“What are you most worried about?” I got this question many times before I left to study in Italy (for the spring semester of last year). My answer was always walking. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy walking long distances or was used to driving everywhere, but because I had torn my ACL 6 weeks before I departed for Rome. Walking, walking to class. Walking to the city. Walking was something I had taken for granted. Walking was something I had to relearn. Studying abroad was something I had been working towards for two years, and now walking was something that might stand in my way. So, when I walked away from my parents at the airport, I was worried. Then as I stepped up to the British Airways check-in counter, I was informed that I had received an upgrade for my long flight.

When I stepped off the plane in Rome it was 74 degrees. How could this be January? My apartment was a half mile from the train station, and at the bottom of a series of 200 steps up to campus. I was tired and nervous again. I sat on my bed, “Can I do this?”

A couple of weeks later I realized that I wasn't thinking about my knee at all. I was excited about my worldly professors who were engaging and challenging. I was rushing to catch a train in Orvieto, a small town that I would never have discovered without my new friends. I was dancing in a jazz club in Florence. I wasn’t walking through this semester. I was running.

Going to Rome was one of the best experiences I could have imagined. Rome itself was vibrant and alive, pushing me to meet new people and interact with locals. The location allowed me to travel with friends and experience more than just the city, sometimes on a whim. Being surrounded by art and celebrations of culture immersed me in a society that fully believed in “La Dolce Vita.’ Italy got me going again. However, as I stepped off the plane to return to Cincinnati, I realized that I might have been running all along. For two years I hustled to class, to dinner, to the gym. Perhaps it was time to slow down, enjoy the moment, engage with the locals, and try some things spontaneously. There were a lot of steps to get to Italy. There were a lot of steps in Italy, and I am thankful for everyone. Now it's time for the next step, remembering what Italy taught me. Challenge is an important part of development, whether it’s a staircase, an assignment, or an injury. In America we live to work, but in Italy you work to live, make time to experience life. It’s normal to be worried, but you can’t let worry control you. Just take things one step at a time.
 
Name: Greta Wolter
Status: Sophomore
Major: Business-admitted
Hometown: East Lansing, Michigan
Program: American University of Rome