Submitted by Kristina Demou on the 2017 spring semester program in Rome, Italy…
Although I had been preparing for this day to come for months, I still had no clue what to expect upon arriving in Rome. I decided to leave all I know and am familiar with, all of my friends and family, and live in a new country for an entire semester, learning a new language and a new culture.
It has been a whirlwind of a week, with orientation activities and spontaneous excursions filling my days. I can already feel myself letting go of some of my old ways and being way more open to new experiences. In a spare hour between orientation meetings earlier this week, some friends and I accidentally stumbled across the Pantheon, and that’s when it began to hit me – this is where I am LIVING for the next four months, and there is much more out there to explore and find. As the week went on, we found the Coliseum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, and earlier today we made our way to the Trevi Fountain where I tossed my coin in over my shoulder.
Yesterday, it was raining and we decided to spontaneously check out an exhibit, Van Gogh Alive, and it was an experience I cannot compare to anything I have ever seen. Normally, art exhibits are not something I am easily intrigued by, but I was completely engrossed in the exhibit and I felt myself truly content and at peace. I could not believe such a magical place was just two tram stops away from my apartment, and there are surely many more hidden gems just waiting to be uncovered in Rome this semester. If the next four months continue to be anything like how this first week has been, I am so excited to see what is in store for me.