Yes, actually in Rome! And what an experience that is. I took a trip to Italy from March 4-13 for a Model United Nations conference (RomeMUN) with a delegation from my home institution, Monmouth University. I know you may be thinking, well this is a blog about your TWC experiences, no? Yes... but I promise I'm going to relate this back to my time at the Washington Center in a number of ways.

Visiting the well-known Pantheon of Rome after finishing sessions.

Roomies for Life

My roommate here at TWC is my friend Miriam who also goes to Monmouth University. We didn't really know each other too well before D.C., but are both Poli Sci majors and participate in many of the same clubs, so we requested to live together in D.C. We haven't left each other's sides since. I traveled to Baltimore with her for a Mock Trial Tournament I previously blogged about. And now we both went to RomeMUN together. Oh, and at RomeMUN, we were hotel roomies and partners for the same committee. Our experiences with our organizations and as roommates at TWC has definitely developed a strong friendship for us!

Miriam and I checking out St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City! This place was breathtaking to say the least.

What About My Internship?

I've had this trip to Rome planned for quite some time... long before I came to D.C. I was prepared to make the necessary accommodations so I wouldn't miss too much of my work in D.C. while I was gone. When I arrived to the city back in January and met my Program Advisor, Stacy Rinaldi, for the first time, I made sure to tell her about the trip and emailed her the days I would be gone. I also offered to make up the events that I would be missing for programming. Stacy was great in helping me figure out what assignments were due and making sure I contacted all of the necessary people I needed to before leaving. I also spoke with my internship supervisor at Genocide Watch. Dr. Stanton seemed ecstatic for me to adventure to Rome to work on UN policy! It was great to have the support of the people crucial to the success of my D.C. experience. I was comforted after talking to them, knowing I'd be missing 9 days in D.C.

Getting There

Since I booked my flight to Rome back in October, I didn't really think much about flying out of Washington, D.C. I wasn't even 100 percent positive I'd be spending my semester here at that point. So my ticket was out of JFK International Airport in New York City, which is 4 states and about 4 hours away from D.C. Miriam and I decided to take a cab to Union Station and a $12 Megabus to Philadelphia, where my brother - who lives in Philly - picked us up and drove us to my hometown in South Jersey. We spent 2 nights at my house, hanging out with my family, before departing for Monmouth University located in North Jersey. I drove us the one-hour-and-forty-five-minutes there. Then, from Monmouth we took a one-and-a-half-hour train ride to NYC, where we hopped on the subway and headed on a twenty minute ride to JFK. Once at JFK we flew six hours to Dublin, Ireland, hung out for a one hour layover, then finally took a 3-hour flight to Rome, Italia! My advice to anyone traveling from TWC is to look up and plan your trip with the starting location in mind. Flying out of D.C. would have been MUCH easier and much less hassle!

Molto Bene!

Very good! And that's one of the phrases I continued to use throughout our adventure in Rome. Since we arrived in Rome two days before the conference started, we - of course - did some of the tourist-y things and visited the sites for which Rome is known. We saw the Colosseum (one of the grandest things I've ever seen), The Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica (oh, wow! I don't really have words to describe this experience, it's that cool), and saw Trevi Fountain (you KNOW I threw a coin in that!). I ate more food and drank more wine in Italy in the past eight days than I think I've eaten and drank in my entire seven weeks at TWC so far. And that food... molto bene! Each time we'd go to a new restaurant, the food was better than the last. Boy am I glad the weather is starting to change in D.C... I'm going to start my morning runs again as soon as I get home! I probably gained ten pounds in nine days...

Cheesin' hardcore... I look like the happiest person to ever visit the Trevi Fountain!

Day three of our trip, the RomeMUN conference started with opening ceremonies at the headquarters building of the Food and Agriculture Organization. It was really cool to have sessions here because for those that work there it was a normal workday, so we got to see some real UN officials at work. Since I'm a super nerd, I think one of the coolest things about a city like Rome is the expansive international culture that gathers there, so I was super excited to see this building and start the conference.

In one of the conference rooms at the FAO building for opening ceremonies.

Model United Nations conferences are essentially simulations of United Nations meetings. The students that attend represent different countries on different committees and are charged with writing UN Resolutions. Miriam and I represented France in the World Bank, and had to address the topics of Millennium Development Goal 8, including creating open, rule-based, non-discriminatory financial systems to aid in economic development of developing nations. We also talked about dealing with debt of developing nations. To the average person, this might sound boring or intimidating. To me: heaven. I'm by NO means an economics person, nor do I (actually, DID I) know much about the World Bank. However, I'm super interested in international affairs and learning how to speak about many different facets of that sector - from human rights to energy to economics. That's why I am in the International Affairs program at TWC. Conferences like this one help me to learn about those things.

Miriam and I worked our butts off, barely sleeping, drinking tons of caffeine, and forming friendships with delegates from other countries. In fact, we were the only Americans in our committee, and our delegates were some of the only Americans at the conference! All of our hard work and our American determination paid off, as all of our delegates received awards. Miriam and I were voted by our fellow World Bank members as the "Best Delegate" for our committee... pretty cool!

That's me on the floor with the laptop, serving as the main author of one of the

recommendations we wrote for the World Bank.

While this trip was exhausting and we're sad to leave Italy, the amazing food, and depart from the amazing people we met at this conference, taking this trip taught me many things. Beyond the intricacies of the World Bank, I also learned teamwork, using my determination for benefit, and more. Also, I learned that I can take multiple opportunities at once - meaning that just because I was living in D.C. through the TWC program (an opportunity in and of itself), did not mean I had to limit myself and not go to Rome. Also, I have to say I miss D.C.! I miss my other roommates, the girls I intern with, and the work at my internship. I think that's how I know that what I'm doing in D.C. is so right for me... the fact that I miss it so much! When you can say you miss your job and your work, you're either 1) crazy or 2) meant to be doing that work. I'm going to go with the latter. D.C., I'm coming home!

Above: This is the group that I, representing France, mainly worked with to write papers during the conference. We came to call ourselves "The Alliance", as we all worked together on each topic. I have a feeling I'll stay in touch with many of these people!