Elizabeth Gildea is an API student contributor to our Tumblr blog, and will regularly report on her adventures in Rome, Italy.

“A real education takes place, not in the lecture hall or library, but in the rooms of friends, with earnest frolic and happy disputation. Wine can be a wiser teacher than ink, and banter better than books.”

           -Stephen Fry

Okay, I hate to take the college essay route to this blog entry, but Fry’s quote truly sums up why I decided to study abroad. Although I love my home university, I felt like there was something missing from my education, some aspect of exploration and adventure that was absent from hours of lectures and note-taking. After three years of English classes, I had spent entirely too much time reading other people’s impressions of Europe, while barely having seen it for myself.

On a whim, I decided Rome. I had been here once before and fell completely in love with the beauty, and romance, and all those other stereotypical things Americans love about Italy. I justified this inherent need to live in Rome to my parents with a convincing argument about how I would experience the center of classical civilization and Western culture, and blah blah blah. Anyways, I was going! I started comparing programs, and picked API because their affiliated university, John Cabot, would allow me to take useful classes and graduate on time (okay, mainly it was because they had the coolest excursions of the programs I looked at, but graduating was important too).

Although I’ve hardly been in the Eternal City for a month, I can guarantee you that Fry is right about education. I’ve learned more about myself and my abilities than I ever did in a classroom. Sure, I’m having the time of my life, but I’ve also figured out how to interact cross-culturally, navigate new cities, and trust my judgment. Did I mention my newfound ability to order an amazing glass of wine?