While there are many different things to do in Rome, such as visiting museums, parks, or monuments, it’s the people who make Rome, Rome. In my own experience here, I have enjoyed going on strolls throughout the tight alleyways and stumbling upon some ancient ruins, but what I have really loved here is the community.

With our Barista Friend, Silvestro.

Almost every day before class, I get a coffee at the bar next to me, and I have created a relationship with the baristas. Just by being there every day, I have come to know them on a deeper level than just customer and worker, while also practicing my Italian. Through that, I have also met other regulars of that bar, furthering the sense of community I feel here.

Street vendors with party glasses and a robot cat?

These people I have met aren’t students like me, but locals of this place I call home for the time being. While I know it may seem hard to break the norm and comfort zone of a study abroad experience, I encourage breaking all boundaries. This creates the warmth of a home, not just a place you are traveling to and around.

Music, a social glue that unites tourists and locals

Meeting these types of people has broadened my horizons; talking to different people with different ways of life is true art to me. Not to mention all my friends I have met, too, of course, in and outside of classes. Without the people I met here, Rome wouldn’t be the same, even with the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, or the Vatican City; it’s the people that make it shine.

Written by: Liam, Fall 2025 Rome student from Baylor University