Falling in Love | Rome

Every year at the annual Christmas Eve party my family goes to, there ends up being four or five families still partying at 10:30 pm. Eventually, we round everyone up and sit in a circle. There, we each go around and say our hopes and dreams for the upcoming year. A dream is far reaching and a hope is a realistic goal.

My dream is to meet the Pope. I mean how cool would that be? How could I meet the Pope you might be wondering. That leads me to my hope: to fall in love.

The love I'm looking for in 2015 is not a romantic type of love, although I'm open, but it is rather an agape type of love. The type of love that just makes you smile because you are alive and present. I hope to fall in agape love with my surroundings, what I am doing, who I am with, and who I am.

With that, I am heading to Rome for four months. I'll be studying abroad and taking my normal business classes but experiencing so much more than just the inside of a classroom. I will be experiencing Italy.

No I didn't take this picture but seriously, how beautiful is this?!

Many people ask me why am I going to Rome and I say why not. I am afraid of a plethora of things in life, many of which I have to face in Rome and that is scary.
Along with my hope and dream, I have a word for the year. My word is conquer. I want to conquer my fears while gone and I plan on doing just that.

Why Rome? Well, why not? Why not embrace what you are scared of? Why not be uncomfortable? Why not be alone? Why not get fat on amazing food? Why not be happy with every moment of life? Why not do any and everything you want to do? Why not fall in love this year? Why not conquer it all?