The Walking Begins

As I am writing this I am winding down from my second full day here in Rome. I am taking a three week course in Rome, Italy called Walking Ancient Rome which takes us all around the city and describes many of the iconic sites and their significance in history.

I left on May 31st around 11 AM from Minneapolis and had a two hour flight to Atlanta, Georgia, and then around a nine hour flight to Rome. I was anticipating that getting through security in Minneapolis would take up some time so I showed up to the airport about three hours early. This may have been a little bit of overkill considering I went through security in about two minutes and I was at my gate before the flight that was leaving at 9 AM had even finished boarding. After waiting for a while I started to see people trickle in who I thought may be on my trip but I wasn't 100% percent sure. I think they felt the same way because it took us about a half an hour before most of our group was in one spot starting to make conversation. The flight to Georgia went smoothly and  we decided to wander the airport for awhile since we had a four hour layover before our flight to Rome. We were all pretty hungry so we grabbed a table at TGI Friday. I think this may have been the American in us wanting to have our last taste of home before experiencing a totally different culture. To put the icing on top we went Starbucks as well just to make sure we got all of our stereotypical American cravings out of the way.

Then it was time to board for Rome, I don't think I was nervous at this point but I was very anxious to start this trip. I do pretty well with flying and usually do not have any problems, but this was a long flight and I was definitely ready to get off the plane when we finally landed in Rome. At the airport we met up with Lisa, one of our teachers, and Chiara, our program leader from Italy. We took a bus into the city and as we drove through the many streets it was still surreal that I was in Rome. I don't know if this was because we were on a bus just going through small parts of Rome or if I was just too tired to comprehend where I was. When we finally got to the area near our apartments, Piazza Mazzini, we hopped off the bus and were taken to our apartments where we were staying. That night we were able to relax and do what ever we would like. I was exhausted from the plane and decided to take a much needed nap! We then all met up again to go out to eat. We went to Pummare which was a very good restaurant. We got to choose between pizza or pasta, and I chose the pizza. After we placed our orders the waiters started bringing dish after dish of classic Italian appetizers. There had to have been eight to 10 different items to choose from, and once we were finished with those and we thought we were full they brought us our main meal. Needless to say I was extremely full and satisfied by the end of the meal.

First Full Day:
For our first full day in Rome we all met up around 9 AM and walked to the accent center. This is our study abroad agencies building is located and it was about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. I think this is when it really sunk in that I was in Rome. Walking down the street and seeing countless historic and magnificent buildings really makes me appreciate where I am. The whole city is a piece of art and history.

Our first stop for our class was the Circus Maximus. This is where many of the big chariot races in Rome were held and it is right next to Palatine hill. This was also the place where it is said that Romulus (the founder of the city of Rome) killed his brother Remus. The size of the circus was incredible and it was much bigger than I imagined. One fact that Aaron (our other teacher) told us about that really stunned me was that at one point in time the Circus Maximus was able to seat nearly 250,000 people!

The next stop was the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum is set in a valley and is looked upon by the Capitoline hill. This Forum was host to many buildings throughout history and was known as a place of politics, business, and worship. Many buildings in the Forum, such as the Curia Julia, were where political decisions were made. The Curia Julia was the place that the senate would meet and vote on different bills and laws that were being made. It was really interesting to see how the buildings were ordered by time. The oldest and most ancient buildings were in the back near the Capitoline hill and they gradually got newer as you moved away. The Forum was amazing and was a really good representation of political buildings throughout Roman history.

After spending my first full day in Rome I think the one thing that keeps running through my mind as we wander the city is how did people build these things?? I find that almost every building I look at I am trying to figure out how humans could have built them. The grandiosity and fine detail that is put into almost every building is truly amazing!

That's all for this post! More to come on days 2 and 3 soon!
Ciao