"Rome Home"

As a college student, the word home begins to have several definitions, and sometimes its meaning gets a little diluted. Don't get me wrong...there's always HOME. You know, where you come from, where your family lives, where you grew up. But when you're living away at school, that too becomes a sort of home. You establish new relationships, frequent certain places, become comfortable in the area. And generally, the majority of your 12 months each year are then spent in this new "home." So I kind of have two homes: my Home in Leominster, and my home in Grantham.

In case that didn't make your head spin a little, I now find myself living in Rome. It's a brand new place in a culture that I'm adjusting to with a language that I don't know. Like I blogged about before, everything about being here has been foreign. But last weekend something changed. On Saturday night when my friends and I were in Florence, someone mentioned what she was planning on doing when she got home. There was a little confusion (some wondered why she was planning so many months in advance) until she clarified that she meant when we got back to Rome. Our "Rome home." As the group of us talked we realized how we were really looking forward to getting back to Rome and our apartments, where things were familiar.

I have to say, we hadn't quite been here 3 weeks at the time, so I wasn't expecting the feeling I had when we arrived at Termini train station in Rome. You know that feeling you get when you arrive home after a vacation? You know, the feeling that vacation was good and relaxing, but it's nice to be back where everyting is comfortable and familiar and you know where you're going. It was like there was a release when we got there, and it was an amazing feeling to just get off the train and know where I needed to go and how to get back to the apartment. I was surprised that I felt this way about Rome so soon into the program. I figured that I would feel that way after spring break, but 3 weeks in?

As weird as it is, it's a very reassuring thought for me: it helps to get through the day knowing that I've adjusted to being here. Granted, so many things are still so foreign, and there are a lot of simple, everyday tasks that are difficult just because I don't know the language. But I'm comfortable here. I'm learning my way around, I'm picking up a bit more Italian, and I absolutely love just exploring the city: my Rome home.