Pre-Departure Orientation

"If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." - Doctrine & Covenants 38:30

Guess what?! An admissions officer from JCU came to visit us today and gave us some tips for our upcoming trip. It was actually a helpful (and brief) orientation. A few things that he told us really shocked me and are going to be difficult to adjust to:

• No hoodies allowed! So in the evenings when it gets chilly, we have to still look fancy!
  
• No blue jeans...black jeans are okay!
• No flip flops
  
• You drink water straight from local fountains that are around because the water in all of Rome is perfect...if you know me well, I am very picky when it comes to water! But apparently Romans have always been geniuses and they figured out a way to engineer their watering system perfectly.
  

But he told us some things that I'm SUPER excited about:

• Our campus is a 20-minute walk away from The Vatican.
• Our campus is located on the river, kind of like Rutgers but even closer! And the river is not smelly, like the Raritan.
• There are gelaterias on the corner of every campus!! Yummy!
  
• Romans love Americans so you can meet random people in cafes and have wonderful conversations :) 
• He showed us what our apartments look like (and they seem gorgeous, look)!
• 
  

Overall, this orientation got me psyched for this upcoming summer. I also met a girl that will be in Italy when I'm going, and we're hoping to plan some trips together! She seems really nice and easygoing! All of the faculty members at JCU seem extremely helpful. The Rutgers Study Abroad Office is also amazing with keeping us on top of things. I'll be registering for classes soon! I was thinking about taking Adolescent Psychology to finish up my minor, but here are some other options if any of you want to let me know what you think!

• Ancient Rome and Its Monuments (On-site class!)*
• Midieval Rome and Its Monuments (On-site class!)
• Baroque Rome and Its Monuments (On-site class!)
• Business Communications
• Intro to Italian
• Digital Photography*

*These seem to be the easiest according to the syllabi...but who knows!

Hope you are all enjoying the end of this semester (if you're in college, that is). Good luck on finals!
So long.

--
Dhara R. Patel

Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Class of 2013