Classic Sunday. When it’s time to return my focus from weekend glories to weekday productivity, I can’t help but get a little wistful. I’m feeling nostalgia for my experiences in Rome in the Viterbi Study Abroad program! To set the scene: ~35 Viterbi students, several Viterbi professors and administrators, and 7 weeks in the eternal city, Rome.
Who is this handsome man on top of St. Peter's?
Firstly, I got to take classes that go directly towards completing my degree (in my case, thermodynamics and writing 340). The best thing about the classes I took abroad is that the classroom environment was particularly intimate. Classes are smaller than usual (my thermo class only had 9 students in it) and I got to know each and every one of my class mates. I got to know my professors too – they traveled everywhere with us and would even come with us to lunch on the occasion! It was intense completing a full semester of work in 7 weeks, but it was great to get them those hard classes out of the way.
Speaking of traveling everywhere, part of the program was traveling to cities outside Rome. As a group we visited Florence, Assisi, Orvietto, Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii. On the weekends when we weren’t traveling as a group, we would organize our own adventures. I spent time in Venice, Palermo, Sienna (twice!), Barcelona, and London. And those are just excursions outside the city! It feels like we explored every inch of old Rome, I won’t even bother you and list all the places we saw but it’s safe to say that if you’ve ever heard of it, we were there at one point. To say that Viterbi abroad is an epic adventure is a tremendous understatement.
Fighting on like it's our job.
My favorite part though, by far, is the friends I made along the way. I couldn’t love all of the great people I met on the trip more if I tried. And the best part is they’re all around campus! Bumping into them always brightens my day. It’s hard to describe my study abroad experience. Words like unforgettable, amazing, fulfilling, and sublime don’t do it justice. You’ll just have to trust me when I say it was the time of my life.
So many good times! I miss it!