I spent 6 weeks studying abroad in Rome, Italy with 25 other students. I was terrified. I had never gone to Europe before, I had never traveled by myself, and I had never entered something like this without knowing a soul. I had only known what I was told, ‘Europeans don’t like Americans,’ ‘the weather is dreadful,’ etc.… Though, what I had experienced was completely different.

My Italian professors were wonderful. They were very kind and helpful. They took the time to get to know each of us as well as befriend us. They would give us recommendations to try the best places around town.

As someone who does not thrive in heat, I was fine. We had no air conditioning, and the weather would get as high as 100 degrees. Drinking water, and a lot of it, was essential. None of us got close to heat exhaustion because we all took care of ourselves properly.

Aside from my environment, I really cherished the people I had met. We all immediately clicked and would spend almost every second of our days with each other. Together, we explored Rome, Italy, and the rest of Europe when we could. The people I met were different from my friends back home. I learned that simply being kind is enough. I made an effort to introduce myself to everyone around me. From there, people latched onto my plans, and we’ve been friends ever since.

The culture of a different country was a lot harder to adapt to. We were briefly given a crash course on Rome’s culture, which greatly differed from ours. It was not until we consistently started exploring and going out to restaurants that we realized this. We had to be more patient. Romans worked with more leisure and usually were never in a hurry. We are also accustomed to being very trusting of other people, we had to learn that was not the dynamic there.

There was a lot of pickpocketing and scamming due to the surplus of tourists which people can take advantage of. Thankfully, we all took precautions early on.

I would not trade this experience for the world, but I was initially debating between backpacking with my friends instead of the program. I debated this because I was afraid I would not have time to travel while in school. This was totally debunked. We ended up traveling to a new place every weekend including Portugal, Croatia, France, Monaco, Florence, Sorrento, and Tuscany.

Overall, I had the absolute best time of my life. I made an abundance of friends and memories. I got to travel Europe whilst earning 6 credits. I also didn’t just visit Italy, I lived in Italy, which gave me the opportunity to learn and be a part of its culture. In a million years I would have never guessed I did all the things I did in 6 weeks, but now I am forever grateful to MSU for this opportunity.

Name: Nicole Bimbad
Status: Senior
Major: Human Biology
Hometown: West Bloomfield, Michigan
Program: Human Biology Summer in Rome