Traveling to Rome has been on my bucket list for a long time and I’m so glad that I was finally able to get there. There are so many amazing sights to see both in the city and a little ways outside of it. Of course we had to go see the Colosseum as it is one of the biggest attractions in the city. It was a lot larger than I was expecting and falling apart in places, but it was still in good shape considering the amount of time that it’s been standing. Sights that weren’t on our itinerary but that were still worth a visit were the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We learned about a legend at the Trevi Fountain where if you throw two coins over your shoulder into the fountain then you’ll fall in love with an Italian, and we also learned that the Romans don’t like that the Spanish Steps are called that. Something outside of the city proper that was cool to see was an ancient town called Ostia Antica. In its heyday, the city was used as a port to bring goods and money into the city and as a starting point to bring them into Rome, now the city is in ruins and the current city of Ostia is several miles further south. We were able to go to the Mediterranean sea, which the city of Ostia is on, and actually touch the water.
Besides the amazing places within the city, Rome itself was very much like any major city. With all of the different areas to see we were able to get very familiar with the public transportation system. The buses are very similar to the Aggie Spirit system, but the metro and the above ground train were new for me. I imagine they would be similar to any other large city’s transportation system, but since I’m from a smaller town I’ve never experienced it before. Also similar to major cities in America was the amount of graffiti and the feel of griminess. Our group had just been to Athens, Greece the previous week and the difference between the feel of quaint, coastal town of Athens and the major metropolitan feel of Rome was shocking. I wasn’t expecting to but I still enjoyed the city immensely.
