There's No Place Like Rome...

Every now and then I feel as if reality warps and blends into the fabric of another quality. Perhaps it is dream. Or perhaps it is the recognition of a possible higher reality. Last Wednesday, I experience this warp, so to speak, during a presentation about studying abroad. I had been paying attention to the Director of the International program in a plane somewhere between mild interest and scoffing cynicism. I am a junior with a newly declared double major with English and Theatre, and I expect to graduate on time. My disposition was that I had passed up the opportunity to partake in the financially-crippling-over-seas program long ago. But as the speaker went on, I felt the floor beneath me lift and the ceiling above me plunge. In a dizzying lurch, I experienced a paradigm shift.

It was the program about Rome that caught my interest and shook the foundation of my career goals. Attached to the program was the opportunity to intern with Vatican media. This concept of being able to write or perform (in a sense) on the radio, in association with Papal news, infiltrated my imagination and mixed—almost chemically—into my bloodstream. My perception of its affect on me started as a dull questioning, but as the minutes went by, I felt it exponentially. Now I'm on fire. It's almost obsessive. Why not me? I could live and study in Rome—the home of the Catholic Church—a cradle to the art of theatre—I could be there next year at this time.

Living, studying, and interning in Italy, a mere five miles from the Vatican, would incredible on so many levels--as a Catholic, as a student--as a human being. The program is a semester long and operates as a partnership with the Thomas More College. We would be staying at the Villa Serenella monastery and I would be taking at least thirteen credit hours of Humanities, Theology, Poetry, and Art and Architecture.

As I do not yet have an articulate career plan, I am still dreaming up possibilities. The idea of working in conjunction with Catholic Media is an intoxicating prospectus—especially if it's in Rome. As a devout Catholic, a study abroad trip so steeped in the faith would help me develop on a personal level—inspiring me to further connect my degree with my faith—and hopefully shaping me into a powerful asset to the church. I want this trip to help direct me toward my destined vocation.

Unfortunately, there are many things that may stop me. I have estimated that it would cost me $15,500 in all--in which I would have to sell both of my kidneys, a lot of plasma, everything I own, and I'd probably have to rob a bank or two.
There are a number of other reasons that I shan't bother you with, but my advisor advised me not to go, and my father is convinced that the delay of my graduation for the sake of electives is not an intelligent decision.

In light of stark reality, my infatuation with the idea of Rome has paled to a wan heart-break. It is possible to go, but when I narrow my sight to financial and economic reality, I realize that it is not exactly the best thing, strategically speaking, to go.