After a month of Christmas holidays and visiting family back at home I was ready to go. I left back for England on January 10th as I had an exam a few days later. I believe this was the semester where I didn’t have classes on Fridays which was awesome to me. I remember waiting for a train while my boyfriend and I were going somewhere, the where isn’t important. The important part was the conversation we were having. I still remember a small piece of the conversation to this day.

As I said last time, I spent my whole first semester abroad staying in England. But now that I had that under my belt and I was confident in my surroundings and not homesick, there was another question that needed to be answered. As we waited for the train, I distinctly remember him asking me, “Where do you want to go first?”

The million dollar question, where with all of Europe at my fingertips did I want to go? The possibilities were endless! There are over 40 countries in Europe, 40! And to be able to pick without any real difficulty, that student visa really came in handy, was a choice I had never had before. Now if you know me this could have gone one of two ways. 1. I’d do a bunch of research and plan out where I’d want to go and see what’s in the area. 2. I’d immediately know as I’d been dreaming about seeing something or some place and just do it.

Option 2 won out this time, because for as long as I could remember, there was a place I had always wanted to go. With conviction I answered him, “I want to go to Rome.” I don’t think he was expecting that as my answer, but I remember him asking, “Why do you want to go to Rome?” To which I said, “I want to see the Colosseum.” And his reply of it, “That’s it? There isn’t anything else you want to see?” I said something along the lines of no, or I don’t know what else there is, but I wanted to see that. Sometimes that’s enough to start the gears moving though, right? For this time, that was enough, and we started planning out adventure to mainland Europe.

I still have my ticket stubs for the Vatican, which is definitely something else I wanted to see, the Sistine Chapel specifically, and the Pieta. Both of those were on my list of must sees, I just didn’t know where they were before I started planning. I of course wanted pizza and gelato while there too, and going to Italy without having pasta seems like a crime of some sort. I knew we’d fill in the details when we got there and wasn’t too worried. The parts I tend to focus on is flights and where we are staying. We planned it pretty quick though. We stayed in the same hotel the entire time we were there, so no bouncing around. I don’t think I would have handled that as well, as unseasoned of a traveler I was back then. We also went during a non busy time. When you think of Italy, you don’t think of going in the winter. But there we were, less than two weeks after I had re-entered Europe going to my first mainland country.

We left on the 22nd of January and stayed until the 25th. We were still university students after all. We didn’t have loads of money, but my student loan did afford me a little extra at the time. I had been quite frugal the first semester I was there, remember I didn’t leave England. And on top of that, I didn’t do any overnight stays at hotels or anything, everything had been exclusively a day trip with me back in my bed that same evening. We flew British Airways, the first time I had flown them, and we were fortunate to not have anyone in the row with us, so we could stretch out a bit.

The flight itself wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. Just a quick two and a half hour plane ride. I remember looking out the window and seeing the Alps as we flew low enough to see them. They were absolutely beautiful, and was in complete awe that I was even seeing them! Soon enough we landed in Fuciamo and I remember us getting a little confused and turned around. This was my first real experience with being in a country where I didn’t speak the language. I had been taking Italian as my elective course while there, but still you’re not completely prepared.

We eventually got a shuttle to our hotel. It was a really nice place, and it had shuttles into the main part of the city too which was great. We were both too young to rent a car. That first day we went and got pizza, and had a house wine in sharable jug for the two of us. I was just so happy to be there, and soaking it all in. I think we had a fairly easy night that day after traveling, but that’s okay.

The next day we hit the ground running. We made our way over to the Vatican, in which an amusing tale ensues. I was left alone for a few minutes as he wandered off to take a photo. In this brief period of time an American man approached me and asked if I had tickets to the Vatican, or if I had a tour. I said no, and by the time my travel companion got back, this guy was trying to convince me to join this gaggle of people he gathered for a tour. He did promise to get us tickets into the Vatican and to see the Sistine Chapel. At the time I was still pretty naïve, and didn’t really deal well with being put on the spot. In the end we got roped into this tour, which he did give us a good deal, I think it was 10 Euros for the two of us. But then we all went to some restaurant in some narrow alleyway and it was now 40 Euros or something. At that time we were already kind of committed, and if I had been a more confident young adult, I probably would have just walked away. But the situation had become awkward, and everyone was now waiting on us, so we ate the cost and continued.

In the end it wasn’t a bad deal. He did get us into the museums and the Sistine Chapel. We saw so many beautiful paintings, and yes a lot of naked statues. That’s just a normal thing in Rome, and a lot of Italy in general. I wasn’t expecting to see Rafael’s painting: The School of Athens. I definitely had to pause and looked in amazement. I also had always found the Greek and Roman mythology interesting when I was younger, and still to this day. So seeing other statues of Perseus after he had cut off Medusa’s head was pretty cool. The Sistine Chapel was a whole other feat of magnificence. To see something so articulate, so painstaking painted, all of the different famous Bible stories portrayed so beautifully, it was inspiring. I could have stayed in there for hours. Unfortunately, it was a high traffic area, and security was trying to rush people through, and of course you’re not allowed to take pictures, not that that stopped some people. Some people were very sneaky and tried to grab one, not me, don’t worry.

Once we exited the the Sistine Chapel, we went into Saint Peter’s Basilica. It was the biggest church and most impressive church I had ever seen. Everywhere you looked it was so ornate and filled with beautiful sculptures, and paintings, I had never seen anything like it before. But it only got better when my eyes crossed over the one sculpture I wanted to see above all of them, The Pieta. It was so beautiful, so detailed, the way the marble draped like clothing, it was and continues to be a true masterpiece of art. Between the Sistine Chapel and The Pieta, Michelangelo is well represented in Rome. It took him four years to painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and he did it on his back, rigged on scaffolding. Michelangelo is truly the master of marble, as evidenced by The Pieta, and other pieces in the rest of Italy.

Another mistake on our tour guide experience, was not taking his advice. My boyfriend was pretty upset about how the exchange of money had gone down, so he was cranky a good portion of the time on the tour. The guide did have one good thing to say, “don’t go to restaurants with pictures on the menu. Those are places that they microwave the food and its not good, its geared to tourists who don’t know any better. I don’t know if it was out of spite, ignorance, or a bit of both, but he didn’t care and so picked a place with pictures on the menu. And I’m here to tell you, it wasn’t good. There’s a lot of tourist traps in Rome, and restaurants with pictures on the menu is certainly a big red flag. Another red flag, is if the price isn’t listed on the menu, and also big menus. A more authentic Italian menu will have a smaller menu.

After that disappointing dinner we walked around at night. At least we had found a good spot for lunch before we had gone on the tour, and I had had a wonderful carbonara. We went to the Parthenon, which is beautiful at night, and walked by the Colosseum, the whole reason I had originally wanted to go on this trip. We didn’t go in at this time as it was closed, but seeing it, a sneak preview if you will, just made me more excited for the next day when we went.

And oh was it everything I wanted it to be. We had a great day, first going on a bike ride around a park, before going to the tomb of the unknown solider, walking around and finding a market, where we picked up a couple small things. The other cool thing about Rome is how there is just ruins everywhere! We walked around outside of the market, with ruins all around us, you just wonder what it once was. We then made our way over to the Colosseum. I can’t fully describe the feeling, being in so ancient of a place, where millions of people have been, Roman gladiators, lions, and some more unfortunate casualties. I soaked it all in, and gazed across the scope of the arena. I know that the restoration team works constantly, and I admire what they are doing. It is because of this effort that it is still standing today. Being a respectful tourist and admiring what was done is fine, just don’t try to take pieces of it, and deface it.

To wrap things up I have a couple more funny stories. We somehow missed one of the essential things people go to see when they go to Rome… The Trevi Fountain, we seriously walked by it! As in I remember walking down a flight of stairs, seeing a segway tour, and a load of people. I did see a fountain to the left, but with how big the crowd is, and me not realizing is was the fountain, we didn’t stop, no pictures, nothing. Just the brief glimpse as I walked by. Between all the good food, yes we had gelato don’t worry, the beautiful sights, we managed to still see my Vikings. Yes, you heard that right, we managed to find our way into a bar, super late, I think when we left it was three in the morning, all to watch the Vikings in the playoffs. I remember the place being packed and a lot of Europeans who didn’t fully know the rules. We had some guy come up to us and ask why we were there, that we didn’t know anything about the sport, funny, but untrue. Anyways, in typical Vikings fashion, they lost, missed their chance in the superbowl, again, and we carried on with the rest of our lives.

One other thing I distinctly remember, the street vendors trying to sell you things. They were merciless, constantly trying to sell you things, it got so bad that by our last day as we were leaving and it was started to rain, they tried to sell us umbrellas and we just walked by, making no eye contact. I’m sure in the popular areas this is still the same experience, but just be mindful of it. But all in all it was an amazing first trip, and one that still sticks with me to this day over 15 years later. Would I like to go back? Yes of course, and make sure I actually spend time and the Trevi Fountain this time. Four days is probably not quite enough time to see everything you want to see, as I know we missed a lot, but that’s okay. There’s always next time, and trust me, this won’t be my only time in Italy, I promise.

We have lots more to cover of my time in England, remember, this was at the very beginning of the spring semester, we have a long way to go. Until next time, I’ll leave you with a picture or two.

Jess