Homestay part 1 #walshglobal

Homestay first impressions
Walsh Global 10
Noah Drlik

This week starts the homestay with an Italian family/person.  Walsh, with the help of Italidea, gives us the great opportunity to truly experience the Roman culture by living in the household of a Roman.  I have the great pleasure of staying with Maria Grazia a 74-year-old lady that does not act a day over 20.  Her apartment is located in the in the piazza of Santa Maria Maggorie, a five-minute walk from Termini.  The location could not be more perfect, everything I need is within walking distance and is in a very safe section of Rome.  When I found out I was living with a 74-year-old lady, I was under the impression that she would be slow and always tired, that is so far from the truth.  She is one of the liveliest persons I have met, considering I hang out with people around 20 years old.  She reminds me a lot of my grandma, on the outside she looks like a typical 70-year-old plus woman, but on the inside, she has the heart of a 20-year-old.  She is always doing something, whether it is working at the bank, cooking, cleaning, or talking.  Maria always finds something to do, she cannot sit still for more than ten minutes.  She is a very kind lady as well and is open to everyone.  It would be hard to let some stranger in your house for a full week.  However, Maria let us in without any hesitation and that speaks on her great character.  Her apartment is very historical, it is very old but full of character.  She has paintings and sculptures all around the apartment, it really brings the apartment to life.  I knew going into this homestay week that I would be enjoying typical Italian cuisine, that is very delicious, and I was right.  The food Maria has prepared for me thus far has not disappointed.  She is a phenomenal cook, as most Italians are.  The dinners she made were typical Roman diners, I forget the names of the dishes she served, but all I know is that they were absolutely phenomenal.  Aside from being a great cook and an even better host, she is also very smart.  Maria told me that she has her Ph.D. in economics from Georgetown University.  However, it was not just an ordinary process of gaining a Ph.D., Maria went straight from obtaining her bachelor’s degree to obtaining her Ph.D.  She got to skip the master’s part of the process because of her high grades and test scores.  The dean of Georgetown personally excused her from that process which goes to show how smart she is.  Overall, my expectations of the food were spot on, the food she prepares is amazing and I could not get enough.   I was defiantly wrong in my expectations of her as a person, I was not expecting Maria to be the high-energy lady she is.  She is so fun and a blast to be around, I cannot wait to see what the rest of the homestay week entails.