Sam, I’m a terrible sister. I should have given you a shout out yesterday for your birthday. Happy birthday, from your loving sister who’s really busy in Italy.
Today was Rome. I was strangely awake this morning when my alarm went off. Maybe my body knew a busy day was ahead. After breakfast and a two hour bus ride, we arrived in Rome.
In the Colosseum.
First thoughts: it’s really old. During the next 5 weeks, I will be visiting two more times. Every visit to Rome will be with the entire SMU group here in Italy. The visit today was centered around ancient Rome. That means, we walked around and toured the oldest stuff in Rome: the Pantheon, Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. Sprinkled between our stops at each of these very old exhibits, we also stopped at “piazzas,” which are public plazas. Our professors were our tour guides the entire time, talking into a microphone throughout the journey. We all had ear phones stuck in our ear so that we could hear the professors at all times. This also led to us hearing their conversations about happy hour and lunch.
During the Forum tour, we stopped at every station and listened to one professor talk in detail while we students scrambled to take notes, snap pictures, and avoid getting pick pocketed. This made me very frustrated. I would have much rathered just listened and observed, culturing myself of course. Then Rick to the rescue! I opened my Rick Steves book during one of the stations and realized that he knew EVERYTHING my professor was telling me. So instead of taking mediocre notes, I just read along in my guide book. I think I learned more that way because I wasn’t so annoyed. Sam, thanks for convincing me that Rick Steves knows his stuff.
Pizza for lunch near the Colosseum.
One of the coolest things I saw today was a part of Rome that is now underground. Let me explain. When new structures were built in Rome, builders built them right on top of existing places. Now the city is levels above what it used to be. The ground I walked on today was much higher than the ground the ancient Romans walked on. Underneath one of the churches we toured, we got to walk the “real” ancient streets. The church built on top of this area. Years later, the underground area was excavated so that people could walk down below and see original Roman streets. Pretty cool.
Look, Mom! It says Cannella!
(I'll rotate the picture later.)
A kulturing day for sure. Also very hot, a little rainy, and a bit exhausting. Ancient Rome was a little like a black and white movie for me. I’m really looking forward to our next Rome visits, consisting of a private tour of the Vatican and a visit to the Trevi Fountain. I don’t know how I’m going to sit through class tomorrow after learning in Rome today.
Maybe I’ll just skip.
Kidding, Dad.
