My Roma Experience

After a little hick-up in the flight scenario to Madrid(making the eta to Rome a little longer) we all were excited to see where we would be living the next 4 months. We met up with our taxi driver and were on our way. He spoke little english but did his best to give us a run down of his home town. When we finally made it to our apartment the first thing we did was make our way to the local market to get our bottles of wine and try to fit in with the rest of the Romans. The communication thus far has been minimal but every day I feel more and more comfortable talking to the Italians. We also ventured out to the streets our first night to see what a typical Roman night consisted of. The night scene was very interesting. People will walk the streets and crowd the alley ways in order to drink their wine and talk with friends.

Our next couple days consisted of doing all we could to see the main tourist sites in Rome. As architecture student we constantly learn about the buildings, churches, and structures that fill this city. From churches to stadiums, plazas to bridges, we see and talk about these things on a daily basis. To be in the presence of them was so surreal. The shear size of these structures I will never fully be able to comprehend. We first saw the Pantheon (428 A.D) which is a massive dome with an oculus on top to allow light into the building. The dome is made of repetitive coffers stacked to reach the top as you can see in the picture. I plan on going to mass there soon which I’m sure will be amazing. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, which honestly, i had no idea about but was great. It is a large fountain full of sculptures in front of a building. It was pretty cool to stumble upon. After that we went to the spanish steps and then my favorite The Coliseum. WOW Something I have wanted to see my entire life and it didn’t fall short of my expectations. The place is huge and to think how they constructed it with the technology they had is simply amazing. After our busy day the night activities followed.

The next day we went to the Vatican which again was jaw dropping. After a little security brief we made our way into St. Peters Bassilica. Immediately I felt in the presence of God. The awe on everyones faces (believers or not) was just as amazing. The buildings size is simply indescribable. The one thing that was kind of unexpected was a little trip to the top of the dome. After about 20 minutes of hiking up steps we made our way to the top that let us look out over all of Rome. The view was beautiful. Looking at over 3000 years of history in front of you and thinking about what has gone on in that time is an out of this world feeling. Those ten minutes on the dome were some of the coolest in my life.

———————————————————————————————-

The days since then have consisted of starting classes and getting settled into to Rome. We are currently doing a project on Tiber Island which is located near our studio on the river that runs though all of Rome. We live in Trastevere and our studio is about a mile north of us. So a little walk everyday but nothing to strenuous. At night we either go to the Disco Tecas, which are in Testaccio, or the more generic american bars located north of our apartments. Me and one other roommate got gym memberships to a local gym owned my Mr. Noella and his son. They are very nice and helpful and it has been interesting communicating with them and working out in their gym. Other daily activities consist of going to the markets to get food because of little storage in our kitchen.

—————————-

The people

It seams in Rome there are specific kinds of people. You have the American Tourist, you have the Romans (ones that like americans and ones that don’t), beggars, and street venders. The venders just get really annoying because they are always trying to sell you something you don’t want and then put it in your face to get you to try to buy whatever crap they have. The beggars are everywhere. It is sad because as much as you would like to help them you can’t because then you would be broke yourself. Some are fake to. They sit there and put on a sob show then when nobody is looking they will pull out their phone or they will have four dogs they are paying money to feed. For them it is just a way of life. The Italians can either be great (like the Noellas) or they can just be indifferent towards you and want nothing to do with you. Another great experience was going to mass. It was all in Italian but it was so amazing to see people having the same beliefs as me 6000 miles away. Going to mass in a church like that is also another totally different experience that I am so blessed to have. Everything that has gone on the last two weeks has been amazing, I couldn’t ask for any better people to be experiencing this with (except of coarse family and the gf) the buildings and the culture. All of it is amazing and I could not be happier or more thankful that I am getting to do this.

Well I did my best to update. Hopefully I can continue doing this but more often to keep everyone updated. Thanks for reading. Arrividercci !!