Submitted by Matthew Slawik on the 2024 Winter program in Italy…
This first week studying abroad in Italy has had its ups and downs but overall I have a very good time. The trip started out with one major setback, missing our connecting flight at Heathrow. While this may seem like it could ruin a day of the trip, being stuck at the airport allowed me and my classmates to get to know each other before arriving in Italy. After we did get to Rome, we went to St. Johns and got our room. I previously knew one of my roommates but we also got assigned one more who I didn’t know. Within a short time all three of us became good friends and when we have free time we often hangout. The connections we made traveling here also made it easier to connect with my classmates as we toured many of the ancient sites in the area.
Saturday we traveled to Pompeii. Seeing such a large and ancient city preserved as it was thousands of years ago was very interesting. It was crazy as we walked the streets to think how a city like that could be destroyed in just a day. Sunday we also got to see a soccer game in Italy. It was cool experiencing something like that where there were many locals and not many tourists. I’m excited to see what other experiences I’ll be able to have as the trip goes on (Submitted on January 7, 2023).