Is there a pause button I can hit?!?

I keep thinking I've had the most stressful and busy week of my life, and then a new one starts. I apologize for all the late posts, once again. This post is about April 7th-12th.

As of April 12th, I have 30 days left in Rome. This absolutely insane. On one hand, I'm excited to get home, to see my family and my friends, to come back to Castleton in the fall, and to finish college. On the other hand, the idea that I won't be in Europe in 30 days is terrifying. I've gotten very used to my life here, all the small hassles and the slowly disappearing language barrier. I'm able to hold conversations, but there are still a lot of vocabulary missing for me.

Other than the fact the I'm almost finished this semester, I've been thinking a lot about my MUN class. Our final deadlines for position papers was the 13th, but I uploaded mine on the 12th, just to be safe. I had been working on these papers for the last month, so for them to be finally done and turned in is nice.

I've also been named Head Delegate for our Delegation. Our previous Head Delegate has to fly home and will not be able to attend, so I stepped up and was voted the new Head Delegate. Ellen, the previous Head, was auditing the class as this was the third time she had taken it. She was just doing it to be able go to MUN again, and as a result, wasn't very active as our Head Delegate, but I have been stepping up over the past three months, and now it is my official title.

My teacher isn't a hundred percent sure what it means officially at the conference to be the Head Delegate, but unofficially I'll be checking in to make sure everyone is in their committees, make sure everything is running smoothly, calm down people when they get stressed out. Luckily, it's all stuff I'm good at.

I am starting to think that after college I want to have a career that allows me to use the skills I've gained in this class. I would like to do something with diplomacy, but probably not with the UN. I respect the UN and all it does, but it is unfortunately not as effective as it could be, at least for the General Assembly. I think I want to work for an IGO or NGO that does make progress, in a significant way. I want to be part of real change that actually helps the world.

The closer we get to finals, the more projects my teachers assign. They're all listed in my syllabi, so it wasn't unexpected, but still all at the same time. This is my schedule for the next four weeks:

• 4/13: Composition in Italian due, as well as write-up of how the oral presentation prep is going.
• 4/14: Turkish Minister Presentatino - Extra Credit for Two Classes
• 4/15: Memo due for ECPO course, worth 20% of my grade
• 4/16: Debate in IA 200 on Feminism from an Int'l Relations POV
• 4/16: Lecture given by FAO to promote their MUN in September, which I won't be around for, but FAO may have info/be able to answer questions of mine for my MUN
• 4/17: MUN Class, full day of mock committee, must know all Parliamentary phrases, esp. since we have a guest that day. Second Draft Resolution is due, on agriculture and food security
• 4/18: ISA trip to Ninfa and Sermoneta, which I may pass on since it's a week away from MUN
• 4/21 or 22: Oral presentation on Food in Italy, throughout it's regions.
• 4/23-4/27: MUN Conference in the Hague.
• 4/28 or 29: Italian Final Oral Exam
• 4/30: IA 200 Term Paper Due (completed by 4/29)
• 4/30: IA 360 MUN Reflection Paper Due (completed by 4/29)
• 4:30-5/3: Trip to Ireland
• 5/4: Last day of classes
• 5/5: Study Day for Exams
• 5/6: ECOP Final Exam
• 5/7: Italian Final Written Exam
• 5/7: IA 200 Final Exam
• 5/12: Fly Home

This is in addition to all my classes, which will still meet and have regular homework assignments, and anything that will come up with the volunteer club and cultural immersion. It's just a lot all in the next few weeks. But on the 12th, when I come home, the only thing I have to do is fight jet lag and slowly unpack. It will be bittersweet to leave, but I am so looking forward to catching up on sleep.

Finally some cultural immersion progress!

Yes, you read that correctly!

The week before midterms, I, Kaitlin Morrison, as a member of the Volunteer Club at the American University of Rome, participated in a bake sale, with the funds going to two different local organizations by the school. The first organization is IoLibero, a local dog shelter, and the second organization is KIM, a center for children and their mothers who need medical care in Rome. We raised about 400 Euro, which is amazing considering the entire student body is about 500 students.

I baked seven loafs of banana bread and a chocolate torte, all of which was sold. I also sat at the table and talked about the Volunteer Club and the two organizations, both of which the Volunteer Club is hoping to continue to support over the semester. We have asked both organizations how we can help directly, but haven't gotten a response yet.

I am personally waiting to hear back from IoLibero, to see how I can volunteer directly with them, maybe by walking the dogs or helping to clean out the kennels.

Also, during spring break there are RetakeRoma events going on all week, and I plan on participating in a few.

(I understand this is all small progress, but any progress is better than none in my opinion!)

Arrival and Orientation Week

January 19th and 20th

My trip started with my father and I driving to Montreal for my flight to Rome, with Air France and a layover in Paris. Both my checked bag and my carry-on were underweight! I kept setting the metal detector off, so I was patted down both in Montreal and in Paris. Other than that, everything else went as planned.

During the layover in Paris, I met up with seven other ISA students who were taking the same flight into Rome as I did. The flight got delayed because of fog, so we got into Rome a bit later than scheduled, but ISA was still there to pick us up. Because we flew in from the EU, our plane landed in Terminal 1 instead of 3, which is where ISA pickup was scheduled to meet, but they surprised us and were waiting outside baggage claim for us.

ISA had hired drivers to carry us and our luggage to the apartment, giving us a chance to settle in, go grocery shopping, etc. The car ride was terrifying, because our driver was on his cell phone the entire time and didn't seem to want to stay in his lane. Myself and another ISA student named Jessica were in the very back of the van, and we were sure that we were going to die before we even got to do/see anything. We finally got to the apartments, where a group of people helped us bring in our luggage and showed us how to use our keys and walked us through the apartment. I had been awake for 27 hours by that point, so none of the details are sticking out in my mind.

ISA had told us to meet them downstairs in the lobby of our building by 6:30, so they could take the 8tram with us into Rome, to the last stop near the Trevi fountain. We had dinner, which was amazing! The first course, Primo, was a pasta sampler dish, which was very good. The Secondo and Contorno was Saltimbocca Alla Romana (veal topped with prosciutto and sage, and paired with roasted potatoes). Dolce was tiramisu.

After dinner, we had to take the 8tram back to our apartments by ourselves. One of the ISA directors led us back to the trams and "accidentally" put half of us on one tram and half on another. We all made it back safe and sound but it was a little nerve racking since we didn't know for sure what stop it was to get to the main road, to lead us back to Antonio Bennicelli where the apartment is.

January 21st

ISA/AUR had scheduled an orientation for 10:30, so myself and two of my roommates, who both happen to be named Hannah and are from central Ohio, left around 9:45 so we could be a bit early. We knew we had to take either the 44 bus or the 870 bus to get to AUR, but we could not find either of the bus stops to get on. We walked all over the nearby streets with the little maps ISA had given us, which weren't very helpful because the neighborhood we live in is cut off of the map. We finally found the stop for the 870 bus around 11:15 am and got on, but it didn't ever go north of where we boarded the bus, it just kept circling. So we got off when we were near our apartment and went back upstairs to call ISA and look up the 44 stop again. It turned out to be on the next street over from the main street near our apartment, so we all felt pretty stupid for not seeing it and figuring it out. We got to AUR around noon, where Vera, one of the ISA directors met us outside the gates of the school and helped us get started on filling out our student IDs and permit to stay forms. We then went to ISA's office to have the orientation we missed, but luckily we weren't the only group of students that got lost that day.

At 2:15 ISA had planned a walking tour of Rome, so myself and Hannah Squared had lunch at a little pizzeria, which was molto delizioso. We met back up with the ISA students and started our walking tour. It was amazing to see everything that I had learned about in middle and high school, and some of the things I had learned about last semester in my Italian Renaissance Art History class, like all the piazzas, the Pantheon, and all of the arcades and columns.

The View from Fontana dell'Acqua Paola

Graffiti near the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola. It reads "It is the hour of getting drunk! For do not be tormented slaves of time, be drunk always! Of wine, of poetry or of virtue, as you please.

Tiber River

A street near the Palazzo Farnese

Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona

The Pantheon 

Sculpture of Christ on the Cross inside The Pantheon

Raphael's Tomb inside the Pantheon

Close up of the tomb 

The Trevi fountain is under restoration :(

But they put this up so I could still have my Lizzie McGuire moment :)

Ciao!

If I had planned better...

... this would have been the first post. It's sort of the About Me page, why I'm studying abroad and who I am.

About the blogger and the study abroad program:

• I am a 20 year old female college student who is about to leave the United States and study abroad in Italy for the next 17 weeks.
• I am in my last semester of my junior year at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont.
• As a Global Studies Major at Castleton, I am required to study abroad for at least 15 weeks and become culturally immersed in the country I will be living in.
• Becoming culturally immersed is the key part of this study abroad experience. I have to be an active participant in Roman culture, to experience more than just the college and my apartment. Here is a link to an article that explains this idea really well. 
• I plan to become culturally immersed in a few different ways:
• 1) Find a language partner. The American University of Rome (AUR), the school I am attending, states on their website that they have an existing program for this purpose, which I plan to use.
• 2) Sign up for a cooking class, and if time/money permits, a painting class. I want to learn how to cook authentic Italian foods, and I want to improve my painting skills. (I can't think of a better place for either!)
• 3) Volunteer my time while I'm abroad. AUR has a few opportunities for students to get involved in the local area, and there may be some in the neighborhood I am staying in as well.
• When I return to Castleton in the Fall and start my senior year, I will be enrolled in a Capstone Seminar, where I will prepare a presentation and a paper that connects my education at Castleton with what I learned abroad through my cultural immersion.

Why Italy:

• I chose Rome for my study abroad for a few different reasons. 
• First is that I have always wanted to visit Italy. Italy has drawn me in since I was little. There is a whole list of why: the amazing food and flavors that are authentically Italian; ancient buildings that exist to this day; the language sounds beautiful; the Vatican; the Renaissance period with artists like Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Giotto, and Bramante; the sights from tall towers, looking over the entire city. My grandfather and his partner Joe go to Florence every eight years or so, and I have always dreamed that I would be able to go to Italy on my own someday. I had considered a transfer year when I was in high school, but I instead skipped my junior year and graduated early. Italy just made the most logical sense for my study abroad when I transferred to Castleton.
• Second was the courses that were available to me, and their ability to transfer back to Castleton. I am taking three political science classes, a religion course, and a foreign language course, which will apply directly to my Global Studies Major and my Political Science Minor. These courses will give me a first hand opportunity to learn about the European Union while living there, to learn about the global impact from different countries foreign policies, and learn about religion and culture in a country that has a huge influence on both. 
• Third is best described by my blog title, which is "il cuore non sbaglia." This literally translates to "the heart is not wrong." However, its English counter proverb would actually be "The heart sees farther than the head" or "trust your instincts." Rome is a gut instinct. It feels right.