The Adventure Begins!

Hi! 

My name is Juliana Tattoli, and I am a 21-year-old college student from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon studying for a Bachelor of Arts composed of an English major and a Writing minor with a focus on the interconnections between poetry, history, and philosophy. I love to write poetry, and I am grateful to already have poems published at my age. I also enjoy the process of putting together non-fiction, journalistic pieces, which will be the type of content created and shared for this project!

For the duration of this Spring quarter, I will be Reporting Live from Rome, Italy as part of my senior capstone project in order to finish my undergraduate degree to be able to graduate from college this June. The first chapter in this book of an adventure includes me flying on an airplane from Portland, Oregon, to Rome, Italy (about thirteen hours in the air on the plane), and posting this very blog post for you all to connect with! While studying with CIEE’s Rome Global Institute, I will be taking classes on mythology and architecture, communications, and art history, as well as connecting with you all through this blog, writing about both my experiences in narrative form as well as cultural topical details in spotlight form. While staying in Rome, I’ll be living in shared student apartments, so I plan on making lots of friends and sharing with you all the adventures we have together! 

I chose the Reporting Live capstone because the aspects of writing, journalism, and intercultural communications included in the Reporting Live curriculum complement my history with writing freelance journalistic articles, working as a blog poster and copyeditor of Portland State’s literary magazine Pathos Literary Magazine, and supplement both my long-term academic as well as career goals of becoming a successful writer and editor. I chose to study abroad in Rome, Italy for multiple reasons, including the opportunity to explore further the knowledge of my own Italian heritage. What countries do your family come from? 

Some activities I love doing include reading, writing, dancing, hiking, biking, painting, drawing, embroidery, going to the beach, listening to music, spending time with friends, and ceaselessly exploring the fascinating world we live in. What are things you love doing? What are your favorite things? Some of my favorite things include the color blue, eating pizza, tacos, or sushi, attending dance classes, piecing together poems, and having impromptu camera phone photo-shoots with my friends. Here’s a photo of me from such a photo-shoot:

My goal is for this blog to be a source of inspiration for you all to feel empowered about the amazing opportunities and possibilities that life holds as well as to prompt discussion about cultural similarities and differences between The United States of America and Italy. Considering the ways in which something is simultaneously similar and different, as well as locating the overlaps and interweaves, is endlessly intriguing. I’m so excited for all of you to stay tuned throughout this exciting, daring adventure! I look forward to hearing back from you all! Where are your favorite places you have travelled? Where are your favorite places to go? What do you like about them? Where around the world do you want to travel?