Oriondo, Derrick Professor Mills KIN 499 Reflection Paper It wasn’t until my senior year of high school in San Diego back in 2010 where I decided how I would want to continue my education after graduation. I attended a medical symposium held by a fellow student for their senior project where I met a physical therapist and listened to him explain his career and how he attended California State University, Long Beach to earn his Doctorate’s in Physical Therapy. Basketball and weight-lifting became a few of my favorite activities throughout high school, so the career of physical therapy seemed very appealing to me. Plus the fact that CSU Long Beach had a very respectable DPT program and was only a few hours away from home contributed to my decision to be a Kinesiology major, earn my Associate’s Degree at a local community college, and transfer to CSU Long Beach to complete my undergrad before applying for a DPT program. Fast forward to the fall semester of 2013, I was accepted to transfer out of community college by both CSU Long Beach for Kinesiology and San Francisco State University for English. I ultimately decided to attend SFSU for the spring semester of 2014, with plans on switching my major to Kinesiology. I reapplied to CSU Long Beach for fall 2014 just in case things didn’t work out in the Bay Area. Sure enough, Kinesiology was so impacted at SFSU that I would have had to stay an extra year to change to that major. I finished the spring semester there and then decided to finally attend my dream school since high school for the following semester as a Kinesiology: Exercise Science major. About halfway through my first semester at CSU Long Beach, I received an email regarding a 10 day travel study to Italy for the upcoming winter session in 2015. The study abroad course was Kinesiology 499: Special Topics, and the class description included a history on the sports of the Roman Empire, a conversational Italian lesson, studying at Universita’ Degli Studi Roma Foro Italico, and an exercise regimen. I was very interested in taking the course because I had never traveled outside of the United States except to the Philippines, it was a Kinesiology class that involved sports and exercise, and it was only for 10 days so I didn’t have to commit to an extended period of time overseas. However I knew it would be very pricy and I wasn’t receiving any form of financial aid at CSU Long Beach. Also, I would have had to celebrate New Year’s on a plane ride to Europe instead of with loved ones if I wanted to take the course. I decided to fill out the application anyways and I was approved for the course within a few days. I called my parents back home in San Diego to inform them about my acceptance to study abroad in Italy for the winter session. My parents were surprisingly excited about the news and agreed that this would be once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I should take advantage of. I was very hesitant on studying abroad to Italy, mainly because of the extra financial burden that it would place on my parents. However, my loving parents insisted that it would be fine for me to take the course, so I committed to the travel study. December 31st, 2015 arrived and it was the day that I board a plane at LAX to fly out to Europe for the first time in my life. I was very excited to travel overseas to a new country and begin my study abroad. I got dropped off at LAX about four hours before my flight departure at 6:45 PM. After checking in my luggage to TSA and going through security, I waited at the departing gate and met up with my roommate for the hotel during the trip, Octavio. Finally, the time arrived to board the American Airlines flight that would make its first stop in London at the Heathrow Airport. On the flight was where I met another student of the course, Jackie. After taking off, I did a New Year’s countdown with Jackie and Octavio once it reached midnight in Pacific Standard Time, since we weren’t able to celebrate the countdown with our loved ones back home this year. About 10 hours after leaving LAX, we landed at the massive airport of Heathrow where I took my first steps in Europe. Then after a layover of four hours, we boarded our next flight that would finally take us to the Fiumicino Airport in Italy. It was then Day 1 of the travel study and our flight landed in Italy’s Fiumicino Airport around 9:00 in the evening. After retrieving my luggage, I met Professor Mills and the rest of my classmates, Brian, April, Nytashia, Alexandra, Tiffany, and Dawne. Little did I expect that we would all become good friends with each other throughout the 10 day travel study. We had a shuttle arranged for us to be taken from the airport to our lodging for the trip, the Hilton Garden Inn Roma Claridge. As we voyaged through the city to our destination, I noticed that almost all of the cars including one of our taxis were in manual transmission. I also noticed that there were countless small cars in the streets such as Fiats, that there seemed to be nothing open during that late in the evening, that the buildings, road, and tram tacks were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and that our taxi drivers would run a lot of red lights and drive almost recklessly. We arrive to our hotel which was smaller than any Hilton I’ve ever stayed at or seen back in the United States. I then received my assigned room on the third floor with Octavio and our new roommate Brian. My first impression of our room was that it was fairly small to fit three people, but I was happy that the bathroom was very clean and that we were the only students to get a room with a balcony. This room would eventually become known as the legendary “P3”. I called my parents to let them know of my safe arrival, and then I went to bed to prepare for my first full day in Italy, Day 2 of the course. I woke up the next morning with excitement and prepared for the day before heading to the dining room with my roommates to enjoy the complimentary breakfast. The class then met up to purchase our transportation passes for the week at a local smoke shop, and we boarded the tram to take us to Vatican City. The tram reminded me of the Long Beach Transit buses that I would take to campus, and I admired the city sights of Rome during our transport. Arriving in Vatican City for the first time was unforgettable. There were thousands of locals, vendors, and tourists roaming Vatican City, and when we finally made it to the St. Peter’s Basilica, I was stunned by its’ beauty. St. Peter’s Basilica was even more amazing in person than what I’ve seen in television and in pictures. I stopped by a shop where I found Rosaries and bottles of Holy Water that I would purchase for my family back in San Diego before meeting up with the group to head to our next destination. Throughout Day 2, we walked through the city of Rome to stop by the places that we would be visiting as the course progressed, such as the Tever River and Castello Saint Agello, Patties restaurant, the Imperial Forum, and the Coliseum. Afterward, the class and I boarded the underground train to reach our final stop of the day, Eataly. We all decided to eat lunch at a restaurant called La Pizza where I would finally be able to experience my first authentic Italian food, but I ended up ordering a margherita pizza which I wasn’t very impressed with. After eating and exploring the Eataly supermarket, we all decided to return to the Coliseum. Unfortunately, the entrance was already closed off by the time we all arrived and the entire group grew a little tired after keeping up with Professor Mills’ walking, so we all decided to take the train and the tram back to the hotel. At dinner time, the class was split into two separate tables, but we conjoined them and we all enjoyed dining together in one big table that night and for the rest of the dinners throughout the trip. For Day 3, the class and I took our day trip to the city of Florence. We arrived at the Roma Termini train station to board the Frecciarossa bullet train to the station of Florence, Firenze S.M. Novella. Florence was a very beautiful city and the day trip was one of my favorite memories of the course. Our first visit was Florence Cathedral where we walked a total of 463 steps to reach up to and come back down from the Duomo di Firenzi. At the top of the Duomo, the class and I enjoyed the incredible city view of Florence. Our next stop after the Florence Cathedral was the Galleria dell’Accademia where we saw the real Statue of David among other pieces of priceless art and artifacts. We then all dined at a restaurant that Professor Mills recommended to us called Trattoria Mario where we enjoyed amazing pasta but didn’t expect the rareness of their T-bone steaks. Afterwards, we continued to explore the beautiful city of Florence before heading back to the train station later on in the evening to travel back to our hotel. My roommates and I woke up late on Sunday, Day 4 of the course after an amazing yet exhaustive day in Florence. Waking up late on this day was my only regret during this trip, because if I woke up early enough, I would have tried to attend mass in Vatican City and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Pope. Day 4 was a very relaxed day where Professor Mills treated the class to watch The Nutcracker Ballet later on in the evening. Day 4 also marked the first day of P3, where we had some of the other classmates hang out in our room after dinner. On the morning of Day 5, we received our first conversational Italian lesson by Professor Mills before visiting the world-renowned Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. On Day 6, we were able to catch the wonderful street parade in Vatican City before visiting Castello Saint Angelo. There, my roommates took the infamous picture as seen on the Facebook page of the Italy travel study known as “Esecuzione di Octavio”, where Brian and I held Octavio under an ancient execution chopping block. After Castello Saint Angelo, we all dined at the Patties restaurant where we were finally able to eat American food such as burgers and fries, with dessert at Giolitti to try their popular gelato, and ending the day at Galleria Borghese. Day 7 arrived and we were finally able to visit the breathtaking Colosseum. Our next stops afterward were the Imperial Forum, Circus Maximus, and La Bocca della Verita where I put my hand through the left eye of the statue. Afterward, my classmates and I took a long walk along the river en route to St. Peter’s Basilica where we took a pit stop at a nearby restaurant and I was able to enjoy a real calzone. Being able to enter the cathedral of St. Peter’s Basilica was another highlight of my travel study to Italy. On Day 8, the class and I took the Frecciarossa to Napoli Centrale and boarded another train that would take us to our tour guide of Pompeii. I was a little disappointed by the short duration of the tour, but nonetheless it was another great and unique experience. Our last full day in Italy, Day 9, began with the visit to the amazing campus of Universita Degli Studi Roma Foro Italico to receive our certificates for graduating Kinesiology 499. There, we learned more Italian words and phrases as well as gestures, and I discovered that my Italian name was Falco. We then all dined at a local restaurant where I tried rabbit for the first time, and it was surprisingly quite delicious. Afterwards, Professor Mills surprised us with a cooking lesson at Eataly where we all learned how to make our own pizza to receive another certificate of completion. We ended out last night in Italy with a bang by having the whole class come over and hang out at P3, before having to board our return flights home the next morning. I am very blessed and happy to begin the New Year in Europe and to have been a part of Kinesiology 499: Special Topics in Italy. It was all made possible by my amazing parents whom I am forever grateful for. Throughout this travel study to Italy, I have met wonderful and unforgettable people, enjoyed the lifestyle, history, and authentic cuisine of the country, and experienced first-hand the beauty that Italy has to offer. I thank Professor Mills, the class of CSULB Italy 2015, and P3 for making this experience even better than I could have ever asked for. Ciao!
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:44:53 +0000