For as long as I can remember, I developed a deep interest in community service, culture, and the history of human civilization. Flipping through comic books and reading about cultures different from the American culture has fascinated me, but partaking in this valuable opportunity to study abroad, particularly in Rome, will broaden my horizon of learning in a new content. I chose Rome, Italy over other countries because I want my experience abroad to prepare me for my future and studying in Rome seems to work well in narrowing down a clearer pathway. Academically, the Temple Rome program offers credit-bearing courses suitable for fulfilling my academic requirements and interests. This will bring me closer to achieving my future goals. As a Human Development and Community Engagement (HDCE) major in the College of Education, I want to be a social worker, or a social human service assistant where I can help and connect with all individuals from different backgrounds and communities. However, to meet this goal, I believe the hands-on experience that this program provides will give me the opportunity to practice on invaluable people skills.
The “School-Based Community Service” (Education 2087) internship has grasped my attention of wanting to know the different social problems and aspects of services in Rome’s school community. Not only will this boost my self-confidence in taking on active roles, but the internship will deepen my understandings between Italian educational policies and my community service experiences in the United States. I hope to combine the best of these worlds into my future goals while being more attentive in engaging with different people. In long-term goals, I hope this program will give me the opportunity to increase local connections and relationships across the globe when I begin pursuing a professional career.
The Temple Rome program also offers courses like “The History of Rome” which is a great way in fostering my knowledge on the long history of Rome ancient civilization. I have always wanted to learn more about their history too since I think it is vital to learn from one another. Thus, I feel like I am in my own bubble, constrained by the ideas of serenity and familiarity as a Philadelphian native. Even though Philadelphia is a diverse city, I want to be exposed to a new culture that I do not know much about, particular both the Italians and Romans. Despite knowing about the famous Trevi’s Fountain and for having best ice cream (or should I say gelato), the city of Rome deserves more of my appreciation and awareness on the realms of their history and contributions that influenced society today. In addition, I would feel super excited about fulfilling my GenEd requirement by enrolling in the course, Criminal Behavior 0812. Not only will this complete my requirement under Human Behavior (GB), but satisfy my curiosity about different factors on criminal behavior from malicious acts committed in the city of Rome. There is no better way to gain insights on these concepts than being in the birthplace of modern criminology because you can sense directly where and how history took place, which is an effective learning experience.
To conclude, after extensive research of all possible programs, I am fully convinced that studying abroad in Rome, Italy this summer is the best fit for me. It is hard to know for sure how living abroad will affect my future since I have never traveled outside the United States before. But, I hope this opportunity to study abroad in Rome will help build a foundation in my career in HDCE while taking a step back and just seeing how people adopt in a culture foreign to me. As much as I enjoy myself in the city of Philadelphia, just imagining myself being fully independent and seeing a different perspective on how people live would be absolutely life changing in every possible way.
