It has been over a week since I have been back from Rome but I wanted to be sure to blog about our trip.  We left on a Friday morning and got back late on Sunday night.  It was a quick trip and jam packed with activities.  It’s hard to remember all of it, we did so much it’s almost a blur.  It was a ton of fun though and I am so glad I got the chance to go to Rome and see all the amazing things there.

The first day we were there we went to Vatican City.  Unfortunately we only had two hours in the museum so we quickly headed to the Sistine Chapel and once we were inside, Lindsay and I spent twenty minutes just looking at the walls and ceiling!  Then we headed to some other galleries in the museum.  The two hours passed quickly and soon we were on our walking tour of the city.  On the tour we saw the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  It was a fun but tiring tour and by the end we were all hungry.  Our group decided to go to a restaurant near the Spanish Steps and it was delicious!  Then we got gelato and sat on the steps and enjoyed the beautiful night.

The next morning we got up early and headed to the Colosseum.  We had an tour guide who was really sweet and adorable!  She had a typical tour guide flag on a stick for all of us to follow.  It was a good thing she had one because she was about 5 feet tall and we would have easily lost her!  The Colosseum was awesome and I couldn’t stop taking pictures!  I love the building and it was just awesome to think of all the events they used to hold there.  In all I took 115 pictures: of the Colosseum, in the Colosseum, or by the Colosseum.  I know I am ridiculous!  After the Colosseum we headed to the Roman Forum.  That was cool to see but not as cool as the Colosseum (in my opinion).  After the Roman Forum we had a lunch break.  We walked about 15 minutes to find a cafe where we each got a panino.  It was very hot and we had a 2o minute walk back to the bus!  We were all happy to finally get back on the bus with nice air conditioning.  That afternoon we went to the catacombs.  It was awesome to see the burial site and learn about how they were able to create the burial plots underground.  Unfortunately you can’t take pictures there so I bought a couple postcards for my scrapbook.  After the catacombs, the bus took us back to our apartments so we could get ready for dinner.  We had a group dinner that night that was paid for so we were all happy.  We showered again and got dressed up for dinner.  Dinner was delicious!  We had fried zucchini, squash and potato for our antipasta, lasagna for our primo piatto, chicken and potatoes for our secondo piatto, and then fried donuts with powdered sugar and nutella drizzled on top for dolche (dessert)!  Everything was delicious but of course my favorite was dessert!  We also had free wine with our meal which was very good.  After dinner, my friends and I decided to go find a bar to get some drinks.  After a little while we found a bar that was having happy hour and drinks were only 3.50 euro.  We only had five minutes until it ended so we all quickly ordered something.  I had a mojito and it was pretty good.  After we hung out there for about an hour we went to find a disco to go dancing.  It was difficult to keep our large group of friends together so it was over an hour before we made it to a place!  We got in free because we were Americans, we all danced for a little bit but then we were ready to go home.  It was a long walk back but we were a big group and felt safe walking home.  When we finally made it back to our apartments in Rome we all were exhausted.  I went straight to bed and fell right asleep!

The next morning Lindsay, my roommate Jess, our friend Max, and I decided to get up early to go and climb the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral.  First we went inside and took pictures. St. Peter’s is gorgeous!  I have never seen such a beautiful church/cathedral!  After a few minutes of admiring the inside, we climbed to the top of the dome and enjoyed the beautiful view.  You could see so much of Rome from up there which made dealing with my fear of heights worth it.  After taking some pictures and taking in the view we were ready to make the trip down the tight, slanted stairs.  I was happy to be back on the ground!  Once we were back at the buses with the rest of our school, we headed towards home.  After about an hour of driving, we had arrived in Ostia Antica our last stop on our Rome field trip.  I honestly don’t know much about Ostia Antica.  It is an ancient city that still has pieces remaining and preserved.  I wish I could tell you when the city was inhabitated but I don’t remember.  By this point of the weekend we were all exhausted and our brains couldn’t handle anymore history.  I took some pictures and planned to google more info about it when we got back.  ( I still haven’t been able to figure out much because here in Italy we have Italian Google so when you google “Ostia Antica”, which is the Italian name, the sights that pop up are all in Italian).  The drive home felt long and we were glad to be back in Florence that night.

The weekend was jam packed and the city of Rome felt crazy and chaotic.  I am really glad I got to go but I hope to someday go back again and enjoy it at a slower pace.  Preferably without the ugly tourist headsets.

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