Reflecting Upon My Time Abroad 

Ciao for the last time Drexel! Welcome to my tenth and final blog post recounting my time in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy. I’ve returned back to America and I must say that studying abroad was the best decision I could have made at this point in my life. Living in Rome has led to feel closer to myself than I ever had and opened my eyes to so many things. For my last blog post I will be reflecting upon my time abroad and sharing with you the reasons that I adored my time in Italy so much. 

I was a little apprehensive to study abroad for many reasons. Mostly, I had a fear of flying before coming to Europe. I had only gone on two flights before my 9 hour flight across the world in August. I was very nervous about it, but after studying abroad I can safely say that my fear of flying is now gone. I took 8 flights when I was abroad and after flying so many times, I have learned that flying can sometimes be almost relaxing! My anxiety was coming from being unfamiliar with airports in general and that the concept of being in an object thousands of miles in the air sounds really terrifying. I’m grateful for this experience for letting me fly with ease for my future travel endeavors. 

Something that I was hoping that studying abroad would teach me is true independence. I live decently close to Drexel being located in North Jersey so I have the option to go home whenever I would like. I haven’t gone more than about a month and a half without seeing my family in my whole life. This was the first time where I was truly on my own in my life. I’m very grateful for my time in Italy for helping me learn that I was truly doing so much more than I give myself credit for. From planning trips, to booking hostels to navigating the Italian grocery store for the first time. I had a lot of firsts that were scary and overwhelming. I learned to do things even when I was nervous or had no idea what I was doing. And what I realized was that things have a way of working themselves out.

Another thing I learned in Italy was to be on my phone less. Before going to Italy I had a crippling phone addiction like most people in our generation. Partially because the wifi in my apartment was horrible and partly because I was so busy, I was on my phone significantly less in Europe. I’m not the first to tell you the negative impacts of constantly being on your phone, but people truly aren’t lying when they say that! I valued the people around me and the experiences in real life and my perspective on the world and life changes drastically. I also found that Eurpeans are simply on their phones a lot less than Americans. Walking down the street I would see Italians by themselves enjoying a cigarette and a cappuccino in the mornings with no phone in sight, just enjoying the world around them. 

There’s a lot that I will take with me throughout my life that I learned from my time abroad. I am forever grateful to this opportunity for teaching me so much about myself and the world. If you are privileged enough to have the opportunity to study abroad – do it! It is absolutely the greatest decision I could have made and I’m so happy I took the jump. If you have any questions about studying abroad or are feeling nervous about the experience, feel free to reach out to me agv39@drexel.edu. I’d love to grab coffee and talk about my time in Italy! Thank you to everyone that followed along with me on my journey abroad! Ciao for now Drexel!