When in Rome – Normal School Day: The Experience to Remember…

Its 8:00 Am, Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009, and I am waking up in my comfortable apartment at the Residence Medaglie d’Oro. As I rise from my bed, I thank God for allowing me to still enjoy the time of my life here in the Eternal City of Rome. Rome being one of the biggest archeological sites in the world; really makes me appreciate the ambiance that the historical elements leave upon the individual. After refreshing myself and getting dressed, I usually grab a yogurt and get a sip of orange juice in my small fridge. After grabbing my bookbag I jet for the bus stop down the street. One thing about Rome that you all need to know is this: Rome’s metropolitan transport system, ATAC, is one of the biggest headaches. Buses are never on time and to get to school, I sometimes need to accommodate at least 1 ½ hours before class time to leave my apartment. My apartment is about a 45 minute walk to campus, and sometimes if I am running late, I have to take a taxi to get to school. As I walk down to the Bus Stop, the 990 to Piazza Cavour is late like usual, so instead of waiting, I walk for about 5 minutes to the Bus Stop near to the Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum). At the Via Leone IV bus stop, I grab the 23 to Piazza Trilussa. Piazza Trilussa, is the Piazza which sits in the middle of the two John Cabot University Campuses. As I get off the bus in Piazza Trilussa, I head straight towards Friends Café to say hello to Daniela. Friends Café is a place where I enjoy spending time socializing with the locals, Daniela, and the other workers that work at the Café. As I socialize with Daniela, catching up on the new things during the week, I savor my nice Italian Cappuccino and my Corneto. It is so awesome to be among many Italians during the morning hours enjoying the genuine café lifestyle that remains vibrant every morning in every part of Italy. From Friends Café, I head to the Tiber Campus of JCU, and I go say hello to Pilar in Student Services and then head to the Computer Lab to check my e-mail and review some notes online. By this time it’s about 10:30am and I am working in the Computer Lab and also saying hello to other study abroads that are sharing in the same experience I am. Around Noon I head to my first class, E-Marketing, with Professor Susan Fuller.


E-Marketing with Professor Susan Fuller is an intense course where I feel like I have learned a lot. She pushes me to the limit, and always recognizes my efforts with comprehending the concepts. I really do appreciate her as a professor, and I really feel it is a class where she enjoys listening to us about our research and efforts.


After E-Marketing, I head to lunch for one hour and I head back to Friends Café for Lunch. The manager of Friends Café knows me by name and knows what I always order. Being that I am such a frequent person to the café, it feels awesome that they enjoy my company and my business. I always enjoy the ambiance, and of course, the free Wi-Fi. After savoring a great chicken breast with rice and vegetables, I head back to the Tiber Campus for my second out of five classes: Business Ethics with Professor Tom Bailey.


Business Ethics with Professor Bailey can be an interesting class where students can sit down, learn and debate about different businesses and how their practices are considered ethical or unethical, and why. I enjoy the class being that I love to debate, and I know how to debate well. Being that I was on the debate team for 3 years at Brandon High School back in the day, I really grew a foundation for arguing my cases. Sometimes I wonder if I should be studying to be a lawyer…hahaha. Today in class Professor Bailey has brought up the subject about Wal-Mart and how they have not been ethical with proper treatment of their employees. With this case I argued against Wal-Mart and I enjoyed arguing against Wal-Mart, because that is definitely one place that I will be avoiding when I return to the United States. After reading about the company and studying them with much depth, I have really observed that they are not very ethical, and being that they play a huge role within the economy, they have so much control within the market. After 1 hour of debate and interesting concepts, I grab my books and head to my third class: Political Economy of Globalization at the Guarini Campus.


Political Economy of Globalization with Professor Steven Colatrella is an intense course, hands down. It has pushed me to the limits, and the reading for this course is obscenely too much for a regular undergraduate student sometimes. Even though the reading can be intense, I really enjoy his lectures and the knowledge he has. Today we learned about the Asian Financial Crisis and we also saw a video of how it was caused, beginning with the Thai Financial Market. Pretty interesting events and concepts I must say, but it is intense. Students can really see the passion he has for the subject, and I really enjoy listening to his lectures about the Global Economy and how it has evolved since the colonization age till present day 2009.


After an interesting lecture with Professor Colatrella, I head back to the Tiber Campus for my fourth out of fifth class: International Business Course with Professor Angelo Forte. Professor Angelo Forte is definitely one professor that I enjoy. He has had many years of experiences working for many International Companies, and he currently works as a Business Consultant part time. Today we are learning about Cultural influences within International Business. Getting the chance to learn about different concepts and principles of different cultural backgrounds throughout the world seems really essential when comprehending the way companies do business internationally.


Now it’s about 6:45pm, and I am tired. I have one more class, but thank God it is an interesting course with an amazing professor. Professor Alessandro Signorini teaches my Marketing Management Course. Alessandro Signorini is by far one of the best professors at John Cabot University because of his research and experience working as a Marketing Strategist for different companies. It is so interesting to hear about his research with the aviation industry and how airlines are contributing to the research that Professor Signorini makes. This capstone course in Marketing really has revealed my passion for Marketing. Today we are learning about ESPN and how they as a company target their Market through appropriate segmentation and positioning. Being that it only has 5 people in the course, I really enjoy the atmosphere. Learning about such cases like the one today on ESPN within our small group really gives me that interacting working experience that I really enjoy.
Being that Marketing Management is my last course of the day, I am finished finally for the day. It’s currently 8pm, and I am ready to head back to my apartment to cook dinner, do some homework, and rest. Tomorrow is my 4 hour work day in the morning in the Housing Office, and then free time to catch up on homework or sightsee. I am probably going to see the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterno tomorrow after working in the Housing Office. It feels pretty awesome to say that I have ample amounts of time to go sightsee and savor the experiences that Rome has to offer. I love Roma and I know that it will be a very hard time for me to adjust to being at home back in Florida.