As soon as I arrived in Rome, Italy, I was amazed by the thrum of life pulsing all around me. People from all walks of life, coming from drastically different countries, who spoke different languages—all of us were here, living in the same ancient city like so many people before us. Thriving together, existing alongside so many variations of humans. And all of us were… EATING!

Tiramisu from Francesco I, a restaurant near the Vatican.

I’ve never been much of a “foodie,” but that has changed since I arrived in Rome almost a month ago. The Italian food in Rome is amazing (obviously), and I have featured more than one of the delicious dishes I’ve eaten while here in my pictures. Italian food from restaurants all long Trastevere put every single Olive Garden in American to shame. Yet, more than once I’ve found myself craving foods that reminded me of home: hamburgers, chicken nuggets, greasy food that makes you feel sick-yet-satisfied after you eat it. A lot of my friends felt the same way, so we set out to find places in Rome where we could satisfy those cravings. I am still on the hunt for new places, but I have found three that climbed and stayed at the top of my list:

When you travel to Rome, you must try the pizzas from Grazia & Graziella (but only if you want to)!

Pico’s is my favorite—a Mexican restaurant (their nachos and tacos are amazing). Roadhouse has good burgers, a restaurant which is further down Vialle di Trastevere. And the Sushi Garden (a nice, family-run Chinese restaurant near Roadhouse) has—you guessed it!—amazing sushi. I would recommend any of these three restaurants to students missing home, but none of them will ever compare to sitting down and having a nice, traditional Italian meal. Interestingly enough, the thing about food in Rome that has been the most difficult for me to grasp, plus the most entertaining, is not the way it is made, how it is eaten, nor even how each course is laid out in separate dishes—it is how LONG it takes people to eat it!!!

My roommate and I made our own “Italian-style” pizzas! They were delicious.

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Sarah is an SAI/ John Cabot University fall 2017 student from Baylor University.