Submitted by Nicole Caracciolo on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain…
This week, I had plans to go to Venice for the weekend. They unfortunately needed to be changed ASAP because Venice was in a state of emergency due to flooding. We were flying to Rome on Sunday for the day, so I did already have a flight home and easily booked an outbound flight to Rome to change my plans. My roommate who I was going with no longer wanted to go to Italy because she did not want to spend money on another flight, so I was going to Rome alone. I was back and forth about the idea of traveling to a country completely alone for the weekend because this was something I have never done before. My father wasn’t too fond of the idea and I did not even tell my mother about it, so that made me even more unsure about the idea. It ended up working out that another friend of mine was in the same boat as me and decided to go to Rome for the weekend. However, in the future, I feel like I should be more confident in myself and try to make decisions without the input of others. I am smart and probably would have been okay by myself for a couple of days in Rome, but let my Dad’s opinions get to my head and I knew my Mom would have never supported that plan.