JanTerm is more than just another month at school for the students of Austin College—it's an adventure between traditional semesters where students immerse themselves into unique opportunities. Grace Auth, a junior on the Kangaroo women's soccer team, is using the opportunity JanTerm provides to travel abroad, taking her all the way to Rome.
With JanTerm wrapping up, Grace checked in one more time from Italy to recount her final week abroad.
Week Three
The final week of any long trip is always bittersweet. The very idea of knowing that the new culture you have immersed yourself in will soon be only a memory is saddening. However, the sweet part is to go home and experience the familiarity you've grown up to love. For me, leaving Rome is sad because just experiencing a taste of another culture full of rich history makes you want to experience more; but I do miss my family and friends and the good ol' United States of America, so in the end I am happy to go home.
Grace's Photos from Week Three in Rome
As I reflect on the final week in Italy, I am very appreciative of my time here. I have seen many famous and pivotal sites of the Roman culture. A few personal favorites of the final week here was seeing the Vatican Museum and being able to travel to Venice.
The Vatican Museum is a very unique place. To somewhat begin to describe it would be to say: you could spend days here and still have more to learn from it. There were artifacts from many different cultures such as the Romans, the Etruscans, and the Egyptians (but they were all the same at one point, right?). Each room and hallway had more statues that once had a specific purpose in its culture, but now only serves as a memory. At first, I saw many Egyptian statues and artifacts, but my favorite part was seeing the mummies. Mummies are something that have always fascinated me. How cool is it to see a preserved body centuries later? Another highlight of the Vatican Museum was seeing the Sistine Chapel. Growing up, learning of Rome, meant I have seen maybe one too many documentaries on the Sistine Chapel. I had always told myself that I would be amazed to see it, but amazed doesn't even begin to describe the level of awe I reached when I finally saw it in person. The amount of art and detail and time spent on this room was incredible. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures of it, so I will just have to stick with my memories and the documentaries.
Venice is a unique city. Having traveled here before at the age of 15, I had somewhat of an understanding of its beauty. However, once I got off the train and walked outside, I was immediately taken aback once again by its beauty. A colorful city on water is a dream to me and I was happy to be back again. The last three days of the trip, my friends and I traveled here and spent most of our time walking around to explore it as well as shop. This was a fun and relaxing way to end a trip to Italy. My favorite part of the short getaway to Venice was on the last morning. I got up to watch the sunrise at 7:00 a.m. and it was around 30°F with a cool wind. Although I was freezing, seeing the different hues of red and orange and pink hit the blue water was absolutely breathtaking. The way the sun sparkled on the water as it rose higher in the sky, the way the clouds reflected the colorful hues, and the way the water danced with the sun was an exemplary way to end a trip.
To have been able to study abroad, was a gift within itself. The opportunity to travel with just enough time to immerse yourself in a culture and yet not get too homesick is perfect to me. I am very grateful to have been able to experience this opportunity and the memories from this trip will last a lifetime.