Roma

Im backkkkkk!!! Rome is one amazing place. Its a huge city and there is SO much history there! It was definitely a different experience this time going around with my professors and learning all they had to say!

Day 1 we went to the Pantheon to start us off. The pantheon was once a temple and then was used as a church. But what is cool about it is that it is the largest unsupported dome in the world and for a long period of time was also the largest dome in the world. In the interior there is an oculus which is the open hole at the center, the reason they left it open is because it would've been to heavy to fill and the dome would've collapsed. So they had to construct the floors at an angle so the water will drain out of the center when it rains. It definitely a sight to see and is mind-blowing when you are looking at it from an architectural standpoint. Then we moved onto the famous colosseum. You can't imagine the scale of this building until you really have seen it. Its massive. It took over ten years to build and after the earthquake people would come take fallen structures for themselves. SO they lost marble and many other expensive materials but some of what they could gather they then took and used as some material in the St. Peters Basilica. Then after we finished there we headed over to the Roman Forum. This area is huge and there is so much history behind it I couldn't even begin to tell you it all. But we climbed to the top of the area where there was an amazing outlook of the city. You could see many of the churches, the colosseum, and much more! To say the least we were exhausted after day one because we were up late the night before for the gala, then had to get up early for our train the following morning. So after a day full of sight-seeing we headed to the hotel to finally check into our rooms. I was the first of my roommates for the weekend to get back and get into the room (we were split into 2 groups) so luckily I was able to pick which bed I wanted and settle in before the other girls got there. It was definitely a strange experience sharing a room with two girls I had never met before and knew nothing about but luckily the weekend with them went pretty smoothly. Around 8 I met back up with friends and we went to dinner and literally we just stopped at the first place we found since we were so tired. BUT that was the best thing we could've done. That meal was the best meal I had so far on my European adventure. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo, which is a pretty typical dish back home but i haven't ordered it yet since I have been in Italy. Here though it comes with chicken and mushrooms mixed in the sauce. It was amazing and if it was up to me I would've gone back there the following night for dinner because it was just that good. We spent some time here and when we left the owner asked me how everything was (as he was talking to a group of girls our age, encouraging them to come inside) and I was completely honest and said it was the best meal I've ever head in europe! Then he screams and tells the girls they need to listen to me, so the girls asked what I got and i pointed it out to them on the menu, and just insisted that i wasn't being dramatic and it was actually the best meal I have had during my travels. When i got back to the hotel the door to our room was propped open which I knew meant one of my roommates was sleeping. I walked in and she was sound asleep. We were only given one key to our room so when someone was staying in for the night they had to keep the key because the key also controlled the electricity to the room. So I quietly gathered some things and went to do some homework on the rooftop, after about an hour up there it was raining and I had to retreat back inside. Considering how tired I was and the time I should've already been asleep but it hasn't been easy for me to just fall asleep so i got ready for bed then sat studying waiting for my other roommate to return from the lobby because she was down there studying. There was no way i was falling asleep with the door propped open. All of a sudden I saw the door open and three boys walked in my room, they asked if David and Andrew were staying in this room and I just started laughing and was like uhhhhh no.... (CLEARLY). Thankfully a few minutes later my roommate came back and I could peacefully go to bed for the night. OH let me add roommate #1 slept through all of this.

Day 2 we were up early to grab breakfast from the hotel and head of on another day full of sightseeing. We stopped at a few churches but our first destination was the Trevi Fountain. This maybe my favorite sight to see in Rome because the material (travertine stone) light color mixed with the blue of the water is a beautiful sight. If I was studying in Rome and not Florence I would just sit along the steps and do my homework there everyday with the sound of the following water in the background! But considering the time of day we were there it was PACKED so you had many people throwing their coin over their opposite shoulder, people shoving their way to the front to get a picture, and the guards that walk around blowing whistles when someone does something not allowed. So to say the least it was a bit chaotic. From here we started our journey to the Vatican. Here we had another tour given by one of our professors of the museum. In the museum you will also see the Sistine Chapel. When I first saw the chapel I honestly had no expectations and didn't know anything about it. I was surprised to hear many people were disappointed because they were expecting more. I think its pretty amazing to stand in this room and stare at all of these paintings that were done by ONE person. But our time in there wasn't easy. Its always crowed and you aren't suppose to take pictures so you have guards constantly pushing their way through people to tell someone to put their phone away. Also you aren't suppose to speak, even though its NEVER silent in there if they see a guide with a head set on they are pushing people out the door. So our professor who was pointing things out to us kept getting told to leave. It was again just chaotic but pretty cool. From the museum we entered the St. Peters Basilica which is something I didn't get to see last time I was in Rome and that was breathtaking. This thing is massive! Absolutely huge and is just filled with marble and gold. After we left we got some free time where I had to pick up a few more souvenirs for my grandma, and then we headed over to the Torre Argentina which are some roman ruins that have been taken over by some stray cats, so now this area is known as the cat sanctuary. This is a pretty neat place you have these women that raise money for this cats so they can be spayed or neutered so they can control the cat population in the city. Then once the cats are healthy enough they are available to be adopted. All of this money is made of pf visitors to the area, none of the money comes from the city. So inside this small little space they sell souvenirs to raise money for their cause. SO of course Anna and I bought mugs... How couldn't you. We got back to the hotel around 7 and relaxed for an hour until we went out to dinner then we went to a bar after. We were cold at dinner and they had hot chocolate on the menu. We asked if we could get it spiked and our waiter starting laughing because he had never heard of that before but he said of course! The hot chocolate was thick but honestly it was pretty good, but once it cooled down you were able to taste how strong it was! After dinner we headed over to a bar I was at last time I was in Rome which ended up only being like 5 minutes from our hotel. The Abbey Theater Irish Pub. Its so cute inside and honestly just an easy place to go because everyone speaks english! But the night couldn't end without getting some gelato from the famous Frigidarium. I asked for a small 2 euro cone with two flavors, but the kind man kept winking at me and told me to pick another flavor and I just told him to give me his favorite. So i pay him and give him a little tip for being kind, and not until I feel like I've been eating this gelato for forever do i realize that he gave me the BIG 6 euro cone for only 2 euros. Then the winking made a little more sense to me and i felt bad for only paying 2 euros, I was just glad I tipped him!

Day three was an even earlier day! We went to the Galleria Borghese museum in the morning that was full of sculptures and paintings and for once I could barely keep my eyes open. I was not to entrained by this place. But after the museum we were going to a blessing by the pope, which is what I was really excited about. So we left the museum around 10:30 and our professor told us it was a 15-20 minute walk back to Vatican City..... WELL when we got kinda close to the Vatican at 11:50 and they said okay if you are going to the blessing just walk straight for 10 minutes I was pissed. Granted our walk was through a park and it was honestly really nice but when I was looking forward to this blessing all weekend and I had to run to get there I wasn't to happy. So a group of us literally were speed walking... for like jogging to the Vatican. We ran through some traffic and at 12:01 reached the crowd waiting for the pope, literally as we entered we heard the cheering of people because the window had opened for the Pope to start speaking. We made it just in time, and the blessing lasted about 10 minutes! It was a great experience and glad i took the run to get there! That was our last stop on our journey before we headed for our train ride back to Florence!