One day last month I found myself sitting in front of the Trevi Fountain with one of my best friends in the world. We were people watching and eating the best gelato I had ever tasted, we were surrounded by the nostalgic beauty of Italy, and the sun was out. It was a perfect day – and it made me realize how incredibly lucky I am, especially this semester. I am seeing the world.
It’s no secret that one of the major perks to studying abroad in Europe is the ease with which you can travel to other countries. Before studying abroad, I had only ever been to France, so my list of places to visit this semester was (and still is) miles long. But one thing I had never considered was Spain’s proximity to places I never would have thought of visiting – like Portugal and Morocco – or even other parts of Spain itself. So far, I have been lucky enough to visit seven different cities, and I already have trips planned for another four. But I will always treasure the memories of my weekend in Rome most of all.
My friend Caeli and I had made a pact to visit Italy together, because we are both abroad in Europe this semester. I could not wait; I had always dreamed of going to Italy because of all it has to offer. From its food, history, and fashion to wine, language, art, and romance, Italy sounded perfect. Besides that, I should probably admit that I have a deep love of the movie Eat, Pray, Love and Rome is featured very prominently in the “Eat” section of the film. I kept joking that I was about to live out my Eat, Pray, Love dreams; Caeli, meanwhile, was excited to see the Roman landmarks from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. (See why we’re such good friends?)
I was flying in from Madrid and she was flying in from London, so we met up at the airport in Rome. We had not seen each other since May, because we live on opposite coasts; and obviously, I had not seen any of my friends from the States in the six weeks I had already been abroad. Seeing a familiar face was the best feeling in the world; we ran to each other and both cried at the baggage claim.
Ironically, the beginning of our fairytale Italy trip was not quite the way we had envisioned it. Fiumcino Airport is far from the city center, and we had to take a train to a massive station where we were supposed to switch to a bus. But by the time we got to the station, we were exhausted and tired of navigating, so we hopped in a taxi, thinking that this would simplify things. We were wrong – the cab driver, while perfectly lovely, spoke not a word of English, and got lost on the way to our hotel. He literally had to stop twice and ask for directions. Trust me when I saw that there is nothing more disconcerting than your cab driver not knowing where he is going.
We finally arrived at our hotel – adorably named Hotel Castle – and were pleasantly surprised to find that two gorgeous Italian brothers worked at the front desk. Then we dropped off our bags and headed into the center of Rome for dinner. We found ourselves wandering down narrow cobbled streets lined with pretty shops, restaurants, and even a few churches. We were surrounded by the sound of the Italian language, a beautiful babble of musical words and phrases, and there was an old man on a street corner playing “Volare” on his accordion. It was so quintessentially European, exactly what I had pictured, and I could not have been happier…until we sat down for dinner, and the first question the waiter asked was, “Glass or bottle of wine?”
That was the beginning of our whirlwind weekend. First, the food: spaghetti carbonara, pasta puttanesca, pizza margherita, bruschetta, tiramisu, gelato, tiramisu gelato, crème brulee…and amazing wine and coffee. We also visited all of the must-see tourist spots in Rome: the Trevi Fountain, like I mentioned earlier; the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and the Colisseum, of course. Sunday, we ventured to Vatican City, which was also amazing. But my favorite place of all, unexpectedly, was the Roman Forum.
When Caeli and I walked past the Roman Forum on our way home one night, it was sunset. We had already visited it earlier that day, but as I watched the sun dip below the horizon, the sky brilliantly painted with orange and pink, something about it resonated with me. It was created thousands of years ago, a plaza meant to be the center of Rome. The city has flourished around it, then crumbled, then been rebuilt, and grown even more. And still, the Forum has remained a little piece of calm, a graceful oasis in the midst of the inevitable change that life brings.
So as I gazed out over the ruins, bathed in the day’s last rays of light, that is what I thought about – change. Leaving my comfortable life at GW to study abroad was terrifying; boarding my flight to Madrid, with my entire life in three suitcases, and no idea what lay ahead, was scary, too. Really, every day you live in another country is different, and you have to learn to adapt. But the truth is, change can be good. Change forces you to grow, to learn things about yourself, to find the strength to become the person you are meant to be. And in a world where we cannot escape change, the only real option is to embrace it.
On our last night in Rome, Caeli and I went for cocktails and dessert. It was bittersweet, because I was not ready to leave what felt like an enchanted city to go back to my day-to-day life. But as we toasted to happiness abroad, I just looked around and smiled. Maybe we would be back one day. For now, there are plenty of other adventures to be had.
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