Quando a Roma...

Hey! So I asked my host family at dinner tonight if they had internet and they said yes! I guess that was something they didn't think we would consider a necessity, but here we are all the same.

And here I am.

I’m writing this from Italy. Italy! I can’t even believe I’m actually here doing this. We just got to Siena. We spent the past week in Rome and ohmygosh it was incredible. I still don’t think it has hit me yet that we were actually in Rome seeing in real life things we’ve only seen in books and pictures. As boring as this is, let me go day by day and tell you what we did.

Day 1 – Sept 5, Sunday

Long version: After almost 24 hours of traveling, I made it to Rome! I went RDU-ATL-EWR-FCO. Yikies. Once I got to the airport I had to wait for everyone else to get in because we were all taking a bus together from the airport to the hotel. Unfortunately, I was one of the first people to get in so I ended up waiting in the airport for 7 hours. I know, right? All I wanted to do was shower because I felt so gross. But we finally made it to the Hotel Pacific and got all checked in. I ended up rooming with two girls, Olivia and Allyson. They both had been in Italy for a while so they could travel a bit with their families and whatnot. I don’t know how it happened, but we had the smallest room. Everyone else had terraces, too! The door was 6’ tall, as was our showerhead. But, it didn’t really matter because we spent so little time in the hotel. That night, we went out with Dr. Talbot, our director, and his wife and 14-yr-old son, Sandy and James, respectively. The subway (Metro) had a stop close to our hotel, which was nice. So that night we went to the Spanish steps and saw the outside of the house where John Keats (poet) lived when he was in Rome. From there we walked to the Pantheon. It was closed when we got there so we couldn’t go inside, but we had time to walk around. I went with a couple other girls to Della Palma, which apparently has the best gelato in Rome. I got three gusti (flavors): Kinder Bueno (like the chocolate bar), cannoli and nutella. Mmm. From the Pantheon we walked to the Piazza Navona which is home to Bernini’s fantastic Fountain of the Four Rivers. To round out our first excursion into Rome, after the Piazza Navona we went to the Trevi Fountain by way of passing the column of Marcus Aurelius. The Trevi was absolutely amazing, but it was very crowded. This is the same fountain that the girl dances in in the movie La Dolce Vita, and another woman does the same thing in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. We went back to the hotel after that where I was finally able to get some sleep after 40-some-odd hours of no sleep.

Short version: Arrive in Rome, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, first gelato, Piazza Navona, column of Marcus Aurelius, Trevi Fountain

Day 2 – Labor Day

Long version: Another action packed day! We got up at the buttcrack of dawn to get a headstart on our day. First we went back to the Pantheon and this time we got to go inside. Raphael and Vittorio Emanuele II both have their remains in the Pantheon so we got to see those, too, which was cool. After that we went to this little church called the Santa Maria sopra Minverva where tucked in a little corner is Il Cristo, a statue by Michelangelo. From there we went down the main road, Via del Corso, to the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II which we call the wedding cake. Vittorio is responsible for uniting all of what is now Italy. It was pretty recent, too – Italy wasn’t united until 1861. Behind his monument is the Campidoglio, a small piazza that was designed by Michelangelo. The pattern of the stones on the ground is the same as the pattern of the stones in the courtyard of the JFSB, for those of you who are familiar with BYU. And just behind that is the Roman Forum. That’s the ancient center of Rome, and now only a few things remain. The Colosseum is right behind the Forum, so we went there, too. There is a Metro stop literally right across the street from the Colosseum, so that’s where we got back on the Metro and went back to the hotel for lunch. After we ate we went to the Vatican. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica (also designed by Michelangelo) and climbed to the top of the dome (the Duomo). It was about 21382739 cramped steps to the top, but once we were there the view was spectacular. We could see the entire city, it was incredible. We had a nice break on the roof of St. Peter’s after climbing back down from the Duomo and then we went down into the actual basilica. That’s where I caught sight of the Pietà by Michelangelo. I almost cried. It was so amazing. I couldn’t believe I was actually there, seeing the real thing. I didn’t get to explore the church as much as I wanted to because we were there at 5pm and that’s when they have mass and close off the church past the trancept. I didn’t get to rub the foot of the bronze statue of St. Peter from the old basilica, see the Baldocchino up close, see the altar underwhich are the remains of St. Peter or go to the end of the left trancept which is the spot where St. Peter was martyred. Oh well. We’ll be back in November.

Short version: Inside the Pantheon, Il Cristo, Wedding Cake, Campidoglio, Roman Forum, Colosseum, climbed the Duomo, St. Peter’s Basilica

Ok, so it has taken me a bazillion and a half years to write this and now I need to go to bed because I am super tired. But I now have internet! Huzzah! I'll keep the overdue updates coming and eventually try and post some pictures :)
 
Ciao ciao!