the day and how they have evolved into what we have now. I already talked a lot about this in my last blog, so I am not going to touch on this as much. On Monday, I went to see the Vatican with a few students since we had some time to kill before we went to see Twilight!! Wahhhhh it was so good!! On Tuesday, we had a student-led tour of the Borghese Gardens by Gabby and Aubree. They did a fantastic job and it was very beautiful to see all the gardens. When their tour was over, we went to the Museum. That was very interesting and it was awesome to see very old pieces of art. It will never get old to see all the pieces of art from so long ago. On Wednesday, we had a free day and we took it for all it was worth and just relaxed since we are on the go all the time. So we got some food and watched movies on campus. On Thursday, you guessed it!! It was Thanksgiving!! We went to an English mass in Rome and it was wonderful!! I had never been to a mass on Thanksgiving, so it was very cool for me. Then we came back and ate dinner at about 5 pm. The food was delicious, as always on Thanksgiving. It was prepared by an American chef that now lives in Rome, we really loved it. But, I can say that nothing can ever compare to my Aunt's Thanksgiving dinner and I think she was very happy to hear that when I told her that haha.
I got to facetime my family while they were at our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I was so happy to see all their faces. The internet was pretty spotty but I at least got to talk to them for a bit and catch up on what was going on. I got to see my nephew and he is getting so big, he was grabbing at the computer trying to have me hold him, which as you can imagine was heart-wrenching. I get to see him in less than a month though!! I have to admit, I cried after I got off facetime because I missed my family so much last week since there was a lot going on at home with both my parents' birthdays and Thanksgiving. But, I am just excited now to keep sight-seeing and enjoy my last few weeks here! On Friday morning, a little group of us left for Dublin!! It was so exciting to get there, they drive on the left side of the road there!! Everyone was so nice and welcoming, it was awesome. We had the time of our lives and we definitely did not want to leave come Sunday. Emily and I went to the Guinness Factory, it was amazing! I took pictures of every nook and cranny of that place! We went to a few pubs and in case you were wondering, it was just like the movie P.S. I Love You! It was an amazing trip and I cannot wait to go back someday. And that is the end of week 5, I can't believe it but we just started week 6. I am going to make the best of these last few weeks and enjoy them to the fullest!!
In 5 short weeks, we have seen a lot of Rome and for those of us that went on free weekend trips, we saw many different countries. This is crazy to me. I have learned so much and I have enjoyed every single minute of this experience. I know that when I get home, I will have to tell everyone about my experience many times but it will all be worth it to share my stories. I am so excited to go home and share my experience with everyone and mainly see all my loved ones and more importantly, it will be Christmas time!! My favorite time of the year!! But, before I head home for the ending of this experience, there are many more things I still want to see and 2 more weekend trips that I am stoked about!! Now, I got that off my chest, lets talk about week 5.
In the Italians, the book we are reading for this class, Barzini states, "...when he realizes that things are seldom what they seem , words not always what they sound like, and most of what he learned in school, in the army or from his elders, and what he read in many grave books is complete nonsense." I feel like this quote sums up our whole trip. We are learning so many things about not only ourselves but the world around us through just seeing it and not in the classroom. I love this aspect of the trip since I am a very visual learner and I love learning. I think everyone should have to study abroad at some point in their lifetime since you learn so many things that you would not learn if they did not go on these trips.
Week five was all about leisure time basically. We went to a museum of medical arts on Monday, it was very interesting to see all of the tools that people used back in the day and how they have evolved into what we have now. I already talked a lot about this in my last blog, so I am not going to touch on this as much. On Monday, I went to see the Vatican with a few students since we had some time to kill before we went to see Twilight!! Wahhhhh it was so good!! On Tuesday, we had a student-led tour of the Borghese Gardens by Gabby and Aubree. They did a fantastic job and it was very beautiful to see all the gardens. When their tour was over, we went to the Museum. That was very interesting and it was awesome to see very old pieces of art. It will never get old to see all the pieces of art from so long ago. On Wednesday, we had a free day and we took it for all it was worth and just relaxed since we are on the go all the time. So we got some food and watched movies on campus. On Thursday, you guessed it!! It was Thanksgiving!! We went to an English mass in Rome and it was wonderful!! I had never been to a mass on Thanksgiving, so it was very cool for me. Then we came back and ate dinner at about 5 pm. The food was delicious, as always on Thanksgiving. It was prepared by an American chef that now lives in Rome, we really loved it. But, I can say that nothing can ever compare to my Aunt's Thanksgiving dinner and I think she was very happy to hear that when I told her that haha.
I got to facetime my family while they were at our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I was so happy to see all their faces. The internet was pretty spotty but I at least got to talk to them for a bit and catch up on what was going on. I got to see my nephew and he is getting so big, he was grabbing at the computer trying to have me hold him, which as you can imagine was heart-wrenching. I get to see him in less than a month though!! I have to admit, I cried after I got off facetime because I missed my family so much last week since there was a lot going on at home with both my parents' birthdays and Thanksgiving. But, I am just excited now to keep sight-seeing and enjoy my last few weeks here! On Friday morning, a little group of us left for Dublin!! It was so exciting to get there, they drive on the left side of the road there!! Everyone was so nice and welcoming, it was awesome. We had the time of our lives and we definitely did not want to leave come Sunday. Emily and I went to the Guinness Factory, it was amazing! I took pictures of every nook and cranny of that place! We went to a few pubs and in case you were wondering, it was just like the movie P.S. I Love You! It was an amazing trip and I cannot wait to go back someday. And that is the end of week 5, I can't believe it but we just started week 6. I am going to make the best of these last few weeks and enjoy them to the fullest!!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Sociology 490 Week 4
We ended week four in Rome by going to the Museum of Mental Health. It was on a Thursday and we were all very excited because that was the only thing that we had to do that day besides have class. So we hopped on the train to Rome and then caught the metro to go to a bus stop to head to another train station. It was a lot of traveling and by the time it was over, we had decided we weren't even in Italy any more. When we got to the stop of the museum, we had time to have our Sociology class. We had class on a few benches outside and I personally love it when we have class outside, it makes it so much more enjoyable to be outside discusses important topics. When we had finished class, we headed to the museum.
The museum had previously been a mental health hospital. The hospital was started in 1913 and had been open until the middle of the 2000's. The hospital had a lot of patients that were young orphans in its day. Many children went into the hospital to ask for help when they were sick and they were admitted because the doctors thought that they were 'crazy'. One patient, an orphan, was admitted and they later discovered he had a learning disability, but being in the hospital for that long of a period, he had become crazy. This is so sad to me that a child had to spend his whole life in a hospital because they did not understand at that time how to help him.
The museum is in a building that used to be a ward of the hospital. The museum was very interesting, they had the original camera that was used to photograph the patients as they were admitted to the hospital. We got to sit where they sat and get our picture taken too. There was another room where you would sit at a desk and put your elbows in designated spots with your hands over your ears. When you did this, you would hear voices in your head like they heard throughout their life. I must say, it was very faint noises but it was very scary to hear lose and hearing them for an extended amount of time would make anyone go crazy. It was a very cool place to visit and I am glad that I got to go with a professor that was not in my major of study since I get to see so many things that are interesting in their field of study.
On Monday of the 5th week, we went to the National History Museum of Medical Arts. It was very interesting to be there and see all the instruments throughout history. The first room that we went into was a teaching room. The things in this room were used to teach medical students about the human body. There were reconstructions of the human body where you could see everything about it. There were even real babies in jar conserved to teach them about distortion that can happen in the whomb. It was very sad to see babies in jars but seeing them you know that they went to a good teaching purpose to further our medical sciences. There were instruments from all throughout history and they were very old, as you can imagine. They looked basically the same as the ones we have now just a little more basic. This was a very interesting place to visit and I learned a lot about the medical science field just from visiting.
In our syllabus, the discussion for this week's blog is 'what can we take from the Romans to make our own health better'. From being on this trip, I have learned a lot about the Italian culture and they way that they live and especially EAT every day. The first thing that they told us at the dinner table on the first day, was that there will be salad at almost every meal but no dressing. (WHAT?!?!?!) We were all like, what about our ranch dressing?? On their salads, Italians eat olive oil and vinegar which is extremely healthy. They only eat this, no dressing. So where did italian dressing come from then?? lol it is an Americanized Italian thing. I think that this is a very good thing to practice in America. It is very good for you and tastes good too! In America, we are always so centralized around rushing and this in turn makes us eat very unhealthy. We just grab a hamburger from the local fast food joint instead of sitting down and eating pasta, etc. I think that if we took from the Italians and ate like they do, we would all be a lot healthier.
One more thing about the Italians and their health is the way that they use public transportation. Most Romans do not have cars so they take the public transportation, that is always crowded by the way. They also ride their bikes a lot and this in turn makes them a lot healthier. You will always see someone riding their bike down the street, in Florence bikers were every where. Romans also walk every where, which is very unusual to Americans. We just hop in the car and drive to the local grocery or market instead of just walking there because it is quicker and easier to drive there. I personally am loving everything about Rome and will take with me some of their customs and traditions back with me to Wooster.
The museum had previously been a mental health hospital. The hospital was started in 1913 and had been open until the middle of the 2000's. The hospital had a lot of patients that were young orphans in its day. Many children went into the hospital to ask for help when they were sick and they were admitted because the doctors thought that they were 'crazy'. One patient, an orphan, was admitted and they later discovered he had a learning disability, but being in the hospital for that long of a period, he had become crazy. This is so sad to me that a child had to spend his whole life in a hospital because they did not understand at that time how to help him.
The museum is in a building that used to be a ward of the hospital. The museum was very interesting, they had the original camera that was used to photograph the patients as they were admitted to the hospital. We got to sit where they sat and get our picture taken too. There was another room where you would sit at a desk and put your elbows in designated spots with your hands over your ears. When you did this, you would hear voices in your head like they heard throughout their life. I must say, it was very faint noises but it was very scary to hear lose and hearing them for an extended amount of time would make anyone go crazy. It was a very cool place to visit and I am glad that I got to go with a professor that was not in my major of study since I get to see so many things that are interesting in their field of study.
On Monday of the 5th week, we went to the National History Museum of Medical Arts. It was very interesting to be there and see all the instruments throughout history. The first room that we went into was a teaching room. The things in this room were used to teach medical students about the human body. There were reconstructions of the human body where you could see everything about it. There were even real babies in jar conserved to teach them about distortion that can happen in the whomb. It was very sad to see babies in jars but seeing them you know that they went to a good teaching purpose to further our medical sciences. There were instruments from all throughout history and they were very old, as you can imagine. They looked basically the same as the ones we have now just a little more basic. This was a very interesting place to visit and I learned a lot about the medical science field just from visiting.
In our syllabus, the discussion for this week's blog is 'what can we take from the Romans to make our own health better'. From being on this trip, I have learned a lot about the Italian culture and they way that they live and especially EAT every day. The first thing that they told us at the dinner table on the first day, was that there will be salad at almost every meal but no dressing. (WHAT?!?!?!) We were all like, what about our ranch dressing?? On their salads, Italians eat olive oil and vinegar which is extremely healthy. They only eat this, no dressing. So where did italian dressing come from then?? lol it is an Americanized Italian thing. I think that this is a very good thing to practice in America. It is very good for you and tastes good too! In America, we are always so centralized around rushing and this in turn makes us eat very unhealthy. We just grab a hamburger from the local fast food joint instead of sitting down and eating pasta, etc. I think that if we took from the Italians and ate like they do, we would all be a lot healthier.
One more thing about the Italians and their health is the way that they use public transportation. Most Romans do not have cars so they take the public transportation, that is always crowded by the way. They also ride their bikes a lot and this in turn makes them a lot healthier. You will always see someone riding their bike down the street, in Florence bikers were every where. Romans also walk every where, which is very unusual to Americans. We just hop in the car and drive to the local grocery or market instead of just walking there because it is quicker and easier to drive there. I personally am loving everything about Rome and will take with me some of their customs and traditions back with me to Wooster.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Week 4 Is Over Already!!
Week 4 quickly came to a close yesterday and it was eventful to say the least. On Monday, I was supposed to do my walking tour with my roommate, Danielle, but unfortunately I was too sick to even get out of bed so she had to do it by herself, tear. :'( Everyone said that it went well but it was sad not be there and enjoy giving the tour since we had worked so hard to put it together. On Tuesday, we went on a student-led walking tour of the Pantheon and surrounding area by Rachel and Aimee. They did a fantastic job and it was very interesting. The Pantheon was way bigger than we had all expected. It was very interesting to be there and to see how amazing the building really was. I really enjoyed it, pictures to come soon!!
On Thursday, we went to the museum of the mind right outside of Rome. The museum used to be a mental health hospital in the 1900's. It was very cool to be there and to see what it was like to be in a mental hospital back then because it so much different than the way that we are today. We got to hear stories of people that went into the hospital and most of them were not even sick, they were just orphans. By the time that they had spent so many years in the hospital, they had gone crazy from being around so many mental patients. It was sad to hear peoples' stories about how they had gone into the hospital and had to stay there because they were seen as 'crazy' because they had a learning disability. The hospital was very interesting and I am very glad that we got to go there and see it.
We left for Florence on the fast train on Friday morning and it only took about an hour and a half to get there. The train ride went by quickly since most of us slept the whole way. We got to our hotel and it was by far the nicest that we have stayed at this trip. We went on a short walking tour of the city with the group, professor, his wife, and Danilo. They showed us around and then we got free time to explore the city on our own. We went shopping of course, it is a leather capital. :) We went out that night to an Irish pub and it was very interesting to see so many different people there not only Italians. The next morning, we got up and went to the Uffizzi Museum as a group. This was an amazing place, there was so much art there and we all enjoyed it a lot. We got to spend 2 hours there, but I could have spent the whole day there. After we left the museum, we went to the Academia to see the Statue of David. It was amazing to see it in real life since it was so much bigger than anyone had thought it was. We did more shopping and then on Saturday night we had a traditional Tuscan 4 course meal, it was DELICIOUS!! We left on Sunday after having a little bit of free time and none of us wanted to leave since we had such a great time. We all became closer on this trip and are becoming such a big family!! During this trip, we got lost as a small group and found ourselves seeing a lot more being lost. This just goes to show M=EA (Mishap equal Excellent Adventure).
On Thursday, we went to the museum of the mind right outside of Rome. The museum used to be a mental health hospital in the 1900's. It was very cool to be there and to see what it was like to be in a mental hospital back then because it so much different than the way that we are today. We got to hear stories of people that went into the hospital and most of them were not even sick, they were just orphans. By the time that they had spent so many years in the hospital, they had gone crazy from being around so many mental patients. It was sad to hear peoples' stories about how they had gone into the hospital and had to stay there because they were seen as 'crazy' because they had a learning disability. The hospital was very interesting and I am very glad that we got to go there and see it.
We left for Florence on the fast train on Friday morning and it only took about an hour and a half to get there. The train ride went by quickly since most of us slept the whole way. We got to our hotel and it was by far the nicest that we have stayed at this trip. We went on a short walking tour of the city with the group, professor, his wife, and Danilo. They showed us around and then we got free time to explore the city on our own. We went shopping of course, it is a leather capital. :) We went out that night to an Irish pub and it was very interesting to see so many different people there not only Italians. The next morning, we got up and went to the Uffizzi Museum as a group. This was an amazing place, there was so much art there and we all enjoyed it a lot. We got to spend 2 hours there, but I could have spent the whole day there. After we left the museum, we went to the Academia to see the Statue of David. It was amazing to see it in real life since it was so much bigger than anyone had thought it was. We did more shopping and then on Saturday night we had a traditional Tuscan 4 course meal, it was DELICIOUS!! We left on Sunday after having a little bit of free time and none of us wanted to leave since we had such a great time. We all became closer on this trip and are becoming such a big family!! During this trip, we got lost as a small group and found ourselves seeing a lot more being lost. This just goes to show M=EA (Mishap equal Excellent Adventure).
Monday, November 12, 2012
GL 350 Week 3
Week 3 in Roma during my study abroad was not as exciting as the second but it was just as fun. We went to my favorite place thus far on Monday, the Catacombs. They were breathtaking, I could not wrap my head around the fact that so many people were buried there and they had been buried there so many years ago. The Catacombs, if you are not familiar with them, is a place where the earliest of Christians were buried when it was not okay in the Roman empire to be a Christian. They are underground below a church and they are 4 levels down. It was cold down there and some people were freaked out by it but I was amazed with them. We were not allowed to take pictures or else I would show everyone the amazingness that I fell in love with. We had a tour guide and she was the best that we had had thus far. The tunnels of Catacombs are 11 miles long and it is a maze down there so as you can imagine, we stayed very close to the tour guide so that we did not get lost.
That same day we had a student-led tour by David and Emily, they did a fantastic job. That Tuesday, we had a free day since we were all exhausted from traveling to Venice the following weekend but we had Italian class that night. A few students, along with me, played Pine Cone Bocce Ball. It is like Bocce Ball in the states but instead of a ball, you use a pine cone that you pick out. It was a lot of fun and Mike even gave us Jif peanut butter for playing, yum!! And that night we had a campus movie night and watched Bridesmaids, that movie gets me every time, it is so funny!
Thursday, we got back to educational things as we has a free day on Wednesday as well since we are scheduled to have Wednesdays off. We had Sociology class with Professor in the morning and then caught the train into Rome for our guided tour of the Aqueducts, they were amazing. If you do not know what the Aqueducts are, they are where the water that Rome drinks comes from. The Romans had built them when they were in power so that they could have clean drinking water. It was a very good tour and we all thought that they were very interesting. That night we had my roommate's parents for dinner, they are really enjoying their time in Italy.
That night we checked our for our free weekend, my group and I went to London, England!! I was so excited, I couldn't even contain myself. We had to fly into Germany to have a short layover and then we continued our journey to London. We had such a great time, we stayed in a hostel there and it was not too bad. There was a bar right under our hostel so we went and had a few drinks and met some other people that were staying there as well. England was my favorite weekend so far and I cannot wait to go back again someday. I bought so many souvenirs, I could barely fit everything in my suitcase, so if you are family, you can probably be expecting something from London for Christmas! We flew back through Germany on the way back and then finally got back to Rome. It was a great weekend but it was very good to be back at our temporary home once again.
Now on to the educational part of my blog. In the Smiles of Rome, our textbook for class, we read sections of St. Peter and on St. Paul. The section of St. Peter discusses on pg. 75, keep yourselves free from the selfish passions that attack the soul while you are visitors or pilgrims. I am seeing this more and more during our stay in Rome, we must act as though we are foreign diplomats. Our actions will be judged not just personally but for our whole country and for Walsh University. We will be judged on our actions and it is important to act the way we would like to be seen and I would say we are all doing a great job so far. Just from reading these sections, it is very religious and this can be seen everywhere in Rome. I have strayed from my religion the past couple of years and I am taking advantage of this experience to make myself come back to my religion and so far it has been successful. We have mass every Wednesday and I have been attending and it is becoming more and more comfortable again. I can't believe it but we are in week 4 now, so here goes nothing!!
That same day we had a student-led tour by David and Emily, they did a fantastic job. That Tuesday, we had a free day since we were all exhausted from traveling to Venice the following weekend but we had Italian class that night. A few students, along with me, played Pine Cone Bocce Ball. It is like Bocce Ball in the states but instead of a ball, you use a pine cone that you pick out. It was a lot of fun and Mike even gave us Jif peanut butter for playing, yum!! And that night we had a campus movie night and watched Bridesmaids, that movie gets me every time, it is so funny!
Thursday, we got back to educational things as we has a free day on Wednesday as well since we are scheduled to have Wednesdays off. We had Sociology class with Professor in the morning and then caught the train into Rome for our guided tour of the Aqueducts, they were amazing. If you do not know what the Aqueducts are, they are where the water that Rome drinks comes from. The Romans had built them when they were in power so that they could have clean drinking water. It was a very good tour and we all thought that they were very interesting. That night we had my roommate's parents for dinner, they are really enjoying their time in Italy.
That night we checked our for our free weekend, my group and I went to London, England!! I was so excited, I couldn't even contain myself. We had to fly into Germany to have a short layover and then we continued our journey to London. We had such a great time, we stayed in a hostel there and it was not too bad. There was a bar right under our hostel so we went and had a few drinks and met some other people that were staying there as well. England was my favorite weekend so far and I cannot wait to go back again someday. I bought so many souvenirs, I could barely fit everything in my suitcase, so if you are family, you can probably be expecting something from London for Christmas! We flew back through Germany on the way back and then finally got back to Rome. It was a great weekend but it was very good to be back at our temporary home once again.
Now on to the educational part of my blog. In the Smiles of Rome, our textbook for class, we read sections of St. Peter and on St. Paul. The section of St. Peter discusses on pg. 75, keep yourselves free from the selfish passions that attack the soul while you are visitors or pilgrims. I am seeing this more and more during our stay in Rome, we must act as though we are foreign diplomats. Our actions will be judged not just personally but for our whole country and for Walsh University. We will be judged on our actions and it is important to act the way we would like to be seen and I would say we are all doing a great job so far. Just from reading these sections, it is very religious and this can be seen everywhere in Rome. I have strayed from my religion the past couple of years and I am taking advantage of this experience to make myself come back to my religion and so far it has been successful. We have mass every Wednesday and I have been attending and it is becoming more and more comfortable again. I can't believe it but we are in week 4 now, so here goes nothing!!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Sociology 490 Week 2
I believe that healthcare is a privilege and I am firm in my opinion and always fight this way in class. I have many reasons for the fact that I believe that it is a privilege, but I am going to put all those aside in this blog to fight for the other side. It is true that your argument for any type of fight will be better if you understand the opposing side of your argument. So for this blog, I will be arguing for the side that healthcare is a right. This blog and the arguments that I make in it will only make my argument better by me understanding the opposing side.
In our books, it explains on page 28 that if we had universal healthcare we would correct the internal inequities would save the U.S. billions of dollars and improve the healthcare system. This basically means that if we had this universal healthcare, we would actually have better healthcare in turn and more Americans would have healthcare. If we had universal healthcare, a lot of new laws would also be passed to improve healthcare regulations since we would all be underneath the same healthcare unless we chose to pay for more coverage. I think this will help Americans to have better healthcare because if everyone has the same basic coverage, then people in power would be more willing to help out the poorer population.
The media sensationalizes the fact that most people that are for universal healthcare are only for it because this means that they can stay living off of other peoples' money and taxes and off the government. This is not true. The American people as a whole, do have some people that leach off of the government and taxes but there are good people in the world that just need a boost to get back on their feet. This healthcare solution would help out those people since they would be able to get the healthcare that they needed and then when they could afford, get better healthcare than just the basic. But, on the other end here, wouldn't having universal healthcare be just like what we have now? The people that can't afford health insurance now would just have the government appointed health insurance and the people that could afford health insurance now could get the basic plus a complimentary health insurance plan if they wanted.
If we had universal healthcare, everyone that works in the healthcare field would actually be an employee of the government. If we kept the same regulations that we have now for government employees, the healthcare employees would actually enjoy working for the government. The doctors and nurses working in hospitals now would be better off working for the government and they may actually get paid better if they were government employees. The last argument that I will be discussing is the fact that a lot of children in America do not have healthcare right now because their parents cannot afford it. This is very wrong, we need to be helping out these children because if we don't then who else will? Just because their parents cannot afford healthcare does not mean that a child should be turned down if they need to be seen by a doctor because they do not have health insurance.
In the prompt that we are supposed to write is about how the Cleveland Clinic is one of the best hospitals in the world yet the county that it is located in is not a very healthy county. I believe that this is because not everyone in the county keeps themselves healthy. I would like to see statistics about how healthy this county is compared to every other county in America. This also may be because this county has a lot of poorer people in its tiny boundary. There are many people in this county that live in the inter-city Cleveland area. As everyone may imagine, many of these people cannot even afford to feed their family let alone have healthcare.
This blog was very difficult to do since we have to fight for the other side of this argument. I did not feel right arguing this point since I do not believe fully in it. I am very big on arguing your point and knowing what you believe in and fighting for what you think is right. So, this assignment made me very uncomfortable and made me feel as if I was lying during this whole blog. That being said, after I did all of this, I do feel like I have a better understanding of the opposing viewpoint and in turn I have a better understanding of my side. After doing this blog, I feel more confident in my ability to argue my point since I know more about the opposing view.
In our books, it explains on page 28 that if we had universal healthcare we would correct the internal inequities would save the U.S. billions of dollars and improve the healthcare system. This basically means that if we had this universal healthcare, we would actually have better healthcare in turn and more Americans would have healthcare. If we had universal healthcare, a lot of new laws would also be passed to improve healthcare regulations since we would all be underneath the same healthcare unless we chose to pay for more coverage. I think this will help Americans to have better healthcare because if everyone has the same basic coverage, then people in power would be more willing to help out the poorer population.
The media sensationalizes the fact that most people that are for universal healthcare are only for it because this means that they can stay living off of other peoples' money and taxes and off the government. This is not true. The American people as a whole, do have some people that leach off of the government and taxes but there are good people in the world that just need a boost to get back on their feet. This healthcare solution would help out those people since they would be able to get the healthcare that they needed and then when they could afford, get better healthcare than just the basic. But, on the other end here, wouldn't having universal healthcare be just like what we have now? The people that can't afford health insurance now would just have the government appointed health insurance and the people that could afford health insurance now could get the basic plus a complimentary health insurance plan if they wanted.
If we had universal healthcare, everyone that works in the healthcare field would actually be an employee of the government. If we kept the same regulations that we have now for government employees, the healthcare employees would actually enjoy working for the government. The doctors and nurses working in hospitals now would be better off working for the government and they may actually get paid better if they were government employees. The last argument that I will be discussing is the fact that a lot of children in America do not have healthcare right now because their parents cannot afford it. This is very wrong, we need to be helping out these children because if we don't then who else will? Just because their parents cannot afford healthcare does not mean that a child should be turned down if they need to be seen by a doctor because they do not have health insurance.
In the prompt that we are supposed to write is about how the Cleveland Clinic is one of the best hospitals in the world yet the county that it is located in is not a very healthy county. I believe that this is because not everyone in the county keeps themselves healthy. I would like to see statistics about how healthy this county is compared to every other county in America. This also may be because this county has a lot of poorer people in its tiny boundary. There are many people in this county that live in the inter-city Cleveland area. As everyone may imagine, many of these people cannot even afford to feed their family let alone have healthcare.
This blog was very difficult to do since we have to fight for the other side of this argument. I did not feel right arguing this point since I do not believe fully in it. I am very big on arguing your point and knowing what you believe in and fighting for what you think is right. So, this assignment made me very uncomfortable and made me feel as if I was lying during this whole blog. That being said, after I did all of this, I do feel like I have a better understanding of the opposing viewpoint and in turn I have a better understanding of my side. After doing this blog, I feel more confident in my ability to argue my point since I know more about the opposing view.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Week 2 in Rome
This week was amazing, it was very different than the first week. The first week was filled with getting to know everyone and getting into a schedule. This week is more about getting into seeing Rome and knowing our way around the city instead of gazing at the wonders of this magnificent city. This week was full of exploring the city on our own and knowing where to go and what train to take. We are getting really good at navigating our way through the city at this point. On Tuesday, we went to the Spanish steps for our first walking tour led by students, Cierra and Sydney led the first tour. They did a really great job and I am sure that they are glad to have that over with first off. On Wednesday, we had a free day and Danielle (my roommate) and I went to do some educational things in the pouring down rain. We needed to look for Bernini statues for a project to get class credit. We did our own little walking tour and it was a blast, but it rained and the winds were crazy the whole day. We had our umbrellas up the whole day even though the wind was going strong the whole day and we were dying of laughter every time the wind blew our umbrellas inside out. The day was full of laughter and fun with a little bit of misery when the weather was crappy the whole day. On Thursday, we went for an 8 mile bike ride along the Old Appian Way. This bike ride was completely exhausting, but it was such a blast. The sites were beautiful and it was very historic. To be on the same road riding bicycles that so many famous people before us had been on was completely extraordinary. In our Barzini books, he states that people find it hard to leave Rome and most find themselves coming back sooner and sooner throughout their lifetime and some never ever leave. This is definitely becoming the story of my life. It is so beautiful here and it is so historical that I have fallen in love with everything about the city. The fact that you can go down a street and see a monument that is 2000 years and right next to it see a modern building. On Friday, we left early in the am for Venice. We got into Venice at about 9am and then went to explore the city. We saw many things in the short 3 days that we were there. We went to the Murano glass factory on Saturday morning and it was completely amazing. The glass master made the figurines in about a minute. He has been doing this for about 50 years and it runs in the family, so his children did the job as well. On Sunday, we went into the San Marco's Square and went to mass. It was all in Italian (obviously), but it was amazing just to be there and see the mass with my own eyes in a different country. We then went to the Hard Rock Cafe, it was a good sense of home in such a far away place. I got the local legendary burger, it had pesto and parsley (i think) on it. It was was very delicious yet different. The trip was a blast and it was so different than Rome in so many ways. We had to take a ferry everywhere since the whole city is practically under water. On Sunday, we headed to the airport and everyone got off the stop but me since no one would let me off with my baggage and such. I had to push and shove my way to the front of the boat, but by the time I got up there everyone was off the boat and I just waved at them and got off at the next stop. The Italian director here came to get me and was so worried that I was freaking out but it was totally fine since I just got off at the next stop. I had my reuniting moment with the group and then we headed to the airport. While we were in Venice, by the way, we stayed on and island called, Lido. It was very peaceful and it was nice to stay away from the city. We went to the beach while we were there and got pizza at Fabio's, this little homemade pizza place on the island. Their pizza was delicious and so cheap!! People in Venice also take their dogs everywhere, hilarious! While we were there, we wore our rain boots everywhere since it was wet most of the time. On Sunday, when we left the church and the whole city was flooded. We walked out and the water was ridiculously high, we had to walk on the platforms that they had there since the water was so high. It was so nice to be back in Rome home when we got back yesterday. And we start back at it this week for week 3. I am having a blast and I am enjoying every minute of the trip and getting so excited about what we will see next!!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
SOC 490 post 1
In class we discussed whether healthcare was a privilege or a right. We had a great discussion on this and it was very enlightening and very long because everyone has differing opinions on this. We had to read in our books for this class before we discussed and just by reading you could tell that the class was going to be very controversial. Everyone had different opinions on the matter. We discussed whether it was a right or a privilege, the class was split almost exactly in half on which they believed. I fell more on the privilege side of the equation and fought that side when we had our discussions. We had to read in our books, they are mostly journal opinions on what that author believes is the way to side with. Two of the authors believed that it was a right and fought that way and two believed that it was a privilege and they fought equally as hard that way. I am enjoying this class since it is a sociology class with a twist on healthcare as well. This class is based on people not agreeing with each other and this is how the class is so successful. We don't all agree so we have excellent discussions. It is very enjoyable to "argue" with someone and debate your ideas against theirs to come to a conclusion on what you truly believe. I firmly stand by the side that healthcare is a privilege and not a right since I think people should have to work for it and not get it handed to them.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Roma Day 1 and 2 (First Blog)
Hello Everyone!!
This is my first blog. Just so everyone knows, this blog will be a step by step of how the trip is going and what we have done thus far. We got here yesterday morning at about 9am. We flew into the airport and went through customs just fine, which was a surprise. We got picked up and they drove us to campus, woo!! When we got to campus, I was so surprised by the beauty surrounding us. The campus is beautiful and the buildings are so old and have wonderful history behind them. We had time to get ready to take a nap and get ready for lunch. Most of us spent this time unpacking and getting ready for lunch. We went down to the basement and ate lunch together as a family in the dining area. After lunch, we got a tour of the campus and did our orientation with Mike (student director) and Danilo (the Italian campus director). After orientation, which was rough to get through since we had all been up for about 36 hours straight., we went into the city of Castel Gondolfo. This is the city where right beside our campus. The walk to Castel Gondolfo is very long and it is up a 45 degree angle I swear. By the time we go to the city, we were all sweating and all out of breath but it was so worth the workout to get to it. We got a tour of the city by Danilo and saw the lake by the city, that is gorgeous by the way. Some of us went to mass and then some just went back to campus. Danielle, my roommate, and I decided to go explore the city while people were at mass. We walked around and explored the little shops and then got lost in the city. This was such a blast, we walked around down hills and found a little gelato shop to eat at. We walked back to campus and ate dinner and discussed what we were going to be doing on Monday...Monday was our first day of class which was today. We got up and got ready for the day and went to the dining area for breakfast. Breakfast in Italy is very light, it is like a continental breakfast. We then headed to class with Professor. We talked about what we were going to do that day and discussed the class for the semester. We then went into Rome!! We had to catch the train from our campus to the Roma Termini train station. We had to learn about the train station and when and where we were supposed to meet. We then went in the underground subway to the Coliseum. We took a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Then we went into Palentine Hill without the tour guide and we were free to tour this by ourselves. These sites were completely amazing. They were a lot bigger in person than you would thought just seeing it on TV or in books. I really seeing these sites and having the tour guide there showing us around was very helpful. A little group of us went on to explore the city before going back to campus. We found a little pizza shop and had a snack before dinner at 8. We went back to campus and met up with everyone and then went to dinner. I really enjoyed today and cannot wait for tomorrow. Thank you for reading and I will blog again hopefully on Sunday.
This is my first blog. Just so everyone knows, this blog will be a step by step of how the trip is going and what we have done thus far. We got here yesterday morning at about 9am. We flew into the airport and went through customs just fine, which was a surprise. We got picked up and they drove us to campus, woo!! When we got to campus, I was so surprised by the beauty surrounding us. The campus is beautiful and the buildings are so old and have wonderful history behind them. We had time to get ready to take a nap and get ready for lunch. Most of us spent this time unpacking and getting ready for lunch. We went down to the basement and ate lunch together as a family in the dining area. After lunch, we got a tour of the campus and did our orientation with Mike (student director) and Danilo (the Italian campus director). After orientation, which was rough to get through since we had all been up for about 36 hours straight., we went into the city of Castel Gondolfo. This is the city where right beside our campus. The walk to Castel Gondolfo is very long and it is up a 45 degree angle I swear. By the time we go to the city, we were all sweating and all out of breath but it was so worth the workout to get to it. We got a tour of the city by Danilo and saw the lake by the city, that is gorgeous by the way. Some of us went to mass and then some just went back to campus. Danielle, my roommate, and I decided to go explore the city while people were at mass. We walked around and explored the little shops and then got lost in the city. This was such a blast, we walked around down hills and found a little gelato shop to eat at. We walked back to campus and ate dinner and discussed what we were going to be doing on Monday...Monday was our first day of class which was today. We got up and got ready for the day and went to the dining area for breakfast. Breakfast in Italy is very light, it is like a continental breakfast. We then headed to class with Professor. We talked about what we were going to do that day and discussed the class for the semester. We then went into Rome!! We had to catch the train from our campus to the Roma Termini train station. We had to learn about the train station and when and where we were supposed to meet. We then went in the underground subway to the Coliseum. We took a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Then we went into Palentine Hill without the tour guide and we were free to tour this by ourselves. These sites were completely amazing. They were a lot bigger in person than you would thought just seeing it on TV or in books. I really seeing these sites and having the tour guide there showing us around was very helpful. A little group of us went on to explore the city before going back to campus. We found a little pizza shop and had a snack before dinner at 8. We went back to campus and met up with everyone and then went to dinner. I really enjoyed today and cannot wait for tomorrow. Thank you for reading and I will blog again hopefully on Sunday.
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