I have been in Rome less than a week, but the amount of stuff I have already seen seems incredible (and by stuff I mean ancient ruins two-thousand-some years old). Saturday morning was spent listening to a lecture by one of JFRC's professors about some of these ruins and then actually going and seeing them in person. And seeing them in person just absolutely blew my mind. I can't even describe what it was like to step into the Colosseum for the first time, or walk among all the ancient ruins in the Roman Forum. I'm hoping to learn more about all these places in the classes I will be taking; it's definitely some hands-on learning.
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| The inside of the Colosseum (gladiators sold separately) |
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| Some of the many ancient ruins in the Roman Forum |
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| Some of the slightly less ruined ruins |
After spending several hours exploring the Colosseum and Forum, a
group of friends and I decided to take a stroll around the city (and by
stroll I mean a twelve-hour marathon of sight-seeing). We did a lot of
church hopping and got to see some of the many absolutely gorgeous
churches in Rome. We also wandered around many of the piazzas, and had
some more gelato (and yes, I will proceed to document every time I eat
gelato - this time I had strawberry and lemon which is ah-mazing).
They have been feeding us very well here in Roma; Friday night JFRC sponsored a dinner on the town, and we had an authentic 5-course Roman meal which lasted hours. I have also had some pretty good pizza while I have been here (though I'm told I need to go to Naples to get the best stuff) and a very good capuccino, compliments of a picturesque little cafe nearby campus. I unfortunately don't have any touristy food pictures, but at least I won't make anyone hungry.
Today was the last day before classes start, and they took us all to Maccarese Beach on the coast of the Mediterranean. It was beautiful weather and we basically just relaxed all day (and got fed another delicious meal). I'm afraid these past few days in Rome have made me quite spoiled.
I attended mass in the JFRC chapel tonight, but I'm looking forward to going to some of the churches in the city and seeing what that experience will be like. And of course I plan to make it to the Vatican. I have to say, going to the Vatican museums and walking to the top of the dome is one of the things I am currently most looking forward to doing.
I'm sorry I haven't been able to Skype with anyone at all, but these couple days have been a whirlwind. Also, I have very bad wi-fi in my room. Hopefully this week I will be able to make some time for it now that classes are starting and I'm getting on a better routine.
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| Me doing a touristy pose with an ancient landmark |
