Introduction
Ciao a tutti! My name is Maddie Nebelung, and in the spring of 2025, I spent a life-changing semester abroad at the Trinity College Rome Campus. I came home with countless memories: seeing the new pope in St. Peter’s Square, taking class trips to Bologna, Turin, and Brussels, and visiting friends across Europe. But what I treasure even more than the travel and academics is the group of incredible people I shared it all with. While I explored new cities and learned about different cultures, the most unforgettable part of my experience was the family I found right in Rome. That sense of community is what makes the Trinity College Rome Campus so unique and why it will always hold a special place in my heart.
A Seat at the Table: My First Day in Rome
On my very first day at the Trinity College Rome Campus, I was already a little overwhelmed. How could I not be? Rome was buzzing just below the Aventine Hill. I heard vespas weaving through traffic and I smelled espresso in the air. I felt both thrilled and out of place, like I was on the edge of something exciting but unsure where to step first.
I hid in my room until lunch. When I finally made my way to the courtyard, I saw one table with a single open chair. Six students were already sitting there, laughing like old friends. They already know each other, I thought. I should find someone else who came here alone. But there was that one empty seat, and something about their energy made me sit down anyway. I still remember thinking; they all seem so close. This can’t possibly be my group.
Little did I know, that lunch would mark the start of the best semester of my life.
Finding Friendship Through Food
That first meal quickly set the tone for everything that followed. We did not know it then, but it was the first of many shared tables. We frequently had meals that stretched late into the night, where we laughed until we cried, and where comfortable silences said just as much as words.
Rome became our backdrop, and our bond. We spent afternoons wandering the cobblestone streets of Trastevere, stopping for coffee or aperitivo, as we debated which gelateria made the best stracciatella.
One night, we squeezed into a tiny trattoria in Testaccio where the waiters spoke only Italian, and the menu changed with the market. My friend Georgia, who had been practicing her Italian, bravely ordered for all of us. Plates of carbonara and amatriciana arrived, and we passed dishes back and forth, our forks crossing like we had known each other for years.
That night, I realized something simple but profound: in Rome, meals are never meant to be eaten alone. Food isn’t just food. It is a conversation, a rhythm, a way of belonging. It stitched us together in ways I hadn’t expected.
Lessons from Rome
By the end of the semester, those six people I once thought too close-knit to include me had become my home in Rome. They were the ones who carried me through every challenge and celebrated every discovery, whether we were wandering side streets with cameras, practicing Italian over espresso, or standing in awe at a centuries-old landmark.
Returning to Trinity felt like waking from a dream. The campus was familiar, but my world felt larger, the Roman sun still lingering somewhere behind my eyelids. We didn’t share every meal anymore, but whenever we manage to grab pizza in Mather or lunch between classes, something shifts. For a moment, the sound of plates and chatter fades, and I am right back in the convent courtyard, or in that trattoria in Testaccio.
And every time we gather now, no matter how brief, I am reminded that the best tables are the ones that always have room for one more chair.
Advice for Future Travelers
So, if you’re about to start your semester in Rome or anywhere new here is my advice:
Sit at the table, even when you feel like an outsider.
Linger over your meals. Don’t rush them.
And say yes to new friends.
You might just find your people where you least expect it, at an open seat on your very first day.
All photos by Maddie Nedelung
Maddie studied away spring 2025 at the Trinity Rome Campus. CLICK HERE to learn more about the program.
Visit the Semester Study Away Process website to see how you can begin your semester in Italy!
