A stroll through the National Archeological Museum

Author: Nathan Rives | Major: Biology

The University of Arkansas offers so many great study abroad opportunities, but I choose to spend my summer classes at the Rome Center. The Rome center offers a variety of classes that can help fill the university requirements that I couldn’t get around to during the normal school year. I wanted a program that allowed me to take classes that would count towards my degree while still being a great cultural experience. The two classes that I decided to take were To Rome, With Love and Economics. I chose economics because I find the material really interesting, but I would never go out of my major to take any classes on it. This class offered a life-changing experience. As a class, we went to start-up factories to meet young entrepreneurs and even ate a meal with a Michelin chef. To Rome With Love is a class to study the language and culture of Italy to help people overcome the culture shock and get the most out of their experience. It was the greatest experience that I have ever had in a class. We learned about everything from cooking and wine to geography and politics. It made me feel so much more comfortable while being abroad. They taught us how to speak Italian in a beneficial way as to order, ask for directions, etc. At the end of my five weeks in Rome, I wanted to stay forever.

There are a few very big differences between Italian and American culture. One of the hardest adjustments was the use of public transportation. Italy is incredibly easy to travel around if you know how to use the busses, metros, and trains. While it can be intimidating to learn the public transportation system, it is so rewarding when you figure it out. I booked a high-speed train ticket to Naples from Rome for around 25 dollars. The amount of traveling Italy offers at an affordable price is astonishing. The food is another big cultural difference. Rome places a large emphasis on the experience of dining. A meal can take a couple of hours without bothering the waitstaff. It is very normal to order multiple courses, drinks, and a coffee after your meal. Each menu will look surprisingly similar, but that is normal for Italy. Each region has a few signature dishes that will be at almost every restaurant. The last big cultural shock, for better and for worse, is the architecture. Rome has some of the most incredible buildings in the world. I lived in one of the newest neighborhoods in Rome, and it was built in the 1800s. There are buildings that let you look a thousand years into the past. There are works of Art sprawled throughout the city. On the contrary, old buildings don’t provide the same comfort as the modern American counterparts. The bathrooms might be smaller than the average shower in the US. A/C isn’t used for most of the year, even at the start of the summer. It is possible that you will have to light your oven manually. None of these things make living in Italy worse than in the US. It is a different culture that is built around entirely different values.

My biggest piece of advice is to start planning early because so many amazing experiences can happen when you plan. A plane ticket from Rome to Greece, France, Spain, or England might cost 25 euros if you book it a few weeks in advance but will cost 200 a few days before. Rome provides so much connection to other regions, countries, and cultures that can be easily visited on the weekend. I went to Naples, Florence, Pompeii, Orvieto, and other little cities in less than five weeks. I don’t regret any of my time spent traveling. I only wish I could have started doing it sooner! I would also recommend buying bus/metro tickets as soon as you can. The busses seem scary when you don’t speak the language, and nobody tries to help you, but if you do it once, you can do it a thousand times. Rome is a big city, so taking a bus or metro can take you to the most unbelievable places. During my last week in Rome, I took two different metros to a Neighborhood called Pigneto. This neighborhood was popular with young intellectuals and artists and was full of life. There was live music and people playing soccer at local parks, but also quiet streets with secluded bars. It was a side of Rome that felt like a different city altogether. I would never have gone if I hadn’t gotten comfortable with public transportation. I can only imagine the great areas that I missed out on early in my trip because I was too afraid of messing up on the bus. For the record, to use the busses in Rome, you enter on the front or back door of the bus, not the middle, and insert your ticket with the blank side up into the ticket reader.