Home sweet Rome
Culture shock and adjusting to life and school thousands of miles from home
Jennifer Mossuto / Op-Ed Contributor / The USD Vista
After my family dropped me off at LAX and I slowly made it onto my plane with baby tears in my eyes, I only had three thoughts: What have I done? What if this plane goes down? And my best case scenario is that I relive the Lizzie McGuire movie and ride around on a Vespa with an Italian boy named Paulo. Eventually, my first two thoughts dissipated and I amazingly made it to Rome (not without bumps of course). My third thought has not come true yet, but I still have 36 days left here and I am choosing to be hopeful.
Studying abroad for a semester is one of the most popular things you can choose to do at USD. Being ranked No.1 for undergraduate study abroad participation with 79.6% of undergraduate students going abroad as of Nov. 2018, USD praises itself for how accessible they make this opportunity for all of their students. The study abroad administration was incredible in answering any questions I had, directing me to contacts at my new university, and guiding all of us through our visas and our applications.
However, there is simply no amount of study abroad meetings or emails that I could send to the advisors that would have prepared me for what I found in Rome. The reality is that no one could have described to me what culture shock really means, and what it is really like to move to a new country. This is still such an incredible experience and I got all the help I could, but eventually it is another thing in your life that only becomes what you make of it.
I am not going to say it is already “changing my life” because realistically, it is still my life but in a different place. I often forget that I am even in Rome until I walk across the street and a Vespa flies past me so quickly that my roommate has to pull me back onto the sidewalk by the loop in my backpack. Then we proceed to walk across the street carefully to get our daily gelato.
My first day of class I was enlightened to the tradition of the cannon. Every single day at 12 p.m. there is a tower that shoots a medieval cannon, and I surprisingly find comfort in this as it almost sounds like the Immaculata bells chiming right in the middle of a mesmerizing lecture at USD. The first time I heard this cannon, though, I thought it was a gunshot, but thankfully my professor from the Bronx was quick to tell everyone that noise was simply part of the city’s daily routine.
My personal daily routine is pretty similar to my normal routine at home. Instead of getting my iced coffee at Tu Mercado, I go to a little bar off of the main road and order a cappuccino. Two older Italians work there and the woman winks at me when I leave. She does not speak good English, but always knows to give me two packets of brown sugar with my coffee — that is the best part of my day.
The surreality of living in Rome only hits me at the strangest times. I can walk to the top of the Spanish Steps on a warm Tuesday night, feeling my calves burning, and until I get to the very top, I think I could be anywhere, just walking on some steep steps.
Similarly, when I walk home from the mall I catch a small glimpse of the side of the Colosseum, and not a single thought, other than “oh look, the Colosseum again” passes my brain. Many people would think these incredible sights would be the highlight of living here, but my favorite sight is the cat sanctuary at the forum. The sanctuary is a Pompeii-like series of destroyed buildings. They feed and house dozens of cats and they are always roaming around, saying their quick “hellos.”
As I have been adapting, I have learned a few tips and tricks of being abroad in Rome. You are likely to pay more money if you sit in a cafe than if you buy something and leave with it, and yes, it is cruel and common. You also unfortunately pay for water in Italy, but the trick to that is that you can ask for free tap water, but you have to be persistent. Another big question I am often asked is if you can drink the tap water in Rome. I personally do not, but a lot of my friends here do and they have yet to be found vomiting profusely. I am also constantly asked if I am even going to school. The best way to explain my school is to picture USD but in a Hunchback of Notre Dame setting (animated version) and also picture every school day being the Milan fashion show because Italians really know how to dress. Also, picture lots of stray cats. Oh, and people drinking straight bottles of Absolut vodka at breakfast.
People often ask me if I am missing home yet. I will tell you what I do miss — Mexican food, the beach, and my dog. But the funniest things my friends have told me that they missed would be chocolate milk, pulled pork sandwiches, and a specific creamsicle from the ice cream trucks at the beach.
The biggest difficulty of being abroad is deciding whether or not you are going to travel or stick around for the weekend, and also figuring out where the money for this traveling is going to come from. We are all still figuring that out, while having to often remind each other just how special it is to be here in the first place. I have already been swimming in the Mediterranean, eaten pretzels bigger than my head in Germany, ridden in a gondola during a Venice dusk, and walked my way up to the top of Juliet’s tower in Verona. My biggest adventure so far has been enduring Oktoberfest — Germany’s most famous festival. As we entered, we heard the gunshots go off announcing the tapping of the first keg, but that moment was soon cut short as hundreds of horses paraded through the streets without stopping for anyone or anything. Although often unplanned, each weekend brings us new places, new people, and new memories.
Is what we all felt at the beginning of a simple culture shock? A fear that maybe we did not make the right choice? Maybe, but it is also just a change in environment, like moving to a new city or school. If you are going to study abroad, my only piece of advice is to have no expectations because we are all still constantly adapting to what each new day brings. You can do all the right things, attend all the meetings, but at the end of the day, it is only what you make of it.