27/07/2026
to Fall 2025 with Lianna ✨
“Being abroad is one of the biggest chances you get to grow into your own person and figure out what you actually enjoy doing, what food you love, and who you want to share your memories with. My semester in Rome gave me all of that, but the thing I’m most grateful for is the people: fellow Trinity Rome Campus students, campus staff, the convent workers and nuns, and the strangers I met through my internship or while traveling through other countries. I feel like these connections are what I’ll carry with me the longest.
Independence and adventurousness are the two qualities I didn’t expect to walk away with. Traveling solo, often with no real plan beyond a plane or train ticket, pushed me way outside my comfort zone. I had to figure out unfamiliar transit systems, work around language barriers, and just talk to people, whether to ask for directions, strike up conversations, or make friends out of strangers. What surprised me most is how confident I became specifically as a solo traveler. I left Rome trusting my own judgment more, feeling more comfortable with uncertainty, and carrying pieces of perspective from every person I crossed paths with along the way.
Being home now, I’ve realized how truly wonderful and rich with culture Rome is, and I’m itching to go back. I am forever grateful for the Trinity College Rome Program and the experiences it brought me. I appreciate the staff, the convent, and everyone who was somehow a part of my journey. I think about it multiple times a day, reminiscing on how amazing the experience was: interning at Chef Andrea’s cooking class, photographing the city, learning the language, and learning about the place we were living. I tell my family often that I’ll be back. Whether it’s next year or in twenty years, I know I haven’t completely explored all that Rome has to offer.”
