Global Learning 350
Journal Prompt #1:
Imagine that you are getting back on a plane at the end of the Rome Experience.
How do you imagine that you have changed?
With
anything, you must start at the beginning. So to begin I have to reflect on the
reason I decided to come to Rome in the first place. As a Psychology major I
tend to think about many things in my life in a deep manner, so bare with me as
I try to explain my reasoning for choosing to start on this this beautiful adventure.
There came a time last semester at Walsh that I was sitting in a classroom
drifting off wondering if there was anything else in this life to do other than
the constant get up at 8am, walk across campus, grab a Starbucks coffee, and
attend class while trying to keep one eye open. With every day, the same
routine was getting old. Just then a man came into our classroom and talked to
us about studying abroad in Rome this spring, and that was my sign. So to
answer the question of why I made the decision I did, I suppose I am looking
for more.
In our
reading for this week in The Italians by
Barnini, he quotes, “What do foreigners seek that is better than what they left
behind?” I think this is a great question to ask myself as I begin this
adventure. Am I looking for a better life, or a more beautiful one? Or do I
already believe in a beautiful life, and now I’m looking for assurance that it
is beautiful? I would have to admit that it is both. I don’t want to physically
change on this trip, but I would love to mentally change. I would love to look
at life with a different perspective. Barnini speaks about how a foreigner
leaves his or her troubles behind, and embarks on new paths. This is surely
what I am looking for in this trip, to leave behind the unneeded stress and
troubles, and take in new beauty that will make me look at things differently
once I return home. Life, to me, has always been a privilege, so why not make
the most of it? I also decided that traveling across the world might be
beneficial to my mental strength and create a trust in myself independently. In
the short story Who Killed Daisy Miller, Christopher
Wood says, “The Eternal City is the place to begin an investigation into the
feelings of pleasure and fear.” For most, this comment may scare people away,
but it pulls me in. I want to be challenged and possibly in fear, and this may
soon help me grow stronger and acquire a greater trust in myself, in every
aspect of life.
So, I
decided to embark on a wonderful trip to Rome; to find beauty, myself, and a
true knowledge of such a historical place. In class the other day Chris shared
a few of his thoughts about how the first days in Rome were going for him. He
mentioned that everything is so different here. His examples were the houses.
You can’t look at a group of homes here and see any that look alike. That
really got me thinking about the way that we view things in a new place. Back
at home, we view everything as so bland because it is the routine of our lives,
almost like we are sleep-walking through life. I think this is what I was
feeling that morning sitting in one of my morning classes at Walsh. Maybe my
life is too much of a routine. A change of scenery is so good for our lives,
and I am already beginning to realize that here in Rome. I don’t want my life
to go by and realize that I have missed it. I hope that my experience here will
give me a change of scenery, and then when I return home a new view to start
again.
When I
return home from my plane flight I hope to admire the beauty around me more. I
wish to have a better outlook on the world so that I am able to truly
understand the beautiful life I am living in, even when I am walking on Walsh
campus in canton every morning at 8am. I wish to feel the way that Henry James
felt in Bernini’s book, “At last, for the first time, I live.” I have only been
here a few days, and I am already feeling as though I am truly living here, and
every day I trust this feeling will grow.
