As a political communication student, I was very excited to get to travel to Italy to learn new things. What I wasn’t expecting was how quickly I was going to see change. As soon as we landed, we were waiting for our train to take us from the airport to Rome. Around the same time we were headed to our train, there was a protest that was beginning at the train stations across Rome and Florence and various other cities. One of our guides told us that these protests happen very frequently and are usually planned in advance so the community is aware of possible delays and impacts to their travel. We ended up having to wait at the airport for about two hours before the protest cleared up enough for us to board a train to head into the city.

After staying in Rome for two days, our journey to our next city began. The day after we left Rome, there was an even bigger protest in support of Palestine, where the streets around the Colosseum were flooded with people wishing to show their support. This is around the time that a flotilla was headed to Gaza to aid the people, and Italy had pulled out of helping the ships get there. While we certainly have protests in the U.S. it is so fascinating to see protests in another country. I am most fascinated by how often and how many people show up to these protests. I have had a few friends have to completely rearrange their travel plans due to us just not being aware of the impacts. As the weather has been cooling down, the protests are not as frequent, but I still see media on my phone across different regions of Italy, especially in Rome.

Note from Mizzou Abroad: The study abroad conditions of participation prohibit Mizzou students from participating in any political activities abroad, including protests. All Mizzou students abroad are encouraged to download and activate AlertTraveler to receive real-time alerts based on their itinerary and location.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Florence University of the Arts