Tour v. Class

I'm back home now! I haven't updated in awhile, but the reason why is kind of the topic of this blog post. I joined the tour on Friday, June 30 and I pretty much didn't sleep at all until last night.

The tour was really different than what I was used to in Rome with class. In Rome, I feel like we were getting more of the Italy experience. We got to relax, see the sights at our own pace, and really explore the city. With the tour, everything felt really rushed. I felt like we didn't ever have time to stop and really look at what we were doing. Dinners were pre-ordered and we had to eat them really quickly, so I felt like we didn't really get a chance to pick for ourselves what we wanted to eat and experience the Italian culture that way. Lunches were usually on the go, and more than once we ate at a self-serve place, which is really nasty. I don't think that the kids on the tour got a really good feel for what Italy is like. I didn't experience any of the laid-back culture that I saw in Rome while we were studying. Our guide, Massimo, who is from Rome, was always rushing around and very frantic.

The one part of the tour that did reinforce something about the Italian culture that we learned in class was the idea of connections. Many of the "city guides," as Massimo called them, that we had were friends of Massimo. He called them in, he said, specifically because he thought we would like them. The one that was really horrible was the substitute one, because his friend was already booked. So that reinforces the idea that in Italy it's all about who you know.

I enjoyed the tour because I got to see more of Italy and my parents paid for my food but I enjoyed the class experience more because I think I learned more about the Italian culture and way of life by our class schedule and lectures.