Day 11 - July 10

 Rome is such a huge city and there is so much to see, but I feel like I will never get to see it all. Unfortunately we were a little bit right. The first thing we did, besides absolutely loving the air conditioning (like seriously it was the best nights sleep in my life), was see the Coliseum!!! Oh my god. Honestly that is all I can say, and it is all I did say when I got to go up close to it and see it for myself. Our tour guide told us everything there was to know about it and the kinds of shows they did inside it, but we never got to actually go inside. There was a 4 hour wait for an hour tour, so it basically  would have taken our entire day. But we did learn that the gladiators were not big heros or anything like the movies show, they were not a job you wanted, not glorious, and usually were filled by people who were poor and owed a debt to someone. I found that interesting to hear about because that is not how Hollywood has depicted the gladiators in my mind. Anyway, the Coliseum was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen, in my entire life. I hope everyone gets to go there someday and experience for themselves because it is hard to believe, even when you are standing outside of it. I also found out it took the Romans 10 years to build it, which is amazing because that really is not that long for such a massive project in their time of age especially! The tour guide told us that Rome (nowadays) has been working on the subway for a little less time than that and its still not done. Roman slaves and workers knew how to get a job done!!

 After walking around the outside of the Coliseum we headed to our next destination, the Roman forum. It is just so cool because there are so many things to see that are just right out of the history books, but it is all real. The Roman forum was such an old, ancient city, but was still intact in a way. I have so many pictures but it just isn't the same. All I can say is that everything you see is so beautiful and so majestic, that it really seems fake.

Then we headed for the Trevi fountain, for those people who didn't see it at night, which was totally better. We also went to the Spanish Steps, which was not cool. Haha I mean I didn't really understand why they were so popular I guess because they literally were just steps by the Spanish Embassy. But whatever, I saw it and took pictures on it of course. So after the many pictures we take, our group decides it is time for a little break...obviously we mean a gelato break. We get it again. Haha when I say gelato places are everywhere, I am not lying. It is a goal of mine to try every flavor. So far my favorite is frutti something, basically a fruit mix of berries. So refreshing!!

 

After we finish with that our group heads on to see the Pantheon, which was having mass still when we first got there, but it opened up at 12 for us to see. It is a really cool building because it has a giant hole in the ceiling that is the only source of light for the place, then there are drains built into the floor to make sure that when it rains the water can get out. It kind of amazed me that they thought of that and were able to make such a thing with such beauty and use it for their church but mostly a place for sacrifices to be done.  

The rest of the day after we exited the Pantheon was ours. We all went to the other fountain that was in the movie When in Rome, where the girl makes a wish to find love while she is in Rome and all this crazy stuff happens and eventually it works. HAHAHAHA so fake. Not even real at all. The only thing we found out that was real was the fountain that they shot the movie around. My program director looked at me so funny and said that nobody throws coins in that fountain and it has nothing to do with love. Hollywood, once again, ruined something for me. Gees. But it was a very cool fountain anyway.

 There was also a big art gallery around that area so Carrie and I went to find us some cool art to take home with us. After arguing with the street vendor about not wanting to pay 20 euros for a piece of art

that he probably stole to be honest with you. He did agree with 15 euros as long as we bought 2 paintings. So I got one and so did Carrie. We were happy. I got a frame that holds 3 pictures and on is of the Colleseum, then the Trevi fountain, and then the capital building. They are really cool, abstract paintings and not too big in size. Hopefully I can get them home without ripping though! We then met everyone for lunch, although we didn't eat because it was crazy expensive and we had just spent our lunch money on art. Haha so we skipped lunch. 

 Our group then headed to this small church that had something underground that was built of like 4,000 people's bones and was some sort of shrine thing. I did not go in however because one of the girls lost her camera she realized, or she was pickpocketed. I felt so awful for her. She went back to all the places we were today and even filed a missing camera report, but it is gone. It sucked because she doesn't even have all her Rome pictures anymore now either. So half of us stayed back while the others went in and saw this place that honestly sounded way too creepy for my liking. Plus I was so unbelievably tired that I couldn't even stand up anymore. I was sitting on the street waiting for everyone. We finally headed back to the hotel to get our things and take the train back to Florence. I so

wish that I could have stayed in Rome much longer because it was so much cooler than Florence!!! I mean Florence is cool and all, but a lot smaller than Rome so I have already seen a whole bunch of the city just with one week. I have 3 more to go though. Weird to think that my first week is over, and before I know it I will be heading home to good ole St. Louis.

These are all my roommates and I in front of the Trevi Fountain. This is our roommate sign...I told you we were a little weird!!!!!! We all love each other though so its fun!