Roma

Today I received word that I have officially been admitted to a study abroad program in Rome for fall quarter next year, meaning that I will be living in Rome for 10 weeks this fall with about 20 other current UofC college students. It's not really real until I pay my deposit ($550 woooo), start the visa process (thankfully the college handles that for us), and whatnot, but I'm sure it will hit me eventually that I'm going to one of the cradles of Western civilization for an extended visit. :)

I am really, really happy to go to Rome, even though it will require some changes in my usual living routine (besides the obvious change of being in a foreign country on another continent). I'm not sure that I know anyone who is also going with this particular trip, which isn't particularly frightening for me. It is weird in that we are living in apartments in Monteverdi, however, and I've never 1) lived in an apartment, and 2) shared living spaces with other people. I know, I know--a college student who doesn't share living space? I share bathrooms and common areas, but my room this year (and last year) has always been a single. I'm pretty sure the apartments in Rome are four-person with two double bedrooms, but I'm not entirely sure. Trusty earplugs will get me through just about everything, but it is kind of weird to think about sharing a sleeping room with someone (in a foreign country, on another continent) for ten weeks. It's also weird to think about taking care of my own meals all the time (food is not part of the deal, although housing is) and doing other domestic-ish adult-y things. I guess it's a bit like a crash course for real life.

The greater problem for me remains housing after I get back from Rome. The way UofC housing works, you sign on for a whole academic year at a time, but if you're going abroad for a quarter, things get messed up in that you aren't allowed to reserve a room ahead of time. You're guaranteed a space somewhere in housing if you want it, but since people going abroad fall do not reserve rooms in the spring lotteries, we're basically left up to the whims of chance when it comes to coming back to housing for winter quarter; wherever there's space, we go, and it's pretty hard to get back into your same house again, unless someone else leaves. Lots of people in my house are studying abroad next year, and two of my friends are actually studying abroad in winter and spring quarters, respectively. The tentative plan was basically to get a double, which the three of us would rotate in and out of as necessary, and which I would love, as it would let us all stay in our house next year. However, this never really came to fruition, and then the next thing I knew my two friends had indeed set up this plan--with another housemate who is going to India in the fall.

Obviously it was a little bizarre and kind of upsetting to be locked out of this rotating double plan, for another random housemate also going abroad fall, and obviously the fact that my housemate is also going abroad fall and also wants to stay in our house when she comes back (and actually has a working plan for doing it, something that I don't have) makes it that much less likely that I will be able to get back in next year unless someone from our house drops out of the college or something. I won't be homeless or anything of the sort no matter what happens, but I do love my house and housemates dearly and would be sad to be in a different house. Hopefully I can at least remain in the same dorm, even if in a different house.

There's nothing that can be done about that now, though. Eyes just have to stay on Rome. :)