Before I landed in Italy for the Rome in Residence study abroad program at the UW Rome Center, I imagined my life for the next three months would be nothing less than an Italian vacation. Cappuccino for breakfast, pizza for lunch, pasta for dinner, every day on repeat. Visiting ancient ruins and learning Italian as I immersed myself in a new culture and lifestyle, I’d bring my old self to the city and take a new version of myself on the way out. Study abroad would be a life-changing pathway to the new me — a more fun, social, adventurous me.
Now that my time in Italy is over, I have more insight into what they don’t tell you in the studying abroad handbook: No matter how much you prepare and research about a new city, unexpected surprises are inevitable and unavoidable. Just because you’re in a foreign country 5,000 miles from home doesn’t mean all problems in the world immediately come to a halt. Even as I was immersed in a brand new cultural setting, life was not always beautiful in the most beautiful city in the world.