When in Rome...

It’s true what they say. Rome is fantastic!! I loved it.

I arrived at Fiumicino in the early afternoon and took the Leonardo Express to Termini train station. On the train ride to Termini a gentleman with a gun started talking to me. He was very nice and friendly and though I attempted at first to hint that I was busy reading my travel book, I decided to engage in conversation with him. He actually works for airport security, thus the gun (I hope). Anyways we parted ways at the station. The best part about traveling alone is the fact that you can just start a conversation with anyone at anytime and they are intrigued that you are a foreigner (usually, I tried to spark up a conversation with a woman who was reading a Spanish book and she gave me the cold shoulder-whateva!).

Ten minutes into walking around in Rome trying to find a Hostel I was almost pick pocketed by a 12 year old boy who just laughed when I turned around and looked at him. I suppose I could have used some of the “important” Italian words I knew, but I figured it was best just to leave it be.




I met up with Thorsten, my AIESEC friend from Oregon, who is actually from Germany and now living in Munich, at the nearby McDonald’s. It was so nice to see a familiar face from home, even though he really isn’t from home.



After getting settled into our hostel, we met up with Dhiren, one of the other interns/trainees that I met at the conference in Naples. Dhiren (who is from London) is doing his internship in Rome with Nema, the Canadian. We took the Metro and were dropped off right in front of the Coliseum. How incredible of a sight it was to emerge from the musty train station to see the Coliseum illuminated at night. It took me back a bit, the mere size of it was astounding. We took pictures, or at least tried to figure out how to use the night function on our cameras. We went to this awesome pizza place that was packed. It was so packed that although we wanted to order more food they wouldn’t allow us. After that we ventured to Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, then to Piazza Navona to meet up with some of Dhiren’s friends. I was glad to see some of the famous sights at night, in fact I think I almost prefer them at night versus daytime. Piazza Navona is a happenin’ place at night time. We walked through some of the alleys and there were people everywhere eating and drinking at midnight.


On Saturday I went to the Coliseum and waited in line for forever to get inside. I didn’t get a guided tour but was able to listen in on some of the other tours going on. I kept thinking about Gladiator whenever I tried to picture what the Coliseum must have looked like in its prime. The rest of the afternoon was spent on Palatine Hill and walking through the Roman Forum. I loved the Forum! It was awesome to stroll through and see the ruins, but even more impressive was when you get to the end and climb up the stairs, you can look down and view the whole length of it at once. It’s easier to visualize what it looked like this way because when you are standing next to a bunch of rocks, they’re just rocks. But from far away they form a building. Deep huh?

Sunday morning I went to see the Pope, but he wasn’t in. I only visited Piazza San Pietro because the line to get into the museum or the basilica was massive. It was the last Sunday of the month, which meant admission was free. So although it was a good idea to come on this day to save some cash, everyone else also thought this. Plus I had limited time to see the museum before I had to head back to the station to catch my plane, so I didn’t go. Next time I am in Rome, and I will be coming back with Nate in December, I will see some of the things that I didn’t get a chance to this time. I really want to see the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, and the Vatican Museums. Plus I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the other sites again.

I returned home to a more empty house than usual. Carla left to return to Switzerland because her internship had finished. It’s going to be rough without her here there because she was so much fun. Truly a bittersweet weekend.