What were you grateful for this week?
Anyone who spoke English to me.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
The language barrier and adjusting to life in a different place. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.
My host child was sick today (Monday), so I stayed home with her and we played games and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because she’s never had those and wanted to try them. It was fun to have something that tasted like home.

Tell us about your week!
This week was all about going out and trying to experience this beautiful city. I had a lot of solo adventures: seeing the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, the Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument, the Spanish steps, exploring Villa Borghese, Trajan’s column, and old Roman Forums. There’s so much history in this city, I adore it. I also met up with a couple other au pairs in Rome, and we went to lunch a few times and visited the Vatican Museums, which were amazing. It’s a good thing I went with them because they let me talk their ear off about all the artwork I was so excited to see in person and they were probably the only reason I made myself leave the Sistine Chapel, if I’d been alone I might have stayed forever! I’m so grateful to have met them, it was wonderful to talk to people and make some new friends that I’m very excited to go exploring with.

I’ve also been really grateful for where I live in Rome. I’m next to a big park, Villa Borghese, and it has quickly become one of my favorite places in this city, even only having been here a week. It has helped me adjust a lot to living in a city, having a quiet place with more nature and trees than concrete and buildings to go nearby has been wonderful.

Also, quick plug, gelato is amazing. I knew it was going to be good, I just didn’t realize it was going to be this good. Wow I’m in love. 🙂