Day 1: Rome, Rome, Send me Home

Saturday

7 September 2013

(Warning: I had a hard time with picture taking the first couple of days because everything was so crowded and busy and I was not in the best of moods. The pictures get better though!)

After taking a bus ride from our meeting place in London, we got to a hotel near the Stansted airport to prepare for our early flight to Rome. By this point it was past midnight London time and I was pretty tired. Our group booked two flights to Rome, one leaving at 4am the following morning and the other leaving at 6am. I was of course was on the 4am flight.

A mere two hours after settling into the hotel I had to get up and take a shuttle to the airport. The Stansted airport is very small and was very crowded even though it was so early. We were on a 3-hour Ryanair flight straight to Rome. In case you aren’t familiar with European airlines, Ryanair is a super cheap airline that has mastered the art of swindling people out of loads of money by the allure of mildly inexpensive tickets. We were only allowed one bag that had to be within strict dimensions and weight limitations. If it was off by a centimeter, they enforced a £60 charge (which would be somewhere around 100 US dollars. They made me stick my bag in one of those measured cages and I knew it shouldn’t have fit, but by some miracle I was able to force it in, thank goodness).

Security was ridiculous to get through (and not like normal TSA security that I’ve experienced in other airports), and by the end of it a group of us were practically running to get to the gate on time. The whole flight the stewardesses tried to sell us food and jewelry and lottery tickets and I was not having it. To top it all off we had to sit on the floor of the teeny Roman airport for two long, laborious hours until the next group of students landed. Then we had to wait another hour for our bus to the hotel. And then we had to transfer from the bus to the Metro station riddled with pickpockets. And then we had to walk uphill from the Metro to our apartments. Where we had to wait for the owner to check all of our passports. Somewhere during all of this I said to myself, “Why am I doing this,” and also, “When can I go home,” and also, “Rome smells weird.”

Things did start to look better though. The apartment complex we were in was especially for students and had decent beds, bathrooms, and Wi-Fi. After we settled into our apartments we took a walking tour of some of the famous sights in Rome. We saw the Piazza del Popolo (which I didn’t get a good picture of), the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Piaza Navona.

Street performers at the Piazza del Popolo. This is the place where Roman youths sit around smoking and targeting their pickpocket victims. This is also where sketchy street vendors try to sell you roses and plastic toys. (It isn't really that bad, I'm just not a fan of pre-teens, smoking, or street vendors, which happens to make up 80% of Italy, go figure).

The Spanish Steps. SO crowded here hence the random person's head in my picture. It was the best one I had.

Me at the Trevi fountain. And a classmate to the left. The Trevi was not what I expected. There are steps that go down to the fountain (I thought it was level with the street), and it wasn't as big as I thought it was. This place was extremely crowded no matter what time of day I passed by it. I made my way down to the front, but got so claustrophobic I couldn't do a coin toss there. I did go to the side of the fountain and made a wish right as my group was leaving. I didn't get a picture of it, and it wasn't in the front of the fountain, but I did the traditional over-the-shoulder toss and I did it with a European form of money so I think it counts.

A building near the Trevi (I think). 

The Pantheon. And one of my professors. And some of my classmates. There are more Pantheon pictures to come.

A recognizable fountain at the Piazza Navona. Another thing that was hard to get a picture of. 

 After all this, I got my first Italian gelato and ate it on the steps of the Pantheon. Although I had only had about 4 hours total sleep from Thursday to Saturday night, and was frustrated with travelling, and seeing the sights, eating gelato on the Pantheon steps definitely made my outlook much, much better.

Hooray for fruity Italian gelato! And the safeness of Rome at night. This might be the only place in the world where it seems safer at night than it does during the day. The piazza near the Pantheon was hopping with families, lovers, Italians, musicians, ancient buildings, and pizza everywhere! Viva Roma at night!