Peace Be with You

It was extremely peaceful and lovely to visit one of the ancient catholic churches of Rome.  An incredible feeling of calm and meditation comes over me in these religious facilities even though I don’t subscribe to any of them; I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Vatican, various churches, and the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.  Maybe I do have a soul after all 😉  I learned that the churches take themselves very seriously, dress code to enter and all.  It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.  I said a quick prayer, lit a candle, and accepted the peace.

Watch Out for PickPockets!

Today I learned to beware of the pickpockets! As a top tourist location, Rome is known to have one of the worst pickpocket problems in the world. Before we headed out to Via Del Corso – a popular tourist location for shopping, Javonne, Sarah, and I made sure we thief proofed our bags and secured all zippers and buttons. We learned that it is almost impossible to spot a pickpocket, sometimes they can go as far as to dress up as nuns! However, I’m happy to say we returned safe and sound with all of our belongings. Be safe out there!

Flopping Around Rome 

Today I learned that Rome’s summer heat and her cobblestone streets are a bad mix for my cute little $5 thrift store shoes. If you will be visiting Rome, do yourself a favor and invest in some quality comfortable shoes. I had to walk home with my shoe flopping, and my toes hanging out! It was so embarrasing!

It’s All in WHO You Know – Javonne

We keep saying that it’s a small world and man, is that evident everyday!  First Sarah happened to meet one of Fleace’s exes and today while at lunch with her friend, she was mentioning people and I realized that I knew them or she went to school with them!  What are the odds?

You never know who is watching you or knows people that you know so keep your behavior ethical, don’t burn bridges, and cultivate contacts by being a good contact.  Your next opportunity could be in the palm of someone’s hand with six or less degrees of separation!

 
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Anything’s Possible – Jareyah

Today learned a bit about the history of public transportation here in Rome, specifically the tram car system that arrived in Rome in 1865. Some years later the Roman government decided to switch them out for buses just to later realize the tram cars were more fuel efficient and put them back in place. Today, tram cars start a little later than buses and run later in the evenings than Subways. I also learned that a job is not always an excuse as to why you can not do what you desire. Many people assume they can not travel the world or up and leave when they want because of their jobs, but a select few make the effort to present proposals to their employers requesting to work from home and are actually successful. Many have utilized the site Remote Year to help in their proposal planning. This just further shows that anything is possible! If you want it, go for it.

 
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An Alternatives to Teaching English or Au Pairing  While Living Abroad – Sarah

Today we met up with one of Fleace’s friend, Latrese. Latrese is preparing to make her big move to Rome this year. We had the opportunity to ask her questions and speak with her in depth about how she was able to facilitate the move. She, like Fleace, has a business that she can run from the internet. We all had a great discussion on being clear about your wants and needs, and then going after them. I learned that if you can find a way to use the internet to do your job online, then you can probably live almost anywhere in the world. During our conversation with Latrese, Fleace emphasized that whatever we do, it must make us happy and we must be disciplined so that we are not distracted from our work by whatever amazing environment we live in.