GL 350, Week 3

            This past weekend six of my classmates and I had been in three different countries all in one day.  How many people that are nineteen and twenty years old can say that? As always, we started off getting ready for our day and ate breakfast at Rome home while we waited for our ride to the airport. From there we traveled to Paris; hands down, it is my favorite city that I have seen when it comes to its architecture. 

Being in Rome has made me appreciate small things in America; such as, ranch dressing, somewhat sane drivers, and of course Chipotle.  I would not say that I am homesick, but I would say I’m “America sick.”  I miss the comfort of knowing my surroundings at all times and know how to order something without having to make hand gestures for people to comprehend what I am saying.  The night before we left for Paris, Henna had discovered that Paris had one Chipotle.  We lucked out because it just happened to be next door to another location that we needed to stop at.  So as many Americans that have been deprived from Chipotle at some point can imagine the first thing that we did when we arrived in the city was look for Chipotle.  And let me say, it tasted just like home. 

Knowing that we did not have a lot of time in Paris, we had managed to plan a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and it allowed us to see the entire city in just a short period of time.  As many other tourists and locals would say, my favorite part of the city was the Eiffel Tower, even though it was a close call compared to the Louvre.  Actually seeing it in person rather than in a textbook or online is indescribable; however, I was disappointed that it was not another “Coliseum moment.”  That is when something just comes out of nowhere and is unexpected.  Instead, we actually had to walk around for a little after we exited the metro in order to find it.  One thing that I did find unexpected was that French people are actually very nice! Not one person was rude to us and I will forever defend them if anyone tells me otherwise.   

Once seven o’clock hit none of us wanted to leave Paris, but we headed to the airport anyway with the Eiffel Tower in our rearview mirror.  We landed in Dublin, Ireland at about ten o’clock.  We went straight to our hostel, set our things down, and headed out to explore the city.  Even though Paris has my heart when it comes to its architecture, Dublin has the most amazing atmosphere.  Every person is so friendly and walking down the street everyone was singing! Every fifty feet someone would be on the side of the street being some sort of entertainment.  The food was also delicious.  I hate to say it but it was better than a majority of things I have eaten here in Rome.  It all tasted homemade and was comforting.   I would most definitely love to go back and spend more than just two days there.

In The Smiles of Rome, Saint Paul stated, “do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let you behavior change, modeled by your new mind.”   As a student in a foreign country, I really enjoy this quote. Before moving to Rome, we were given several pieces of advice in order to blend in more with the Romans.  I have learned that no matter what we all do, we will always be recognized as American students, so we should not try to pretend to be something we are not.  Even though we have only been here for three weeks, I can already tell that I am forming a new mindset towards the world and life itself.  I appreciate small things more, especially things that make up my life back in the United States.