5. I really and truly am an introvert.
Like most people, I think, I idealize experiences before they happen. I imagine them playing out in a certain way, usually completely divorced from what I already know about myself and how I react to certain situations. And even though I have found my college community to seem too small at times, I thought that living with a very small group of people was going to be absolutely ideal. And it’s not that it hasn’t been good, it’s just that I need just as much time away from people as I always did at school. It has been tempting to feel guilted away from the time that I need alone to write, draw, and process my experiences, but I think that I’ve done pretty well staying true to my own needs. I do struggle with stress and even though the class load has been light, being abroad and planning travels stress me out more than anything else I’ve ever dealt with. I’ve needed a lot of time to deal with things, but I think that this list itself is proof that I did pretty well.
6. We wear pants for a reason.
This could probably be better stated, “Western Civilization is the way it is for a reason” and I have never appreciated that fact as much as I have while I’ve been here. Thanks to Francesco and his excellent class I learned that there is a purpose behind so many things we take for granted now about how we live, interact, and see the world. Our letters are Roman, our numbers are Arabic, and barbarian horsemen inspire our pants. Every day we are interacting with the past in the present. We are the heirs to a long, long line of tradition and innovation, especially as members of the Catholic Church and Western Civilization. Now we are the stewards of this tradition and it is important for us to preserve it and understand it so that it will not be lost in the future.
7. Art/architecture/places are more beautiful if you understand them.
I don’t know if I’m ever going to feel comfortable traveling without a tour guide again, not because I don’t feel confident in my own abilities to get around, but because I have fully realized how important it is to understand the things your seeing. Thankfully I had the opportunity to go on MANY guided tours here in Europe, upwards of twenty by my count, and this helps me to feel like I got as much as I could out of my travels. My mind is full of trivia and tidbits that will be of use or amusement to me for the rest of my life. But more than that, I understood why I should care about what I was seeing. I’m all for appreciating things because of their beauty, but things are that much more beautiful if you understand why they are unique. I’ve seen numerous churches, but there are many that stick out on their own because they were important for specific reasons: The Porziuncula was the church that Saint Francis rebuilt, the Duomo was the first modern church with a dome of that size, Notre Dame is an 800 year old example of Gothic architecture, the list goes on and on. Attention and understanding we’re keys to this semester to me, and I plan to strive to fully understand other places I visit in the future, even if I don’t have a tour guide.
8. I am thankful that I am an American.
There are so many things about America that I appreciate so much more now. All semester I kept a list on my blog going of all the things I miss most about the States that I’ll be happy to return to such as lemonade, ice, free water in restaurants, frosting, fried food, free bathrooms, and my closet of clothes, in addition to the obvious ones like family and friends. But even more than these things there are many aspects of American attitudes and ideals that don’t play as big a part in the outlook of other countries, such as Italy.
I always thought that I might live abroad, but now I don’t think I will, and if I do it will only be briefly, mostly likely a year or less. Although it’s rather en vogue to belittle America right now, I have no desire to jump on the bandwagon. I’ve seen other parts of the world and have come to appreciate them, but I am an American at heart. I believe in what America stands for and I could never walk away from that. Does it have things to work on as a country? Of course. Could it learn a lot from the rest of the world? Definitely. But do I love it despite everything? You bet I do. And I really can’t wait to go back.
Peace.
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