Conservative Student News

photo credit Claire Berchem

I am a sophomore at St. Thomas and this semester I am studying in Rome, through the Catholic Studies program.

As a student, currently in the midst of studying abroad, I can’t help but wonder why more students don’t choose to make a study abroad semester part of their college experience. The answer inevitably hinges on the question, “Why should one study abroad?”

Is it worth the work and the money? Can’t I have the same traveling experience just on a vacation, if not an even better experience because I don’t have class work? What’s studying abroad even like; is it really that great?

I am going to share with you some of the experiences I have had thus far, particularly, what it has been like living in Italy. I hope to answer any questions you may have and give you an idea of how great it truly is to be studying and living in another country.

This semester, I am living with 23 other students in an old, Italian mansion that has been converted into a dorm of sorts. It’s right on the Tiber River in the middle of the beautiful Eternal City.

Besides simply living in Rome, I have had the opportunity to travel all over Italy and even Europe, seeing so many amazing things—from going to The Phantom of the Opera in London to seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa to being in Turin for the Olympics; a study abroad semester is full of so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

A common misconception, however, is that this “once-in-a-life-time experience” of studying abroad is way more expensive than studying in Saint Paul. This is simply not true! This semester, by taking and paying for 16 credits, I can come away with 3 classes towards my major, as well as four of my generals – that’s seven classes for the price and time of four!

Classes here are taught in the European style, which is much different than the American sequence that follows through the Monday/Wednesday/Friday, or Tuesday/Thursday line-up. I have one class Monday, three on Tuesday, and then after that I just have a site visit somewhere in Rome with a professor on Wednesday morning and another on Thursday morning. Other than that – I just live in Rome!

It is amazing to live, not just visit, but really live, in a place so unlike where I have lived my whole life. I really believe that I have learned so much more by living in another country than even being in the classroom. I think people often assume that by visiting somewhere for a week or even two, they can understand and experience that culture. Yet I have found that only by really living there, through all the little day-to-day experiences, one can really come to understand another culture, and only then can you begin to compare it to your own.

For example, when I got to Italy – all I could think about was how it was so different from my life in America, and about all the things in the States that I missed. I kept thinking how I missed life in America; how America just did things better, and how Italian drivers were possessed, and how annoying it was that shops and restaurants were closed half-way thorough the day, and that all I would really miss about their culture was their gelato!

However, after a few months of living here, I now have a totally different view than I would have, had I left after only a two week spring-break vacation. I have come to understand, not completely, of course, but at least a little bit, Italian culture and to appreciate their lifestyle and the way they do things here. Further, I have come to find beauty and take pleasure in the differences that at first seemed so foreign and wrong to me.

The pace of life is different here, and at first this frustrated me when I discovered I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner until eight because the restaurants weren’t open until then, or how I couldn’t shop after lunch because the shops were closed from eleven until three in the afternoon.

I’ve realized that the Italians just take more time to enjoy life.

In America, especially in the big cities, people are busy and going, going, going all the time. In Italy, even here in the metropolis of Rome, people aren’t afraid to sit down for lunch in a café and be there for an hour or two – just enjoying the food, the sunshine, and their friends.

Their stores are closed on Sunday because that is the Lord’s Day and many of them are in one of the seemingly hundreds of churches throughout Rome – another perk.

You can go to mass every day, and hardly ever see the same church twice. Part of the reason they drive “crazy” is simply due to Rome’s vast population juxtaposed with the narrow structure of the cobblestone streets – which is exactly what makes the city so beautiful. I wouldn’t trade wider streets and more efficient traffic like we have in the states for the beauty of a European city. Highways and eight-lane business districts would not only look ridiculous, but would completely ruin the aesthetic effect of Rome. And, in this case, the Italians are definitely smarter than most Americans because they realize this fact, and aren’t willing to sacrifice the beauty and uniqueness of their culture and city for the sake of convenience and efficiency.

Initially, the lack of Starbucks was appalling to me – there is not a single one, throughout all of Rome. However, I have come to love the process of discovering a new little café everyday and meeting a new Italian shop owner. Each day, I sit at a different table in a completely different café or on a different patio – each so unlike the carbon-copy coffee chains at home.

A common phrase here in Italy is “Va bene!” – “That’s fine!” This phrase seems to sum up their attitude towards life. Americans tend to be much more uptight and concerned with efficiency and productivity. The Italians, however, just take more time to let life happen and enjoy it. It can be frustrating when things don’t run as smoothly as they would in the States, but much of the time it’s actually really nice to slow down from the crazy pace of life that Americans set and simply take more time to enjoy it all!

Now, I feel like it is going to be just as hard to go back home and readjust to the way things are in the States, and I think that I will really miss Italy – all of it, every part of their culture and lifestyle, even the things that don’t make sense to me. I won’t just miss the gelato (which is really that good!).

Being here for a study abroad semester has allowed me to have so many amazing experiences: seeing much of Europe, building new friendships, and experiencing, as fully as possible, a new culture, language, and lifestyle, while learning a great deal in the process. This has been, by far, my favorite semester at college and I know I will always be truly grateful that I took the opportunity to make it happen!