Thursday, October 25th

     Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been dependent on my family.  My parents, sisters, and I have always been extremely close and I have never been away from them for more than two weeks at a time; let alone two months.  So as many can imagine, knowing that I would be across the world for two months was a bit scary; however, knowing how dependent I have always been on my family, I realized that this was my opportunity to become more independent. 
     Today was our fourth day on this journey and it was the best one yet.  After visiting the Baths of Caracalla and receiving a quick lesson on gelato, four of my friends and I began to wander the streets of Rome.  At first, we walked in and out of small shops that we could never find back at home.  After awhile, we decided that we could not wait to see the Trevi Fountain.  Not knowing its location, we pulled out a map and started walking.  We had looked like typical tourists; taking wrong turns, looking for street names, and so on.  After awhile, we eventually found the known location, and it was by far my favorite spot yet.
     After that, we decided to wander even further into the city.  My friends and I wanted to find a particular store, so we stopped and asked local Italians for directions because our map was useless.  We found our destination and realized that we had lost track of time.  We had to figure out how to return back to the Metro in a short period of time.  My four friends and I remembered passing the Spanish Steps, so we went running throughout the streets of Rome, swerving in and out of the crowd searching for them; knowing that the Metro was nearby.  Once we had found it, we were not sure what to do next.  A giant map sat in front of us so we took our time trying to figure out what our next move was, and somehow we ended up becoming lucky; we made it back to Termini on time ourselves.
     I know that it does not seem like much, but my friends and I felt so accomplished once we reached Termini, a place that we are familiar with.  For the first time it hit me that I had not depended on my family; and instead my friends and I were learning to become more independent together.  As Barzini explained in The Italians, Italian families purposely made their living space larger than any other in their homes in order to spend time together and bond. In my particular situation, I could compare this to the city of Rome itself.  The city is so large that it left my friends and I no choice but to bond today while wandering the streets.  It was the first time that we realized we were on our own away from our families, and for the next two months we have no one to depend on but each other.