What were you grateful for this week?Getting to Italy safely and meeting my lovely host family! I’ve only been here a couple days but they’ve been so wonderful and I’ve already seen parts of the city center!

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Just getting used to how things work over here, especially figuring out public transportation and how/when to get places. That and the jet lag, but I’ve almost recovered now 🙂

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. (A “wow” moment is when you went the extra mile to do something nice for your host family.)My host mom keeps telling me I don’t have to help clean up after meals but that just does not feel right for me as a guest so I’ve been washing dishes.

Tell us about your week! My first few days in Rome! My host family has already made me feel so welcome and I love it here. The kids are so so sweet and we’re getting along really well so far, and the mom is an archaeologist and your guide so who better to host you in Rome?? I haven’t been here very long yet so I’m just getting my feet under me, but we’ve already gone into the city and seem some amazing things. 

The first day we went for a walk and (from my completely disoriented perspective) basically ran into the Colosseum. We got to tour inside and it was practically empty because we got there at the exact right time. It’s so completely insane to walk somewhere so ancient, especially being from the western states where our towns are less than 200 years old.

Last night we went to the city center. We played hide and seek at the Pantheon and had gelato — there were an almost overwhelming number of flavors to choose from. It was so fun just wandering there in the evening. The weather was amazing and it was pretty magical seeing the flower peddlers and performers and people eating at outdoor cafes. Oh, and there were big flat-screen TVs mounted outside almost every restaurant so that the patrons could watch FIFA, which cracked me up.