Top 10 Things I Wish I Would Have Packed Knowing What I Know Now

10 Items I Should Have Packed

Below are the top 10 things my roommates and I would have packed knowing what we know now.

1.       Medicine – Bring all and any medicine that you think you might over a 4 month period. Trying to find the Italian equivalent of Excedrin or Advil is almost impossible, especially since Ibuprofen is all that can be found in a local pharmacy. The name brand over the counter medications that we have in the states do not exist here, come prepared.

2.       “Off” bug spray – The mosquitoes here are intense! I found out that they feed both during the day and the night, within two days you could play the ultimate never ending game of connect the dots on my legs. Personally I have always had bad reactions to bug bites, but Rome brought it to a whole other level. The bites are crazy itchy and hard to deal with in the heat, at this point I wish I would have brought calamine lotion (which I have yet to find in any local pharmacy). “Off” bug spray is readily available here but cost for one bottle is outrageous. I purchased the smallest bottle of bug spray, which was smaller than normal U.S smalls and paid about 10 euro.  I strongly suggest packing bug spray and anti-itch cream, so you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a minuscule amount of bug spray as well as dealing with the frustration of not being able to find what you need.

3.       Flats – Ditch the flip-flops and pack a ton of flats! I wish I would have brought more flats rather than the numerous pairs of flip-flops. Personally if I could go back home and re-pack for the trip I would bring 2 pairs of walking/running shoes, in addition to as many pairs of comfortable flats as I could fit in my bag. A reasonable number of shoes to bring I would say 5, 2 walking/running and 3 pairs of flats (white, black, and brown). Only bring flats that are extraordinarily comfortable, to the extent that walking up to 3 miles in them won’t bother your feet. Make sure that all the shoes you bring can be worn in multiple outfits and can be dressed up or down. Rome is a walk happy city, everyone walks, stick to flats and you will be fine. Besides flip-flops are very American and if you have a goal of blending in flip-flops will not help.

4.       Movies/DVDs – For those of you, who will be attending AUR, the housing that they provide is actually very nice but no entertainment in the apartment is provided, which is completely reasonable: YOU’RE IN ROME! A very small T.V is provided which does not have cable, so I am capable to watching 3 separate very fuzzy Italian channels. Whenever I have down time I am usually out exploring the city but now that school has started I find myself staying in more often than not (on school nights). Most of my classes are reading intensive, so leisure reading is out of the question. I honestly wish that after a long day of classes and school work I could come and have some sort of mindless entertainment. Netflix as well as Hulu does not work over, nor does buying a DVD and attempting to watch it on your laptop. ITunes and YouTube has currently been my source of entertainment lately, but the problem is most of YouTube is in Italian and iTunes gets expensive. Bring your favorite season of your favorite show, that way you have free entertainment when chilling in your room. Once the rainy season hits, and it’s cold and wet everywhere, you will be very happy that you brought your favorite show.

5.       More Converters and Power Strips – When packing I brought 2 Italian converters and 1 American power strip, I haven’t had a problem (knock on wood) with any of my electronics charging. My issue is that in an apartment with 6 girls, who all have laptops, cell phone chargers, hair straigtheners etc. there is only 1 outlet in each room other than the kitchen. My roommate and I each have a laptop charger, cell phone charger, clock and fan that all need to be plugged in, an additional power strip would have been useful. If I could go back home and re-pack I would have brought 4 Italian converters and 2 power strips, it is not a necessity but it would make my life a lot easier to have the additional power strip and converters.

6.       More Summer Clothes – When I was packing I really wasn’t focusing on the season or time of year that I would be immediately living in, I was more looking at all of it in a bigger picture. If I could go back home and pack my clothes again I would get rid of the majority of the cold weather clothes I brought. I would do this for 2 reasons, the first one being that when you first get here it is best to have everything you need right off the bat rather than searching a new country for the simple things that are in season now. Second, if does not snow here, just a lot of rain, so I actually have no I what the cold weather season is going to be like. It would have been a lot easier if I would have came with all summer clothes and then bought what I needed in terms of winter clothes. My most valuable article of clothing as of right now, I would have to say my shorts and sun dresses!

7.       A Towel – If you are planning on attending AUR, I strongly advise you to bring at least one of your own bath towels. The bath towels that are provides are extraordinarily small and you are only given one. I can handle with the size of the bath towel, but only having a single towel to use for 4 months is a little difficult. Every time I want to wash my towel I can’t because either later in the day I am going to use it or someone is already using the washer. With the temperatures so high here and no air conditioning, showers are the source of cooling down. Personally I would have brought 2 personal towels now knowing what I know. I would have brought 2 towels that way I could always have a clean and a dirty bath towel, plus it would be nice not to have to take my bath towel to the beach with me.

8.       Slippers – There is zero carpeting in most apartments in Rome and the city as a whole is very dirty, wearing shoes in the house is taboo here. From always having the windows open and daily wear and tear the floors in my apartment gets very dirty rather quick. My feet are always dirty and getting into bed with dirty feet is just gross, when I try to wear socks they just get ruined and turn black. It would be nice to have a pair of slippers here to wear around the apartment, so my feet were always clean and my socks were not getting ruined.

9.       To-Go Containers – Food is very expensive here, the majority of the money that I have spent since I have been here has been on food, it would be nice to have a way to say food I cook or take lunch to school with me. I know it may sound kind of strange but your life will be a lot easier and cheap if you bring a water bottle, coffee mug, and Tupperware. Before you leave go to Wally World, spend 15 bucks get some Tupperware, a water bottle and a coffee mug. The Tupperware will allow you to save food that you cook as well as pack food for the day, so no spending money on lunch out. Plus when you go restaurants asking for a doggie bag/ to go container is disrespectful and unheard of, your waiter will look at you like you have 3 heads if you ask for a to go container. The water bottle would have been a life saver, even though water bottles are decently priced it adds up. Plus there are fountains that are constantly running in the street and on a very hot sunny day all you would need to do is fill up your water bottle, compared to paying as much as 2 euro for a bottle of water. To-go coffee does exist but not like what we have in the states and it is a lot more expensive buy a coffee mug and some instant coffee and save a bunch of money.

10.   Translator – Originally when I was packing for my trip to Rome I had planned on buying a translator. They range anywhere from $40-$200, and can be found at most Best Buy and Office Depot stores. I choose not to buy the translator because I felt like I was cheating and not truly adapting to a new culture on my own. I still believe that it would have been cheating to buy the translator but there have been numerous occasions when it would have been useful.  I am acclimating very well without the translator but it would have been nice to have an aid in the language barrier.