I seriously can’t believe we are talking about leaving. I feel like it was just yesterday I was getting dropped off at my apartment. My friends who have studied aboard before me warned me that it would go by fast but I was not expecting it to fly by.

I am excited to go home and see my family but I am also sad about leaving Rome. I love the city. I am going to miss just walking out of my door and being able to go to any gelato place, or being able to take a nice walk to the Pantheon where my favorite Kebab place is. It still hasn’t hit me that I have been living in Rome for almost four months because it feels like I just got here!

I have learned so much about myself over the course of the semester. I never really considered myself independent or I guess I never really felt independent back home. But now I can confidently say that I am very independent.

It has also helped me become a more organized. I had to balance travel and school which was hard at first but I have adjusted and it just feels normal and not overwhelming like it did in the beginning of the semester.

Studying abroad has impacted my future because I will forever have the experience and the lessons I learned while abroad with me for the rest of my life.

When I come back to the U.S. I am not going to be the same girl who left four months.
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Erika is a student at St. Norbert College studying at John Cabot University during the Spring 2014 term.