July 2: Daily Details

Upon reaching Rome, I realize that although I’m thousands of miles away, there are things that are still familiar to me. We whiz past cars as we sit in the bus taking us to the hotel, and I see McDonald’s, Hyundai stores, and other things we have in the U.S. I see some very different things too though. Massive flowering bushes line the major thoroughfare that we are zipping along on. All of the sudden, we turn off busy streets onto shady streets that gently wind, brimming with lush vegetation on both sides. Suddenly, I hear a familiar song come on the radio in the bus. It’s Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing”. Dying to sing along, I refrain from embarrassing myself, only to have a fellow student burst out into song during the chorus. Pretty soon all of us are signing along to this song. But as I sit there listening to the chorus, I realize that I have everything—I have a loving family that has made huge sacrifices to send me here and I’m fulfilling every girl’s dream to go to Europe. I feel very blessed.

Our hotel is absolutely lovely. After freshening up and resting for a bit, it’s time to go into town—our hotel is just outside of Rome. We grab some lunch at a little street market. I had a tomato and mozzarella sandwich that was absolutely divine. Although I have no clue what he is saying, the man helping us is very friendly. We eat and catch the Metro to the Coliseum. This is my first experience on a subway, and I am absolutely blown away by how fast they go, and by how many different levels the station has. We step out of the station, and BAM! The Coliseum is straight ahead of us. After snapping oodles of photos, we walk to our next destination—the Roman Forum. There is some distant thunder, and then huge drops of rain start falling. This is nothing like a Utah storm though—there was no coming on gradually. We are nearly soaked through by the time we get our umbrellas up, and then cluster around a wall, waiting for the storm to pass. The thunder booms, hail falls the size of gum balls, and lighting is striking close by. We’re too far away to seek shelter anywhere without risking danger. Many of us have no ponchos, and I find myself without a jacket since I left it on the plane. Never in my life have I been so soaked through. After about an hour, the rain starts to die down enough that we can start walking again. Puddles have formed the size of small lakes that we have to wade through. To my right, I can see the fantastic ruins of the Roman Forum. After walking some distance, we end up at the Musee de Capitolini. This museum features a very famous work of art—the boar with Rommulus and Reamus drinking from its utters. It also features the colossal ruins of what was once a sculpture of Constantine—the emperor responsible for bringing back Christianity.

Once done with the museum, we decide to head back to our hotel—it’s been a long, cold day for all of us, but we have seen so many spectacular things. We get a little lost as we wind through cobblestone streets and dusk is approaching. Soon, we turn around a corner and see the Coliseum in front of us once again, lit up and looking SPECTACULAR! We are also just feet away from the Triumphal Arch. As we stop to look around us and take pictures, I hear a saxophone in the distance, softly playing jazz. Ahead of me, I see a couple kissing by a lamppost. Yes…THIS is what Europe is like—this is the romance of Rome.