Submitted by Christopher Pfeifer on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Philosophy…
When we landed in Rome, I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never been to Europe before so I knew this would be an interesting adventure. Just based on what I have heard about UD Study Abroad programs, I had high expectations. And one week into my month long journey, those expectations have already been surpassed. We dropped our stuff off at our lodging and our professor was already itching to take us out on our first tour of Rome. He didn’t tell us where we were going, but after a 10 minute walk, we reached our first destination: Vatican City. I was not expecting that, because it was located right next to the strip of mainstream stores which included a McDonald’s, a Nike Factory and other American stores. This seemed to become a common theme throughout our first week. Monuments and sites such as the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon are right in the middle of the modernized parts of Rome. I was expecting them to be more isolated from the actual city. This just shows how the city of Rome really treasures their history and how they were able to build a thriving, modern city, while preserving the beauty and character of its history.
There are definitely more than a few differences between Rome and the United States. First, as we walked through the train station, we realized we were getting weird stares from the locals. Our professor continued to tell us they were staring at us because we were carrying our to-go coffee cups, which is something Italians don’t do. Most people drink their coffee quickly and standing up at their “bars” (the coffee shops), while in America we sip on our coffee and enjoy it. Also, everything in Rome is much smaller. The cars are small, there are no skyscrapers like the ones in New York City, and even the dogs are smaller. But the biggest shock to me since getting here is not the differences, it’s the similarities. In almost every place we’ve been to, we have met locals who speak English. And in restaurants, the metro stations, and the monuments, signs are written in English and Italian. Since I don’t know how to speak the language, I am very fortunate that I am able to communicate and get around the area. And this made me realize how lucky Americans are that the English language is so commonly spoken worldwide because if Italians came to the U.S. and tried to navigate a big city, they would definitely struggle, because most people don’t speak Italian and translated signs are not common.
One unique thing about our study abroad location is that we get to see and experience everything we learn about in our courses. We are taking two religious philosophy courses so in our morning classes we discuss some of the beautiful churches in the area and then in the afternoon we go to those locations. When I was looking into study abroad programs, I wanted to go on one where the courses were directly related to the history of the city, and that is something I was definitely able to achieve. In one short week, we’ve been able to do so much in Rome. We’ve seen the Coliseum, Vatican City, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, beautiful sunsets, numerous churches, spent a day in Pompeii, made a pit stop in Naples for pizza and we even got to see the the Pope. My legs are very sore, but I have fallen in love with this city more and more after every site. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the city and Italy has to offer. Next stop: Florence!
