After a lot of waiting, sketchy airplane food, not sleeping, and three on flight movies, we finally arrived in Rome. Upon arrival everything was extremely overwhelming. Appearing in a city in which you do not know how to navigate through, and do not speak the native tounge of the occupants, serves as a much needed wake up call. As an infrequent traveler, you tend to assume a lot about travel. After watching movies, reading about traveling, and talking to frequent travelers, you are left with the impression that language barriers are nonexistent. For future reference, they definitely are. Before leaving for any international trip, I suggest that you put some serious effort into learning the language, learning the other cultures customs,learning their history, and sleeping as much as you can on the plane because jet lag syndrome is real, and will be hard to overcome. Preparing beforehand may be a bit inconvenient, especially for students, but will be worthwhile in the long run.

Walking through the streets of Rome is any history fanatic’s dream come true. Being able to stand inside the Pantheon, walk through Rome’s ancient forum, and sit next to the Trevi Fountain leaves you in complete awe.Watching the history books that you were forced to read for a course come to life is the most incredible experience. You begin to really appreciate those same stories and places that you took for granted a day earlier. You can just stand there and imagine Michelangelo’s hurried brush strokes as he painted the walls of the Sistine chapel. You can almost hear the crowd as two gladiators take their stances to fight to the death in the Colosseum. After experiencing these snapshots of history, you are left feeling more at one with what is happening around you. Almost like being able to finally see the history you are already in the process of creating.