Our study abroad adventures have started in Rome (or Roma, as one would say in Italian)! We all safely arrived, found our way to meet the FUA faculty and staff waiting for us, and made our way to our hotel...all with only a few minor hiccups!
We had a few hours to enjoy walking around the city before getting ready for our first class period! Rome is a big city, with beautiful monuments. The Trevi Fountain is one of my personal favorites. The water, the blue and white glow, the romance...I can't help but feel a little like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. I, of course, tossed a coin in so that I can hope to return to Rome one day. I also appreciate that the coins thrown into the fountain are collected to support local and global issues, such as reducing health disparities and poverty, and increasing disaster relief efforts.
We gathered around 6pm for our first class period. Marco greeted students, went over our travel week itinerary, and assessed learning from Tim Park's "Italy Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo" via a short quiz. Students did brief introductions (we have 15 Purdue students, and 15 more students from University of Florida, Robert Morris, and University of South Florida). From there, we took a bus to our first group dinner, where we enjoyed fresh bruschetta, a traditional Roman pasta dish (pasta with pork cheek and pecorino cheese), and a light fruit salad. We finished our evening by singing "happy birthday" to Marco, our field week instructor.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our first day of sight-seeing, food-eating, and friendship-building. Tomorrow we have a full day of touring Rome. Check back regularly to keep up with our daily adventures, and drop us a note below. We would love to hear from you! Each day a new student will be posting photos or a video...you don't want to miss them!
Buona Notte
[This post was composed by Dr. Andrea DeMaria, Assistant Professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University, and the program director for this study abroad experience.]