The Case for Rome

After learning I would be studying in Rome for a semester, I was disappointed to hear generally negative reviews of the city. Most people who visited from the previous year were very eager to share their distaste for it, and although those who had studied here spoke fairly positively about their experiences, it was difficult to distinguish what they were being honest about and what they were covering up. 

So, in the interest of making a case for Rome and also providing (or attempting to provide) an unbiased analysis of studying at LUISS, I will give the pros and cons of my experiences here.

Living in Rome

While attending LUISS, all students are set up with apartments near the school. Personally, I am settled on a small side street by Piazza Istria. It is about a 25 minute walk from school, close to a metro stop, and next to pretty much every bus line I need to get to every edge of the city.

All of the areas around the school are filled with many Italian families and young professionals and are almost 100% tourist free. The areas are calm and pleasant and quiet at night. Rome is such a quiet city at night that you can even see the stars clearly any day of the week. That is not to say that it is boring at night, however, because within walking distance are many of the bars and nightlife that LUISS students frequent throughout the week.

The streets are packed with greenery, and the two nearby parks of Villa Borghese and Villa Ada are perfect for runs or just sitting out with friends. It doesn’t feel cramped or chaotic like a big city, and it’s a pleasant area to be in. It feels like home, while also having access to the more exciting parts of the city.

Finally, great restaurants are always within reach. The local eateries, cafés, and gelaterias are enough to fill your desire for some restaurant food in between the many nights you will spend cooking.

LUISS Campus

Classes

The system for classes at LUISS is fairly frustrating. The course catalog for English classes is limiting and the scheduling frequently overlaps or falls at inconvenient times. Unlike the MWF/TTH class schedule we’re accustomed to at South Carolina, the LUISS system lacks a universal structure. Some classes are 3 days a week at entirely unrelated times. Some are twice a week for longer hours. I came in with 7 classes prepared to take and was only able to take one of them. I, as well as the other USC students were able to get our credits out of the way just fine, but I would lying if I said it wasn’t a headache.

The classes are fairly interesting and touch on important international business theories and concepts. Although the teacher’s English can be weak sometimes, in most cases it hasn’t been an issue. Classes consist of a couple of exams and a lot of group projects and presentations. Although I prefer the more day-to-day structured system of the states, it has been interesting getting to know Italians and other exchange students through projects and study groups. However, the group projects are a little frustrating because of scheduling with the less organized cultures. Although Italians are very welcoming and always helpful, they aren’t quite as timely and structured as we are. Fortunately though, they’re willing to assist with anything and do their best to speak English around you in the case that you’re like me and don’t have Italian as your minor.

Exams

The different semester schedules between USC and LUISS has been fairly debilitating. LUISS didn’t start until the second week in February and the earliest date that one can be done with exams is late May. Because of this situation, I had to turn down two internships I really wanted as I could not give them the timeframe that they desired. I also had to find something to do for the month of January before LUISS started. Overall, I would recommend that as a very serious consideration for where any IB students choose to study. I have loved being here and wouldn’t change my decision, but I wish I had considered the scheduling factors more closely. Many internships are very strict on wanting at least 10 weeks to 3 months and depending on where you want to do these internships, that may not be possible.

Being an Exchange Student

Overall, this has been the best part of being at LUISS. You are involved in a fairly large group of fellow ERASMUS students with whom you will have many opportunities to meet. You are given an apartment with other foreign students as well which has made it very easy to make friends. Although I have spent time with other USC students, I have had an incredible opportunity to learn more about students from different countries all around Europe and the rest of the world. They are all incredibly welcoming and great to spend time with, and the relationships I have developed have been an important aspect of my experience here.

Stadio Olimpico

Another aspect of being abroad one must consider is the ease of travel, and at Rome it can't get much easier. There are two large airports in Rome that are accessible by a short bus or train ride and have connections to all major cities in Europe. You can find cheap flights through RyanAir, EasyJet, and Vueling (I got to Paris for 80 euros round trip, London for 70 euros round trip, and Barcelona for 60 euros round trip). Furthermore, Italy is such a beautiful country on its own. Many amazing and historic cities are just a cheap bus ride of train ride away and Rome is fairly central to all important regions of the country. It may not be as central as Germany or Paris  in the European Union, but Rome is still a phenomenal hub for travel. 

My Recommendation

Rome has become a home for me. After spending weekends away in different cities—Paris, Barcelona, London, Florence—I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the soft yellow glow of the city through the airplane window. I have gained nothing but an appreciation for Italians and the way that they live. The area of Rome I live and attend school in is welcoming and warm, but the easy access to the city center still gives one a sense of freedom. Although LUISS was not my first choice for study abroad, I wish it had been. I have never once regretted coming to Rome for this semester, and I’m sure that I will miss it when I leave. I can only give my fullest encouragement to anyone who hopes to study here in the years to come.

Midnight in Paris (Extended Cut)

On the way to visit my friend and fellow IB student Jensen Lawless in Paris, she warned me that the city would be difficult to navigate. Dozens of flights into Paris were cancelled, and there was a citywide public transport strike that shut down most of the trains. Luck would have it that I was on one of the small handful of RyanAir flights into Paris that weren’t cancelled. I arrived around 8:40 P.M. in ‘Paris’ (a term I use loosely here because in reality I touched ground at an airport an hour and a half outside of the city) and then took a bus into the center. The first two steps out of my trip knocked out. Easy peazy.

I was warned that the next part of my journey would be the most challenging, but I wasn’t exactly concerned. Maybe I was too confident in my ability to navigate public transportation. Maybe I had too much faith in the longevity of my phone’s battery, which was now at about 12%. Nevertheless I was positive I would get to Jensen’s apartment before 12 PM.

_____________________________________________________________________________ 

“I am not sure I can get to you. The trains into Paris are not running. Let me look how you would get here”
Received: MAR 31, 9:39 PM

“Okay. If transport is down I can just find wifi and set up an account for heetch or whatever” 
                                                                                                     Sent: MAR 31, 9:50 PM

‘Or whatever’. Oh how naïve I was.

At around this time, I was feeling confident. I had already traversed two metros that were supposed to be shut down, and there was a good amount of people in the La Defénse station where RER-A would take me to Cergy Le-Haut, the stop for my friend’s apartment. What I didn’t realize until I stepped on the platform was that this destination wasn’t listed on the boards. No destinations were listed for that matter, only an announcement of the train delays for the social movement.

Confused about what platform I was on, I approached a couple and pointed at the stop and said “Cergy Le-Haut?” I know Spanish pretty well and can figure out Italian from there, but French was a different story. They attempted saying something to me but quickly realized from my deer-in-headlights expression that I had no clue what it was. Finally they nodded and indicated that I was in the right place. I sat down quietly nearby and continued observing them to make sure they knew what they were doing. Although at first they seemed comfortable with the situation, within a few minutes an argument arose between the two. I assumed it was something about the train not coming, or maybe one of them said had that Lord of the Rings was “just okay”. Either way, whatever was said between the two prompted them to leave the platform arguing, waving for me to join with them.

Over the next 5 minutes I found myself being shepherded around the concourse like a stray puppy. At each escalator the couple would walk to the railing and point me up the escalator ahead of them. Despite the mildly demeaning nature of this ordeal, I really had no other options. I still had no idea where I was or how to get to my friend’s apartment anymore and my phone was now at 6%. My best choice at this point was to trust in this helpful and slightly rude Parisian couple.

After the worst game of the follow the leader I’ve ever played, we arrived at the platform that I hoped would soon welcome the RER-A. The couple sat down a little ways away and avoided my questioning glances. By this point I guessed they were tired of dealing with my problems. Fair. There was one other lady standing on the subway, so I asked her similar questions. “Cergy Le-Haut?” I wanted to make sure this was right. She too did not know English so I asked her to write down what to do. She just wrote down meaningless stations and pointed down at the ground. Clearly my confusion was visible on my face because a French kid in a pea coat walked over to help out.

“You said you were going to Cergy? I’m going there too, just follow me.” He speaks English. Awesome.  He’s going to the same place as me. Even better.

After explaining that he was going in the same direction but getting off two stops earlier, we each sat down in the row of chairs on the platform. The screen above said our train was arriving in 26 minutes. I sat down to read my book and wait, but he wasn’t quite as patient. He grabbed his scooter, stood up and looked towards me.

“I don’t want to wait for so long. I have to practice my sport. But I will return.”

And just like that, my pea-coated hero scootered off into the sunset, leaving me with nothing but a worn down copy of a Farewell to Arms and a heart full of hope. With the faith that he would return, I continued reading:

“I could see the brush, but even with my momentum and swimming as hard as I could, the current was taking me away. I thought then I would drown because of my boots, but I thrashed and fought through the water…”

It could be worse, I thought. I could be drowning. I texted Jensen again so she wouldn’t worry when I didn’t show up on time.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“So I found a guy in the metro who’s going to Cergy. I’ll be there in an hour or so. I gotta throw on airplane mode.”

                                                                                                    Sent: MAR 31, 11:06 PM

2 minutes to arrival...

My battery was now at 3%. Apparently that message was a lot of work for my phone to handle. I continued reading:

“…I lay, and was hungry, and waited for the train. The one I had seen was so long that the engine moved it slowly and I was sure I could get aboard it. After I had almost given up hoping for one I saw a train coming”

I prayed I would soon hear the soft click of the scooter wheels passing over the cracks in the cement, but I never did. The train slowly screeched into the station and my heart dropped. As the doors opened in front of me, I took one last look down the tunnel and prayed that my peacoatted Moses would swoop in dramatically from behind the pillar. But just as quickly as he had entered it, he was out of my life forever. Dejected, but with my original guides trailing close behind, I hopped on board the train car. I looked at all of the stops and they gave me an annoyed nod ‘yes’ in response to my anxiety-ridden questioning point in the direction of the train route. Feeling less hopeful and dealing with my newly acquired abandonment issues, I waited impatiently for the last stop that I hoped would provide the lifeline out to Cergy Le-Haut. I rode uncomfortably, my blood pressure rising as I passed through each decreasingly populated station. In my book, I found myself reading the same paragraph over and over; with my stress levels at their peak, it was difficult to concentrate. A few minutes later however, the doors of the subway car opened and I stepped off the train. In quick bounding strides I sped to the end of the platform where a distressed horde of people gazed upward at the departure list. 

   CERGY LE-HAUT: 6:43 AM   

France: 1    Brian: 0

With the miniscule percentage of my phone's battery quickly approaching its event horizon, I was forced to make a choice: spend the night in the train station or call an Uber. Naturally I chose the latter. It quoted me at 55 euros but considering how most of this night had been going, I expected worse. I hit the request option and my phone immediately shut off, but not before letting off a smug laugh at my misfortune. Thank god I had written down Jensen’s address earlier. Say what you will about pencil and paper, but it’s reliable. From there on out all I could do was hope my driver would soon approach the curb. I stepped outside into the frigid air of the station square and waited, hoping that I would see my chariot to the promise land. As a thin sheet of rain began to fall over my head, the hopes of that prospect dwindled.  

After 10 minutes, there was still no Uber in sight. I finally accepted that the likelihood of one even showing up in the right place was low, and I walked over to the cab stand. The first cabbie said it would be about the same price as the Uber, so I accepted and hopped into the back of his Toyota hatchback. Being in the warm backseat, my phone dead but my stress dwindling, I finally felt calm. That night I wouldn’t arrive to Jensen’s apartment until 1:05 AM after hitting standstill traffic in the middle of nowhere, but I was nonetheless in a phenomenal mood. My driver was helpful and let me use his phone charger as we shared in the mutual frustration of the meaningless traffic. Apparently these feelings transcend international borders. With my phone alive again, I let Jensen know I had indeed not died in a train station in Paris and was outside her apartment. 4 hours of confusion and stress later, I had made it.  

I ate some delicious haddock and potato cake with arugula, consumed an unhealthy amount of pain du chocolate, and saw some beautiful sites. Paris is a really pretty city. 

Then the next day Jensen thought she had appendicitis and we spent the entire night in the hospital. But don't worry, apparently it was just a kidney infection. 

So it goes.