Howdy everyone! I hope all of you had a great summer; I know I sure have! I’m excited for a new semester, and this week I’ll take you through my summer adventures!

This summer, I spent seven weeks in Rome, Italy with the Viterbi Overseas Program. Myself and 50 other engineers flew out to Rome and moved into apartments for seven weeks as we took engineering classes with our same professors from USC. It was an incredible experience to immerse ourselves in the laid-back Italian culture and bring in some of this global experience to our engineering classroom. I took WRIT 340, Advanced Writing for Engineers, and a special History course designed just for this trip. This course was entitled Communications… Italian Style, and we learned all about the development of communication methods in Italy through experiential learning in various locations around Rome. Our professor, the head of English communications at the Vatican Radio, took us to places like Castel Sant’Angelo, the Doria Pamphilj Palace, and Vatican Television where we learned about communication by putting ourselves into the shoes of the Romans who built and used these places.

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Not only were we able to experience Roman culture, but during our weekends we travelled around Italy and Europe. The program had a couple of day trips planned for the whole group to Ostia Antica and Orvietto, and we also travelled as a large group to Florence and Sorrento/Capri! During our free weekends, I went to Milan and Venice and then to Lauf and Nuremberg in Germany to visit Sarah’s Uncle Mike!

After my Roman adventures, I returned to Dallas for a while before leaving for Jackson Hole, Wyoming with my dad. We spent three nights in the Bridger Wilderness backpacking through the mountains. It was an awesome time to enjoy the nature around us as we camped at various lakes in the mountains and fished for our own trout dinners.

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I’m looking forward to a great Junior year and reconnecting with my new friends from Rome now that I’ve arrived back on campus! Until next time!

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Patrick-2016

Patrick-2016

Computer Science/Business Administration, Class of 2016, Learn more on his profile here!