After returning from a month abroad, I leave with many new perspectives, appreciations, and understandings of life and the difference in cultures. My time studying urban sustainability in Rome is an experience I will truly never forget. I could not talk more highly about the overall experience in Italy. I learned how to adapt to new customs and see what it was like to live in another country. I was able to enhance my academic goals, grow as a student and person, and learn about a whole new culture. This experience also helped me excel with my career/academic hopes for the future. I was able to obtain 7 credit hours and fulfill the abroad requirement for the College of Social Science.

While in Rome, I took an Italian class which allowed me to improve on my language skills and help me become accustomed to the Italian lifestyle there. I didn’t realize how many cultural differences there are between Italians and Americans. Some smaller ones I noticed were lack of access to ice, water, there was an overall friendlier and more outgoing vibe, more fashionable clothing (skirts, dresses, etc.) and the difference of Rome compared to American cities. Rome is more walkable, sustainable, and overall enjoyable. The cost of living there is fairly less expensive as well and the sights are like no other.

We were also allowed to travel on the weekends which gave me the opportunity to see more cities/places in Italy and to compare those as well. We traveled to Florence and the Amalfi Coast. Florence is home to many important art pieces/parts of history. We saw David there and the bridge that inspired the Golden Gate Bridge. In the Amalfi Coast, we went to Sorrento, Positano, and Capri. This was the closest I had been to water, so the breeze was incredible and the overall feeling there was fresh. I would go back to both in a heartbeat.

The ability to study abroad in Rome has changed my life in many ways. I was told before I left that you would meet lifelong friends from abroad but didn’t know to the extent how true that was. I have now come back to the states with 20 friends I did not have before. I forced myself into a new culture and was able to leave with many tools I did not have previously. I gained a sort of independence that Michigan State has not provided me with. I had not known anyone going on the program and now I will return to school in the fall and see some more familiar faces. I would recommend studying abroad to anyone who has even thought about it briefly. I can’t express the amount of gratitude I hold from this program.

Name: Riley Peterson
Status: Junior
Major: Criminal Justice
Hometown: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Program: Arts, Culture and Urban Sustainability in Rome