Laura's Rome Intercultural Practicum Portfolio: Rome

Living in Rome for a month allowed me to fully immerse myself in the Italian culture. From touring the city and understanding the history to eating authentic Roman dishes, tripe, which is actually sheep intestines, I was constantly experiencing something new. Rome was such an incredible city to live in. It is a huge city with a small city feel.

Every day, we began by walking through St. Peter’s Square. Not many people are able to say they passed the Vatican for four straight weeks on their way to work. I made sure not to take advantage of where I was, and made an effort to look at the Vatican every single day. One of the most dreadful things about Rome was the public transportation. It varied from day to day. Some days it would take us 20 minutes to get to Marymount, and others would be up to 50 minutes. The only other aspect about the city that I will not miss is the smoking. Put those two together and being stuck next to someone who smells like smoke on the bus for 50 minutes wasn’t pleasant.

I ate enough pizza, pasta, cappuccinos, and caprese salads to last a lifetime. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I will never be able to eat at Olive Garden again. Experiencing their culture through food was one of the best ways to understand their way of life. Italians love to eat and they take their time doing so. It is common to spend up to two hours at a restaurant. One thing I was eager to come back to the United States for was free water. Wine was not much more expensive than water.

I was expecting to pick up on more Italian than I actually did. The language barrier rarely seemed to be a problem outside of Marymount in Rome. Almost everyone spoke English to us; however, I tried using the very little Italian I did learn when I could. The one place in particular where no one knew English was the market. Our first market experience did not go as planned. We did not use gloves to pick up the fruit, did not print labels for the produce before checking out, and no one was able to tell us what we did wrong in English.

Some tourist attractions we saw while staying in Rome were: the Lady of the Lake, Borghese museum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, catacombs, Colosseum, Palatino, Roman Forum, and the Spanish Steps. All were such amazing sights to see and I learned so much information. If I had to pick one place to go back and see it would be the Colosseum. Standing in such a historic piece of architecture was almost too much to take in in such a short period of time. In addition to these places, we walked and explored all of Rome, finding the best restaurants and gelato shops out there. Another amazing adventure we took was seeing the pope. We took our last Wednesday off from school to see Pope Benedict XVI.

Rome taught me so much about myself, others, and my outlook on life. I am eager to take advantage of every opportunity life gives me.