What were you grateful for this week?Amazing friends and great memories. 

What was the most challenging part of this week?Being patient. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. I spent my evening off with my host brother at the beach all day. 

Tell us about your week!  This week, well this weekend, was definitely one of the hardest yet most exciting ones of my trip. I was beyond lucky to meet up with a couple girls from the program in Milan. I met up with both girls I had met before, and girls that I was meeting for the first time ever. Despite most of us meeting for the first time we were all able to connect almost instantly. I got to spend my first day in Milan with two girls that were the first girls I had ever met from the program. It made me feel nostalgic because now I was with these girls on my final trip while doing the program. Milan was overall beautiful. 

The weekend was filled with laughing, dancing, and lots of scooter riding. We did as the locals do and went shopping, because what else would you do in the fashion capital?! We walked around and picked up some gelato before making our way to the Duomo for an impromptu photoshoot.

Later that night we made our way to a disco where we danced the night away. I felt carefree and just genuinely happy being surrounded by such an amazing group of girls. While I had met most of them that same day, I felt like I could trust them with my life. Our mode of transportation for the night was electric scooters. Due to limited supply we rode two people per scooter which definitely led to an unforgettable night. While our Saturday night didn’t go completely as planned it ended up being more perfect than I could have imagined. Every trip definitely has its flaws or its hardships but I definitely have learned that with the right people those flaws make for an even more unforgettable trip. 

One of the hardest parts of the trip was saying goodbye to E, who was one of the first girls I met thanks to the Rome Abroad program. From the moment I met E during our Venice trip I instantly felt like I could be my true self around her. Since the Venice trip we were able to do a weekend trip to Perugia together which was also a bunch of fun. When leaving Milan I had to say my goodbye to E who was my first friend here. She broke me out of my shell as I usually struggle to be comfortable around new people. Being able to spend my last weekend trip with the first genuine friend I made thanks to this program really caused me look reminisce and just see how far we’ve come. While we did have to say our goodbyes I hope that one day I will be able to see the friends that I made thanks to this program again.