Jonkoping and Rome

My friend from Penn State, Gillian, visited me over the weekend. For the past seven weeks, she has been studying abroad in Jonkoping, Sweden, and has travelled to other northern European countries like Estonia, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. Jonkoping is a small city south of Stockholm, located on the edge of a large lake. As we walked around in Rome this weekend, Gillian was amazed at how old everything is in Rome – almost every building, church, and structure looks ancient. It was a huge culture shock compared to Sweden, she said, where the architecture is much more modern. Most of the buildings there have been built in the last century. There are a few sky scrapers, a lot of apartment complexes, and newer shops and restaurants.
(Image: Jonkoping, Sweden. http://www.sasnet.lu.se/bilder/jonkoping.jpg)

It was a lot of fun to show the city of Rome to Gillian and share her initial reactions to being here for the first time. Rome really is an ancient city, and I am still amazed by this, even after living here for weeks.