Rome is Home

So.  Rome.  When it comes to sitting down and attempting to describe this experience, I've come to realize that words, and even pictures, will never be sufficient.  Rome is a dream, a state of mind, a way of life.  It's simply wonderful.
We all heard about my almost tragic plane experience, but it all turned out well in the end.  A power nap on the plane does wonders.  My first view of Rome was rather anti-climatic.  A dry summer had produced less than desired scenery and the airport isn't much to brag about.  I will say that this was the best customs experience I've ever had.  It involves simply picking up your bags and walking out the door.  There are two guards standing by the door and if they see whatever nuclear substance you smuggled in your carry on, they'll pull you aside and go from there.  There are perks to Italians not really caring about anything.  Grabbing a taxi was a painless experience and the ride gave me flashbacks of the crazed driving in El Salvador.  Just with seat belts this time.
Once at the hotel, I learned some interesting fun facts about hotels in Italy.  First, they ask that you not take your hotel key out of the hotel with you, but leave it at the front desk, seeing as its a real key and there is only one.  This make for an interesting experience when living with two other girls and all three of you are suffering from jet lag and have three different agendas for your time in Rome.  Second, they don't tell you to pack light for nothing.  They tell you to pack light in hopes that you might actually fit in the elevator, which I almost didn't.
Orientation and dinner aren't worth much noting because by this point in the day, jet-lag wins.  It just does.  I couldn't tell you how I got to dinner or what I ate (though it was delicious) and an early bedtime was all I had in me that night.
Tuesday morning was a general walking tour of the city which started at the Colosseum.  It's simply amazing to stand in front of it and think that it was all built by hand and only took 10 years.  This structure is about 150 ft. tall and over 600 ft. long.  There's nothing to do but stand and stare.  And secretly sing the song from the Lizzie McGuire movie in your head.

This is where you can catch my next performance, ladies and gents.
It absurd how much history is just everywhere and how the history has history.  From the Colosseum, we walked along a main road and came across some ruins.  Our guide explained that this was once an early Christian church for a certain village, then met some untimely end, but before that, it was a pagan temple and was transformed into the church after its untimely end.  Everything is recycled and in the odd recycling, it's preserved.  Our guide also shared that some of the stones of the Colosseum that had fallen away had been used to build St. Peter's Basilica.  From gladiator fights to papal succession, everything is interconnected.
From the ruins next to the Colosseum, we came to another area of ruins that have been excavated by the city.  Our guide went on to that this was the Roman forum and the remaining brick walls were what was left of the Senate.  So what you're telling me is that right off the side of road, a few feet from where I'm standing, is the first seat of democracy in the Eastern Hemisphere?  Actually, correction- the first seat of democracy in the world????  I can't handle my life right now.  And there are people flying by just a few feet behind me.  This is Rome.  There is so much and it's so a part of life here and it all just becomes background.  It's a wonderful and terrible thing.

What's left of the Roman Forum and Senate.
Then we had Capitoline Hill which is where all the power was at one point in history or another, but the tour gets a little fuzzy sometimes.  It currently houses a lot of cool museums that I can't wait to go back to.
We continued our walk past the monument to the first king and several other cool sights, but our next stop was the Largo di Torre Argentina.  The world knows this place as the assassination site of Julius Caesar at the Theater of Pompey, but to us nifty study abroad students, we will always remember it as the Plaza of Cats.  Stray cats live among the ruins and are cared for by cat ladies supported by the city.  Move over, Julius, your place in history has been taken over... by cats.  Literally.
Our roamings continued to the Pantheon, which I'm completely obsessed with.  I love the history and significance of it, not to mention its a key setting in one of my favorite books and its overall just a really impressive building.  I have a goal to go to Mass there before I leave.  The most impressive thing about it is the space.  There's so much and I just love it.  It's hard to explain, but there's a connection.  You just feel that your soul has so much room to grow and to hold, and what a place to experience this feeling!  I wish I could articulate it.
Finally, the tour ended at the Piazza Navona.  This is also a setting in fore mentioned favorite book.  It's simply a beautiful place.  Artists come to paint and there's so much to see.  

From there, we split for lunch.  I found a a girl I was getting to know and we joined a group for lunch, at which I came to learn that pizza marinara is pizza without the cheese, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring.   We set our sights on the Trevi fountain and couldn't get enough.  It's packed, but the pictures are so worth it.  Make sure to throw a coin (right hand over the left shoulder) to ensure your return to Rome.  Two coins will bring you romance and a third brings marriage, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck too much, and besides, I was in Rome!  What more did I need?!   

We wrapped up with a visit to the Spanish steps.  They essentially commemorate a connection between a major church and the piazza below.  When in Rome, go big or go home.  And are they big..  It's quite the hike to get there, but the view is worth.  So is burning all the calories from the ridiculous amounts of gelato that you've been eating.  (I'm seriously averaging about twice a day..)  It's a nice insight as to why the Italians don't, and don't have to exercise.  You want a wonderful way to end your day?  Try this.  There's nothing that says blessed than watching the afternoon sun begin to set over the skyline of one of the worlds' most beautiful cities.  And I am blessed indeed.