Private to Public Shift

Living such a public life is a huge change for me. I knew that my arrival to Rome meant that I needed to make a lot of sacrifices. Let me start by saying that I am an only child and my parents make sure I know that by trying to keep my close as much as they can. I commute to Temple back in Philly so I still have the luxury of being pampered by my mom and dad. As bad as this may sound, my parents would do just about anything for me to make me happy. So at home they gave me the master bedroom (which includes a bathroom) bought me a dog, a car, give me money for clothes and cook me dinner. I always appreciated it, but not to the same extent as I do now that I’m so far away. Even though the food here is awesome, I defiantly miss my mom’s home made meals and the comfort of home in general.


Being an only child defiantly has its benefits (i.e. lots of personal space). My parents are always at work so if I’m ever home during the day it’s very likely that I am by myself. This means that I am free to do anything and can express myself in any ways that I want without being judged or pissing anyone off. This has been the case for my two roommates as well. Rome is the first time that any of us were forced to share our own personal space with someone, especially for such a long period of time. This dilemma contributed greatly to our decision to rent an apartment as opposed to living in a dorm. Here, we each get our own bedroom but have to share two bathrooms. The means that 8 x 10 foot bedroom was the only bit of personal space I’ll have for the next month or so. As soon as the door to my room opens my privet life becomes semi public. As soon as the door to my apartment opens my life becomes very public. As I write this right now I am beginning to realize that I am starting to talk about the different compartments that a hidden away, one smaller than the other and I’m in the very enclosed interior. By the end of this trip I hope that I can learn to be more open about myself to others. Generally, I have a hard time opening up my true self to people. Sometimes it’s even hard for me to open up and let my closest friends in. The only explanation I can come up with is that I have a fear of being judged or that I have trust issues.


This brings me to the next transition from private to public: emotions. An emotion is a very private thing, something that a person usually feels on the inside. As soon as that person lets this emotion slip to the surface it automatically allows their private feelings become visible to the public.

This could easily be tied back to the fact that I am so used to living on my own with only my parents around. If I’m in a bad mood they try to make me feel better or just let me have my space to let me cool down. It is quite different when you begin to live around other people who learned how to deal with emotion in a different way from what you are used to. My mood could easily and seriously affect that of my roommates.


When we look as Rome as a whole, there are many examples from private to public and vise versa. I thought it was very interesting to see the way a homeless person (or family) created themselves a “private sanctuary” in a park. In Philly, homeless people simply find a box with some newspaper and settle themselves anywhere they can. But this particular homeless person’s “home décor” was quite a sight. He had all of his personal stuff hanging on a railing or in baskets in the middle of a public park for everyone to see. In this case a very public location is a place of privacy. I think that in general laundry that is hanging outside to dry is a transition from private to public life. Your clothes (especially undergarments) can call a lot about a person and are very personal assets of one’s life.


Also, I was surprised to see that there were many people with ipods in Rome. Even in America an ipod tends to be a sort of getaway from everything else. When I listen to the music from my ipod I can truly identify with every song that’s on there. I could be surrounded by hundreds of people in a train or piazza but if I’m listening to my music I feel like I’m in my own little world. For this reason, I feel like the ipod or maybe music in general can be a transition state from public to private life. I have a habit of associating almost every song with an experience, person or event in my life so I know that I can get the elicit memories and ponder on something very personally even if I’m in a public spot.