Thursday, January 9th
On Thursday we took a bus from Florence to Rome which lasted approximately 4 hours. Although I brought a book onto the bus, I didn't manage to open it once. For the first two hours I talked to the people around me where we shared stories and laughed. When the conversations died down and throughout the second part of the trip, I looked out the window taking in the thought that I was in Europe. It hadn't really settled in my mind that I was just taking a bus ride to Rome....no big deal...The landscape was beautiful of course. The hills are so lush and the buildings are built so differently than in the United States. One person I was sitting with stated something that I agreed with. She said that it seemed that the architecture and buildings were constructed the way they were because people took the time to put in this extra effort into the architecture. In the United States it always seems like buildings are being mass produced and everything is so fast paced. Europe is different; it's very much about taking the time to appreciate what's around and slowing down a bit. Other conversations I may or may not have listened in on consisted of what people were passionate about. Getting to know peoples' passions is actually really interesting because it's as if they are sharing this really personal thing about themselves without revealing something secret. It's just something they really love and enjoy. There was also talk of shows that I watched and I wanted to jump in on the conversation but it was really nice just listening to what people had to say without participating.
Once we got to the hotel, we checked it out and soon after we took a three hour tour around the city of Rome. It was beautiful and I took many pictures, which you can access here. We visited the place were St. Ignatius resided (we even saw his clothes and books), the Trevi fountain (my favorite place in all of Rome! Side note: would definitely be okay with getting proposed there. So gorgeous!), among other places around the city. The streets and architecture are truly gorgeous. My only complaint about the city of Rome was how many street vendors there were trying to sell flowers by shoving them in your face. There were also these men that would flash lights to try and distract you in order to pick pocket you. Although the city itself was beautiful, unfortunately because of its popularity, tourism had taken something away from it.
After the tour, the whole program went to dinner where a place was rented out for us. There we ate way too much food, and we even had entertainment! There was a man who was nicely playing the piano for a good portion of the night, and he later transitioned into playing American songs such as New York, New York and YMCA. He was such a great highlight of the dinner and made all of us laugh when he did ridiculous things such as using a whistle for part of his act. During the dinner I talked to a group of girls whom I didn't know, which was great because making friends is part of this amazing experience! Afterwards we decided to go on a bar crawl because well..."When in Rome!".
We ended up only going to one bar, but it was absolutely not a dud. At first, I was a bit hesitant because it seemed like we were the only Americans there and I had not quite gotten used to the idea of being in a place without many Americans. We ended up staying and being the only females and Americans in the bar so that called a bit of attention to us...
When we decided it was time to go home, my friend and I went ahead of the group we came with and went by ourselves. We knew the way in a general sense, but not specifically...what I'm trying to say is that weeeee got lost. Woops!
So we went around 98% of the route correctly and when it came to turn to our street, which we had been unfamiliar with being there for only half a day, we didn't turn and we kept going. Somehow we just kept on walking and that got us pretty far from our hotel. We asked multiple people (including the police) where we were supposed to go but there were just so many ally ways it was too difficult to tell if we were going the right way. Eventually we entered this plaza where there were many drunk italians. Even though we had been down some sketchy ally ways, for some reason this plaza made me feel the most uncomfortable. We approached one group of Italians for directions but the directions one gentleman gave us we knew for sure was just not right. Finally, I found a group that looked like Americans and shouted, "okay, are you American?!" so frustrated with our situation. They smiled nicely and excitedly said yes! Thank God. We asked them if they knew where our hotel was, which they didn't, but two of the guys in the group offered to help us find it. They seemed, and were, absolutely trustworthy and I am so glad we found them that night. It took a while but they helped us find our way back and we made it safely to our hotel. Quick note: Don't ever go to Hotel Navona in Rome. They were rude and disrespectful. I understand that handling a group of college students is a hard task, but this is customer service. Apparently some other students arrived around 3am (we arrived around 1:45) and were locked out of the hotel because the staff kept our keys and didn't tell us. Great service...
On a lighter note, it was a funny adventure to look back and laugh on!
Friday, January 10th
Friday morning started with a visit to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum! It was incredibly interesting looking at what used to be the heart of Rome. I couldn't comprehend the fact that these were ruined governmental buildings and an actual part of a city. People lived here many years ago in an age that is significantly different than our own. This architecture was built by such talented individuals. My only wish was to see what it was really like back then and see the city come to life. Obviously, that wish didn't come true, but one can dream! This tour was nice because we had complete control over how much time we spent in both the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, and then we were free to get lunch on our own until we had to meet back at our hotel to go on another tour! Let me just say that the pair of shoes I chose for that day was not a good choice...cute!... but not a good choice...
Our next visit was to the Villa Borghese, which was the Borghese museum that held many sculptures and paintings from famous artists such as Bernini. Before this trip, I'd probably say that I wasn't very fond of museums (holla, I'm becoming more cultured!). However, Rome started to change my mind. I really do enjoy art, but in order for me to really appreciate it, I need context. Fortunately for my learning experience, we were given a tour guide (and these awesome head pieces that he spoke into so he didn't have to speak loudly and we could hear him! MAGIC!) and he knows EVERYTHING! Like, we had this tour guide three separate times: Thursday, when touring the city of Rome (so like, that's already a lot), Friday, when visiting the Borghese, and Saturday, which you will see below, when we visited the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. So basically his extended knowledge really helped me enjoy the art and architecture because it was so interesting learning about the stories and meanings behind the statues and paintings! For example: The statue of Daphne and Apollo is inspired by the mythological story of...you guessed it....Daphne and Apollo. The signature scene of the story where Daphne just barely escapes Apollo's lust by turning into a tree is what the statue shows. Many mythological stories were shaped into sculptures and although they are already crafted so beautifully, hearing the stories adds another dimension to the experience.
Something else that I learned is how nudity was actually a symbol of purity and spirituality rather than being scandalous. Of course many people viewed nude paintings as scandalous, but in one particular painting, it was quite the opposite! In the painting, Sacred and Profane Love, there is one woman who is clothed and another naked. One is supposed to symbolize sacred love, and the other profane. At first, I thought the naked one was profane love. However, I was told by my tour guide that the naked woman was actually Sacred Love. I posted a picture below so you could see what I'm referring to. I don't normally like traditional paintings, but again, context is key. So in the background behind the clothed woman, there is a castle behind her. This, along with her clothing, is meant to show materialism. Behind the nude woman is a lake and what seems to be a steeple. This tends to be more pure and innocent, sacred. I just found it very interesting that I could oversee so many details and miss the idea entirely, which probably is very common.
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What really captured my attention is just how beautiful the sculptures around the whole city of Rome are! There is so much detail and they all look so powerful and graceful. It totally brought out my inner Goddess!
Well before I was in the museum my feet were killing me, so I think you can imagine how much my feet hated me AFTER the museum. Every time my group entered a room with a seat we all scrambled to get a seat because we were all just so exhausted.
Night time, I had a BLAST! I met up with a few girls, some who I just met, and a couple I already knew, and we bonded instantly! In italy, it is typical to eat carbs on carbs on carbs. Endless. So needless to say I was craving a big ol' salad. To be perfectly honest I've been craving a smoothie since we got here but we can't have everything. Anywho, my salad was awesome. It had lettuce (obvi), brie (the best cheese because brie), walnuts, pears, and honey! Yum. Also, someone didn't want their mojito so guess who got that? This girl! Never turn down free alcohol. It's just a simple rule of life. We then went to have a very low key evening at a nice, hipster-looking bar where we had wine. The cover charge was 1 euro, which was no problem because we got chips (again, hollaaaa). For some reason we decided to roam around the city, I think we just wanted to become familiar with it and see it at night time (even though I had my lovely, unexpected tour the night before). We went down under a bridge by the water, which looked absolutely sketch, but we were aware of our surroundings. It was fun exploring! We then headed to our hotel, but got distracted by a street that had lights hung around it (as many did) and a lot of people were walking around as well. We decided to go over there and check it. Best idea of the night. We stumbled (not literally. Please, we're classy ladies) upon this bar that had all drinks for 5 euro. There were a ton of people there, so obviously it was a popular place! I got a Sex on the Beach, which was great! There, two very nice (non-agressive...shocker) Italian guys talked to us and we talked about the stereotypes for Italians and Americans. It was a really light hearted and fun night with a lot of good laughs and we safely left to be back in our hotel for our 1 am curfew.
Saturday, January 11th
Saturday is the day we toured St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. I'm not going to lie, after all of the walking done the day before, this tour was a bit of a drag. I had one favorite thing and that was learning how much of a freaking rebel Michelangelo was when the Church asked him to paint the sistine chapel. He was not keen on doing this, so he left a few presents in the painting, my favorite being God's butt.
Gotta love sassy Michelangelo.
The Sistine Chapel, in my opinion (along with others), was a bit of a let down. I was expecting it to be as tall and grand as St. Peter's Basilica, yet it was not. Plus, we had seen plenty of other paintings on the ceilings so it just didn't make the Sistine Chapel feel any more special. I think what also took away from the experience was the fact that the room was so packed with people pushing that it didn't give the calm atmosphere I was expecting. It was very hard to enjoy.
The tour was down in the morning so we had the entire afternoon until dinner to do whatever we wanted. My friends and I went to my favorite place, the Trevi Fountain! We took the cliche pictures and got out of all the tourism.
Now I was going to post our grand finale dinner experience in this post, but it really deserves its own (most likely short) post because it was probably the best dinner experience I've had. If you have made it this far, you are a trooper. And thanks for reading!
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