Don't Know Much About History

Good morning from our beautiful apartment on Gianicolense! We woke up this morning to a new roommate – hooray! Our family for the semester is finally complete. It is nice to be fully settled into the apartment and have somewhat of an idea of what is going on.

Yesterday was a day of exploring the old city of Rome. The parts that people send postcards home of, not the homey part that we live in. We have decided that it is nice that we live outside of the ancient city, because if we lived inside it we never would venture out of it, but because we live outside it, we have literally the entire city open to us.

In the morning, 4 of us went to the local open air market that is about 4 blocks away from our apartment. It reminded me kinda of the West Side Market in Cleveland, but about 30 times smaller and much more chaotic. The 4 of us actually did pretty well in terms of ordering the things that we wanted. The night before we decided as an apartment that we wanted to cook dinner together – so this trip was primarily to get ingredients for this task. We were able to get lettuce (which actually turned out to be arugula), mozzarella, tomatoes, and a few other things. It was decided that going there was a great way to learn the names of things, and practice our Italian. So, you can bet that we will return!

After putting our stuff away, we headed up to school so that Molly could get a cell phone, and then we took a bus from up there to get to the Spanish steps. The first bus that we took dropped us off right by the tomb of the unknown soldier. Although the whole thing was very grand and beautiful, I just didn’t feel that it was as solemn as the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington. But it was quite neat to see, and it is certainly something that I would like to go back to and explore in its entirety.

We took the smallest bus possible from the wrong stop to the Spanish Steps – I don’t think that I have ever been more claustrophobic in my life. But, it was all worth it once we got to the Spanish Steps. Talk about breathtaking. How they were built without the modern tools that we have now is quite beyond me. The streets were swarming with people, but that didn’t take away from the beauty. It felt so calming to just sit on the steps and veg out and people watch. And believe me, the people watching here is pretty fabulous!
From there, we hiked up the gazillion stairs to look at the view and to walk inside our first church of the trip – Trinita dei Monti. The influence of Michaelangelo in there was just so prominate. Something tells me that will not be the only time that I feel that way in Italy.
We decided to just wander around from there and just meander. Each time we got to a corner, one of us had to make an executive decision as to which way to go. By going this we were able to see Le Quattro Fontane, Termini (the main train station in Rome), and the Basilica. We weren’t planning on seeing a single one of these important places in Rome, but there they were – small surprises around every corner.

The 5 of us came back to the apartment and decided to be cute and prepare dinner all together. It was adorable, and made it feel like a real family. We made spaghetti and garlic bread and a salad. When we sat down and toasted with our glasses of wine (with the bottle opened the correct way), it felt like home for the first time.

Now on to today…
Today was the first time that I really felt as if I was in Rome, and it was the first time that I came to the realization as to just how long this city has been around and the amount of history that it holds. After putzing around and getting Colleen (our new roommate) settled, Melanie, Molly, Sarah, and I set out for the Forum and the Colosseum.

Can I just say oh my goodness? The Colosseum is just breathtaking. Although we decided to wait until the summer crowds die down to actually go inside, just walking around it was enough to make our jaws drop and our eyes widen in order to take everything in. Check out the pictures, although they don’t quite do it justice, it is about as close any of you are going to get while not being here.

Even though we decided not to go inside the Colosseum, we chose to instead wander around the Forum. We entered through the Via Sacre and from there got to see Arch of Titus. I was particularly interested in this arch because it was erected in honor of the victories of Titus in Judea. The reliefs inside of the arch show the procession of the Roman soldiers carrying off items from the Temple in Jerusalem.

The 4 of us did a walk through of the Forum and decided almost immediately that the Italians need to be better about labeling what things are. In America if something is even slightly significant, it gets a label so the world can know its meaning. Here, not so much. We were each walking around with our guidebooks in hand trying to differentiate one piece of marble from the next. At the end of our tour through there, it was collectively decided that we all need to read up on our ancient Roman history and study our guidebooks and then come back. There is SO much to learn in that small plot of land, but I think in order to take it all in, you need to be prepared.

Molly, Colleen and I took a walking tour tonight that was led by some upper level students from AUR. The walking tour took us by many places that we might not have found otherwise. They pointed out some cute restaurants and bars and gelaterias(!). We decided the tour was helpful, but remembering exactly where everything is makes things slightly more complicated.
The rest of our roommates met us at the tram so we could all go to dinner together. We tried to go back as far as we could into Trastevre in order to find one of the hidden restaurants that had been pointed out to us earlier. We found a cute restaurant, but it wasn’t the one we had originally been thinking of. Yet, the food was scrumptious. I had this amazing tortellini…yum!

And now, here we are, back at the apartment. We are all trying to be patient and wait our turn on the computer. So, who knows when this will actually get posted. Good night, laila tov, and Buona Notte from Roma!