6/15/2018 0 Comments May 21For our last day in Rome, we started off the morning by doing an overview, our daily briefings, and a test review lecture. Afterwards, members from the US Embassy Economic division spoke to us about what they do in their consulate, building our network, and what we need to do if we would like to apply for a position/internship. According to their website (which I linked above), the section interacts with the Italian government on bilateral and international economic policy issues; reports on developments in the Italian economy; facilitates U.S. exports to, and investment in, Italy; and provides advocacy on behalf of U.S. business operating in Italy. They were both a pleasure to listen to and talk to, and the visit inspired a desire to connect travel with a future occupation in myself, as well as in many others.
We then visited the Vatican once more, this time touring the museum and St. Peter's Basilica. I was able to capture a forbidden picture of "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel.
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6/15/2018 0 Comments May 20Every Sunday, unless the Pope is traveling, he gives a Papal blessing from the window at St. Peter's Basilica. A group of about 10 of us (the others decided to stay behind and sleep in) left our hotel at 9:30 in the morning to see Pope Francis. As expected, there was a huge crowd gathered in Vatican City. Some were holding large flags, prompting the Pope to include a shoutout for their respective countries in the blessing. Rome Tip #2: If you plan on going to the Papal blessing, make sure you wake up early enough. The crowd wasn't too overwhelming when we went, but I'm sure it can be. Plan ahead. Here is a good site to keep track of the Pope's whereabouts: http://thecatholictraveler.com/papal-calendar/ Afterwards, we met the rest of our group at the Colosseum. When Rome was a society divided by social class, the Colosseum was a gathering place for everyone. The Colosseum was the scene of thousands of hand-to-hand combats between gladiators, contests between men and animals, and of many larger combats. Today, the remaining ruins of the oval amphitheatre are a famous landmark in the center of the city of Rome. We then visited a famous gelato factory, Gelateria Fassi, the oldest gelateria in Rome. It was established in 1880. After, we met our tour guide at the Imperial Forum at Palatine Hill. The tour itself was very interesting and extremely informative, although it did start to rain, in the first place we were that day without an indoor portion or shade.
Rome Tip #3: Again... ALWAYS BRING AN UMBRELLA WITH YOU! 6/15/2018 0 Comments May 19Saturday was an extremely important day for the Romericans (my Maymester sub-group). It was the day we embarked on a scavenger hunt/amazing race style competition, integral to giving us our first, real taste of Roma.
If you're daring, try to do this scavenger hunt (at least most of it), so you can see for yourself that Rome truly wasn't built in a day. However, we did see a LOT for one day. All in all, it was a good way to get acclimated with the city around us, which can be overwhelming for newcomers. And, we got some pretty great group pictures out of the entire experience. We started at the Campo di Fiori and Piazza Navona. Here is our scavenger hunt list: (we got all but three!!) 6/14/2018 0 Comments May 18 (pt 2)A few hours later, we made it to Rome from Florence. We were running a little late, so there was no time to refresh or rest, but thankfully most of us got some sleep on the three-hour ride.
We met in the lobby five minutes later and took the bus to Trastevere (which was very crowded), Rome Tip #1: If you can, take the Rome metro. It's faster and more comfortable. Rome is very different from Florence- it's also beautiful, but extremely busy and very crowded. Just expect that when you visit. where we were to meet our guide for the Food Tour, Dominique Barbeau. Dominique is an American who moved to Rome to pursue her dream of working and living abroad. She owns her own food walking tour business called "Foodies in Rome." We walked around the city while eating potato croquettes, grabbed pre-dinner pizza at a well-known pizzeria, drank wine and had appetizers at an osteria for apertivo, and ate family style Italian pasta (sharing plates). It was delectable. Finally, we ended our night eating Italian pastries for dessert at Torre Argentina, where Julius Caesar was murdered. Now, it's a cat sanctuary. |