When I signed up for this trip, I was so incredibly excited and thankful for this opportunity. I never in a million years thought I would be able to visit 5 countries in 3 weeks at age 20. However, I was a little nervous because I had never flown on my own…. let alone traveled to another country. I dismissed my anxiety, because, honestly, what are the odds that something is going to go wrong??  

 

We were supposed to fly out on Saturday, May 11th and arrive in Rome, Italy on May 12th. My flight left out of Savannah and my connection to Rome was in Charlotte. I got to the airport on Saturday and I was so excited and ready to embark on this adventure. I went through security, got to my gate, and waited for boarding to begin. We boarded the flight and began to taxi to the correct runway. However, before we could even take off, our pilot informed us that our flight was delayed for just a short period of time. I was a little worried, but I knew I had at least 3 hours before my connection to Rome left. Well, unfortunately, my flight kept getting delayed and I missed my connection to Rome. 

 

I was so incredibly upset because there was not another flight until the next day. This caused me to miss two days of the program. I not only missed Pompeii, but Naples as well. When this happened, I felt kind of defeated and didn’t really know how to handle it. I was so scared to get to Rome and be completely on my own without any sort of adult. However, I somehow managed to have a flawless flight, navigate the trains of Rome, and take a tour of the Vatican all on my own. I was super proud of myself for accomplishing and overcoming the setbacks I had so early in my trip. What seemed like a disaster turned out to be a great learning experience and truly added something special to my time abroad.

 

'School of Athens' by Raphael
‘School of Athens’ by Raphael; The Vatican
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