Hello! My internet pseudonym is Aja, and I'm currently a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, which is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago on the Near South Side. I originally come from the quiet suburbs of more rural New England, and until I came to college, I'd spent all my life in the same house in the same (relatively) small town; the greatest move I'd made before moving out to Chicago for school was changing bedrooms in my house. At school I'm an English major, also dabbling in psychology, and I love writing, reading, languages, other cultures, music, and science, among others.
I'm now headed out for Rome, from mid-September to early-December, as part of a study abroad program the university offers undergraduate students. In one academic quarter, we cover the full 3 quarters of civilization studies one needs to graduate (in this case it's the study of Rome from antiquity to the Baroque era), as well as learning the language (here, of course, it's Italian), all while learning on-site, so to speak, and taking some trips around the area to Pompei/Herculaneum as well as to the beautiful Napoli (Naples, for us Anglophones).
This blog will mostly act as a repository for updates on my preparations for Rome, as well as actual reports from Rome on sights seen, trips made, and so much more. For general blogging, from the college life to my favorite books and TV shows to things unrelated to Rome, please check out my main blog, Composed Chiefly of Nothing.
Grazie mille!
