“When the Colosseum falls, Rome will fall. And when Rome falls, the world will end.”

The above quote was first said by a 7th century monk named Bede (I assume in Latin, not in English). What he apparently meant was the core of Rome is its entertainment, not the government. Anyway, the quote was supposed to help me segue into my explanation of the last couple of days, which included a tour of the Colosseum.

Thursday was a lazy day for me. I leisurely woke up, made my own espresso, which is not as easy as the directions make it seem, and took a walk to the grocery store, which I now do everyday. Then I walked to AUR for a guided night walking tour of Rome. This was not so much a tour, but an introduction of how to get into the city and then he pointed out where to walk for all the basics and left us. I did get some cool pictures though.

This is a monument to Vittorio Emanuel, the first King of a united Italy. I wouldn't call this so much a monument but maybe 20 monuments put together, it is so large.

A blurry picture of the Colosseum at night. 

Afterwards, Gabby, Zoe and I went with a few girls we've become friends with to Campo di Fiori for dinner. This place is basically a bunch of cute alleyways lined with restaurants and shops that lead to one large piazza with restaurants and bars. It is right in the middle of downtown, and as we learned, is crawling with American students.

Friday we finally went sightseeing and saw all your basic Roman attractions. First, we went to the Colosseum and were able to get in for 12 euro. It is absolutely unreal to be inside something so ancient and large. I could not believe I was at this place I had seen so many pictures of. We got to the Colosseum and hour or two before they were closing so we had to rush through that and get to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum (which was included in the ticket price) before they closed. If I had more time, or was on my own I would consider a guided tour just to learn all the history. But that can be for when my parents come (hint, hint). Here are some pictures of my own, I tried to get myself in front of everything just so it doesn't look like I took all of these photos from the internet.

Outside shot of the Colosseum, daytime

An inside look

Proof that I was in the Colosseum!

Though I wish I was able to read all the information posted around Palatine hill, or take a guided tour, from what I gathered this is where Roman leaders lived (at least Augustus lived there).

Me on Palatine hill, in front of what used to be some sort of smaller stadium by Augustus' residence.

Below Palatine hill is the Roman Forum where government buildings and marketplaces used to be. It is all just ruins now.

Above shot of part of the Roman Forum

After touring the ruins of ancient Rome we decided to walk to a more modern part of Rome, the Trevi fountain (which isn't exactly modern, it was built in the 1600s). On the way we got gelato (I only spend my money on gelato and espresso). At the fountain, we took our typical pictures in front of the fountain.

me in front of the Trevi Fountain

Afterwards we went to the Spanish steps. While there we were wondering what the significance of the steps were. I just read the Spanish steps is the widest staircase in Rome, however, the important part might be the church on top of the steps, the Trinita dei Monti. It is part of the Society of the Sacred Heart, but I don't know if that makes it more significant than any other church in  Rome

The Spanish Steps

The girls I toured Rome with: Zoe, Katie, Lisette, Nichole, and Gabby (who is obviously the only one who noticed I was taking a picture)

I have Monday mornings off (until 5 PM), so I expect I will do a lot of exploring during that time. Next time I visit each of these places I will have to take my guidebook to learn the history and significance of all the sights.

Tomorrow I am going on a school "field trip." Really they are just taking us to the mall. There is a nationwide saldi (sale) in Rome from now until February. Most things are 50-70 % off. Hopefully I will find myself a better, yet fashionable, pair of walking shoes and cool leather jacket!

Roma First Few Days

My first few days in Rome have been very low key. Gabby, Zoe, and I decided we should discover our neighborhoods and the area around our school to get our bearings straight before we do major sightseeing on our own. But, our neighborhoods (mine is Trastevere) are very residential parts of Rome, and unlike the city center, most people speak only a little English. In my Fodor's guidebook it says people who live in Trastevere call themselves the real Romans, because tourists, foreign residents, and people who move to Rome from the rest of Italy all stay around the center of the city.
My apartment is on Viale di Trastevere, which is a main road with a tram and a bunch of stores, markets, and caffes. My apartment has 3 rooms and 5 beds, and being the only one from AU, I got myself a single room. Two roommates know each other from BU and two know each other from their home in Fairfield, Connecticut (holla Tim Foley and Jackie) one goes to UMD and the other to a school in Ohio.

My bed

Another view of my room

The view from my private balcony on Viale di Trastevere

Another angle of my view! It is so pretty.

After I got here, and settled into my apartment, one of my roommates and I walked a bit around the neighborhood. We then stopped into a caffe for cappucino and a pastry.  The Italian men working in the caffe decided to have a little fun with our drinks:

That night, Zoe and Gabby walked about 30 minutes from their place to mine. I gave them the wrong address at first so it took an hour before I decided to try and use my calling card to reach Zoe. Luckily they were just down the block. We walked a bit and found a small restaurant. I had Pasta Carbonara. It was delicious! Then we found the cutest gellateria. I had nutella gellato and something the guy working there suggested to us. It's amazing though, I thought I would have issues with my supposed food allergies (gluten and dairy) but nothing has bothered me here. Not to mention, the closest supermarcato to my apartment has an entire aisle of gluten free foods, probably a bigger selection than Whole Foods in the states. But it seems that the food here is so fresh, I may not even have these food allergies, just maybe to American processed food.

Yesterday my roommates and I walked to AUR for orientation. Streets here are very confusing, so we got lost at first, but the school is really only a 15 minute walk away and is so beautiful.

The stairs leading up to the school's library

Zoe, me, Gabby on the patio outside the library

The top floor of one of our buildings has this huge deck overlooking Ancient Rome

Close up view of Ancient Rome

We then went with some girls we met to this restaurant whose chef teaches cooking classes at AUR. We had bruschetta, bean soup, and lemon cake with two pitchers of white wine for only 10euro. Food here is not as expensive as you might think. I have also had pizza for under 3 euro and espresso is .80.

Finally, today we had a lazy day. I met Gabby and Zoe for a late afternoon gellato snack and trip planning. Hopefully we'll make it out to Florence next weekend! We also made proschiutto tortellini with mushrooms. Then, headed back down to my neighborhood to explore the area more. We stumbled upon the picturesque Roman alleyways one always hears about that lead to a mini piazza. 

A picture of what we stumbled upon

A little boring for a first blog post, but I plan to comment on little differences I have noticed in the future.

Ciao!