So far my time in Italy has been enlightening to say the least. Not only to learn the customs of other cultures, but I am also becoming more aware of the issues that affect people around the world.

I have never been interested in politics, world issues or even watching the news. People probably think this is ridiculous because I am a journalism major, but I've just never been interested. I always felt like anytime I watch the news it just depresses me. To me, almost every story has something to do with murder or killing of some kind.

I'm sure many people share this view of the news, but watch it because they feel obligated or simply enjoy being informed. Well I have never been either of those people.

Some people my age would throw stones at me for saying that, but it is the truth. My world view of basically not caring about what was going on has shifted during my time abroad. This, in large part, is because of my roommate, Elena. She was born in Romania, attends college in Germany, and speaks English, German and Italian. Needless to say, she is an intelligent person.

Because we don't start classes until September 29 and we are in our apartment most of the time, we tend to talk about a lot of different things. When Elena began asking me questions about politics and how the United States does certain things, I was surprised to find that I actually knew the answers to most of her questions.

Our conversations sparked something in me. Instead of always going straight to my favorite celebrity gossip Web site or SOAPnet.com, I found myself going to Google to look at the news. At first I only read the headlines because I thought I could get all I needed to know from them.

Then, because I began to get bored and ran out of good gossip, I actually chose to read a few articles. I'm not saying this to make myself sound stupid, but I really just never liked the news or really cared. Some people my age would throw stones at me for saying that, but it is the truth.

So as time went on, instead of just trying to answer Elena's questions and listening to her comments, we actually created a dialogue on different issues. We talked about AIG's troubles, the upcoming election and even what songs we believed were politically charged.

These conversations went even further. We began talking about the differences between Germany, Italy and the U.S. with respect to politics, war and their histories. It was kind of nice to have a different, open-minded perspective on issues that people from the U.S. get so defensive about.

Studying out of the country, I knew I would see some interesting things and travel to beautiful places. I never, even for a moment, thought that my political and social consciousness would be raised. But just because I have this newfound interest does not mean that I will not know what is going on in the lives of my favorite actors on One Tree Hill.