Roma!

If there were one thing that I would recommend to all lower classmen it would most definitely be to study abroad. Last spring I spent four months calling Rome my home and I do not go a single day without a small reminder of how wonderful this experience was. I’ll be honest, I missed Fordham quite a bit, but to say the experience was worth it is a gross understatement. In the four months that I was away I visited six different countries and saw numerous major cities throughout Europe. I went through Temple University’s Rome program, which is a program recommended by Fordham (so all of my credits transferred easily!). Prior to this, the farthest I had ever been from my hometown of Philadelphia was to California, so the cultural, historical and lingual exposure was a very new and exciting thing to me. 

My first trip to the Colosseum

My days were spent learning about Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and discussing the film Gladiator while standing outside the Colosseum. I lived ten minutes by foot from St. Peter’s Square and had class right near the Spanish Steps. I enjoyed genuine Italian cappuccino and fresh hand made pasta regularly. To think back on all of this is somewhat surreal and I cannot wait for the opportunity to go back.

Picture of Pope Benedict I took while at Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square

I traveled a lot outside of Rome as well. Aside from Italy (which I traveled through pretty extensively) I saw cities in France, Spain, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Greece. My absolute favorite trip was within Italy to Venice for Carnival (Italy’s Mardi Gras). I toured the Louvre in Paris, saw Gaudi’s famous cathedral in Barcelona, drank Guinness in Dublin, climbed the acropolis in Athens, ate tapas in Madrid, saw the ruins of Pompeii and during the week went to class in Rome!

Gondola ride in Venice

I have many friends who traveled all over the world, and while each person’s experience seemed quite different, everyone returned absolutely in love with their country of choice. If you have the opportunity and the interest to study abroad, I cannot recommend it enough.