This Saturday, two of my roommates (Erin and Lydia) and I took a day trip to Assisi. The trip was organized by my host university the American University of Rome. Assisi is in the Umbria region of Italy and is a hill town. It was the birthplace of St. Francis, one of Italy’s patron saints. We left Rome shortly after 7 am in a bus and arrived in Assisi about 2 1/2 to 3 hours later. On the way, I saw a bunch of sheep just wandering around the countryside, which is not something I normally see in the US. When I am in Rome, there have been some moments where I don’t really acknowledge the fact that I’m not in the United States, but then something happens, like a child running down the street speaking Italian, or seeing sheep everywhere that reminds me, “oh right, I’m in Italy”.
When we arrived, it was incredibly foggy, it felt like a scene from The Mist. We couldn’t see anything more than 20 feet away. The fog moved around a lot and after a few hours, it had completely cleared out and we could fully see and appreciate the town of Assisi. We went on a two hour tour that AUR organized and then were given two hours of free time before we headed back to Rome. On our way through the tour, we walked by a lot of souvenir shops that Lydia and I wanted to go to. Once we finished the tour, we were very hungry and starting looking for a place to eat lunch. We met one of the AUR resident students who was born and raised in Italy and were hanging out with her for the day. She said that this sandwich shop we saw looked good and we decided to take a look inside. They made the sandwiches on traditional Umbrian bread and let us pick what we wanted on it. I have acknowledged that I am a pretty picky eater since I’ve gotten here. I am always willing to try something new but I don’t normally like it. I was nervous about what I would get on the sandwich, but I ended up getting mortadella and mozzarella and it was so good, I was really glad that our new friend picked this place to stop for lunch because I probably wouldn’t have stopped there otherwise.
After we got some much needed food, we started to go into every souvenir shop we saw. My roommate Lydia and I went through everything we have gotten for our family members so far the night before and we realized that we only have a short while left to get stuff. Additionally, we don’t get back until December 15th, shortly before Christmas, so we won’t have too much time to shop for gifts once we get back to the United States. Both of us got several things for our family members before we left.
Despite getting much colder, Rome hasn’t really shifted to fall. The leaves haven’t yet started changing color, but Assisi on the other hand was beautiful as the colors have begun to change.
A Message from the Office of Global Engagement:
The safety and security of Drexel students is a priority for the University. As part of the efforts to support Drexel students that are studying abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Global Engagement has conducted a rigorous review of programming and provided additional support to participating students with customized pre-departure orientations and regular check-ins during the required self-isolation period and the term.
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