ROMA!

When my last day in Spain actually arrived, I was actually quite sad. It was beautiful weather outside which made it even more difficult to say goodbye. I had all my bags packed and the room felt entirely too empty with Carly and my things all put away. Nieves didn’t know that I was leaving that morning (language barrier wins until the very end), so she was caught off guard when I was saying goodbye with all my suitcases in hand. The goodbye with Nieves wasn’t as sad as I imagined because most of the time I felt as though I was a bit of a burden to her. I never knew if she actually wanted Carly and I there or if she was doing it for the money to be honest. Either way she was an incredible host mom who was very patient with me. She let us into her home with open arms and helped us whenever she could. I wasn’t too sad to leave the cooking either. I liked it for the amount of time I was there but definitely was excited to be heading to Italy. The last day I had a final in my art history class that was nerve-racking for me with the stress of having to get to the airport on my own with my heavy bag (little did I know how heavy it actually was.) There was a small “graduation” ceremony which they gave us certificates with our Spanish grades on them. I left a bit early because I was getting too nervous about traveling to the airport. I quickly hopped on my last bus ride in Alcala and got the train then the subway. As I got to the check-in counter I saw the other four girls I would be traveling in Italy with: Jenny Lexi, Jordan and Kylie. I gave Jenny and Lxi big hugs having not seen them in a day or two and they introduced me to their friends from back home who had come out to travel the last few days Jenny and Lexi were in Europe. I weighed my bag and was instantly laughed at and stared at because it weighed 35 kilos (limit is 20 kilos and the conversion would make it roughly 70 pounds). I had to unpack my bag (along with the other girls) and distribute it into a shoulder bag I had handy. I threw out a couple of old work-out shirts, my running sneakers, my old bag that was about to break anyway to lessen the burden a bit more. Here I was thinking I was a good traveler.

We arrived at a small airport in Rome and caught a taxi for the five of us to take us to the apartment we had rented out for the three nights we were there. With the excuse of our excessive luggage, the cab driver ripped us off a bit. Then we had some difficulty getting a hold of the owner of the apartment. Without cell phones or access to internet it presented a bit of a problem. Jenny and I finally stopped a random girl about our age of the street and asked to use her cell phone and she kindly let us make the phone call. The wait and struggle was worth it because the apartment was perfect. There was a small living area with a pull-out couch where I slept, with a kitchen. The queen bedroom was cornered off of the main area with little dividers making it very open. Then there was a bathroom and a separate room with bunk beds. We really enjoyed our stay there and it turned out to be cheaper than staying in a hotel anyway.

Our first day we rose bright and early and headed to Termini station to get our Roma passes that we paid 25 euros for and would give us free transportation, entrance to two sites and then discount prices for any other sites in Rome we would see. After our two days there, we didn’t quite get our full value out of it. If we had been there for longer it would have saved us tons but we didn’t have enough time to get to all the museums and things where we could have saved. Anyway, we soon discovered that the buses and metro systems were all on strike. It wasn’t much of a problem the first day because all the major sites are walking distance. We followed a small family to the Colosseum. It was incredible finally seeing all these things in person. The structures themselves are absolutely massive and the designs of the architecture are always fascinating. The inside of the Collesseum was much different than I imagined. I had to keep in mind that they were ruins and of course you would be left to imagine what it must have looked like back when it was created. We headed over to Palentine Hill afterwards which gave you a view of where the Circus Maximus would have been. It was fun seeing all these places that I had previously studied in middle school. To be honest, I wish I had gone to Rome soon after I had studied it all so I could remember all the details I learned, but I was still able to recall things here and there. After Palentine Hill we walked throughout the forum. This was probably my favorite because I could just picture memorizing the different parts of the forum for Magistra Berry’s class. Funny enough, we ran into Abby (a girl from our program) who was walking through the forum with her mom. Such a strange coincidence! Anyway, you definitely had to let your imagination go to picture what it had looked like. It was quite a different type of site-seeing that we had to adjust to. We had been used to seeing cathedrals and palaces and landscapes in full. We walked over to the Trevi fountain which was a hidden treasure for us. Ii didn’t really know much about it or knew what it looked like to be honest. We all threw in American pennies as we made our wishes. By that point we all needed to sit down and get food. We ate at a small casual restaurant and got paninis as well as paid for Cokes that turned out to be 3.5 euros. Next on the agenda was to get a gelato and sit on the Spanish steps. I was the first to order mine and I asked for rhis cone that was on display that had the top dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. She scooped my Panna Cotta gelato (favorite flavor) and turned around and started putting all these things on top of it like whip cream, small cones, chocolate etc. When she handed it to me it was massive and we were all wide-eyed in awe. Little did I know when I was ready to pay for it that the gelato was a small fortune. I had to pay 9.50 for it! I could have argued but decided it wasn’t worth it. Everyone else learned from my mistake though. We basked in the sun on the Spanish steps for a while and we each fell asleep for a little bit. We were lucky enough to have incredible weather while visiting Rome for the weekend. The other thing we noticed were the countless vendors selling the strangest things. Some will walk around with roses and will innocently present them to you seeming like a random gesture of kindness but then will ask for money for them once they’ve placed them in your hands. We watched this happen to a girl when finally he took them back. It makes me wonder if anyone actually buys them and why the persist on bothering tourists. We then trekked our way to the Pantheon. Once again we had another strange run-in with another girl from our program, Camille with her mom. It was the most bizarre occurrence. They had closed the Pantheon for an hour because of a service so we sat on the steps outside for a bit. We sat down next to these two older ladies who we began talking to. Soon we found out that they were both BYU alumni! One of them had been on the very same program we had just finished. They were telling us how they’ve been back to Europe countless times because they have just fallen in love with everything it has to offer. Inside the Pantheon was intriguing. We walked around for a bit and then headed to Plaza Navona which has fountains designed and constructed by Bernini. As we walked around there, the different restaurant has spokes-people lingering outside stopping every passerby to persuade them to stay and enjoy their fresh pasta. They used things like free champagne, no service fee, no cover charge, free bread to get you to stay. The girls decided to go to this one place, Dulce Vita (perfectly named), because the owner was attractive – good enough reasoning. As we enjoyed our delicious pasta, I realized that I had left my Cochni sweater somewhere. Jenny was nice enough to come with me to retrace my steps a bit but to no avail. That night we were all exhausted and passed out cold as soon as we sat down in the apartment.

Our second day in Rome we planned to go to the Vatican and spend most of the day there visiting St. Peter’s basilica, Sistine chapel etc. Luckily for us the strike was over so we were able to hop on a bus at Termini. We got there a little before 9 and there was already a line. Once we set foot inside the square we all stood in place taking in the incredible structure. It was a beautiful day along with the amazing buildings mad for an astounding scene. The inside of St. Peter’s was absolutely massive (obviously the biggest we have seen) and had the most brilliant details in the ceiling designs. Everything was outlined in gold. There was a small service going on while we were there. We decided to climb to the top which was my most favorite part. Not only was the hike up really fun and entertaining, but it was also the most fantastic view. When you walk up, the walls become slanted because of the shape of the dome – you literally begin walking leaning to one side. While we were in Rome, the joke of the trip was being able to find qualified people to take pictures. We were surprised with how many times we had to ask different people to re-take our pictures because no one would include the background of where we were. We would literally be standing in front of St. peter’s basilica or the Pantheon and people would take the picture of just us so you couldn’t even see where we were. It was interesting how many times it happened to us. Anyway, after we got down from the top of St. Peter’s, we went down to the tombs of the popes which wasn’t all that interesting. We grabbed some lunch and ran into a few problems at the ATM with Jordan’s card. But shortly after we decided to join a tour that would take us through the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel. At first we weren’t sure if the money would be worth it but in the end I thought it was worth every penny. I loved learning the interesting stories and facts about the various works of art. The worth of some of the pieces is actually priceless. There was a room filled with painted maps of Italy made hundreds of years ago by one man. It took him eight years to travel and record all the different parts of Italy but it was incredibly accurate for that time period and even today. When we got to the Sistine chapel, there were hundreds of people crammed into this room all tilting their heads back gazing at the incredible murals. The guards were constantly yelling at people to stop talking and to not take pictures. To be quite honest, it was much darker than I expected. It looked much different than what pictures had made it seem. It was really fun to see all of Michaelangelo’s work in person though. It really makes you appreciate his talent because of how much time and effort he must have dedicated to this project. After the Sistine chapel, we grabbed gelato and found a bench that we all laid out on for a while. We decided we needed to use the second portion o our Roma pass (Vatican was not included because it is it’s own country… smallest country in the world that we had forgotten about). We hopped on the metro to the Circus Maximus area to walk around the ancient Roman baths. It was this area filled with ruins of what used to be this massive structure the Romans would visit to go swimming and socialize. I remember briefly studying it and how the technology of the Romans was very impressive for their time. They had figured out how to heat their baths by using steam underground. At this point we were just wandering around, absorbing our last sight-seeing stop exhausted from the past two non-stop days. For dinner we enjoyed the fabulous Italian, thin-crusted pizzas.