Submitted by Abby Rhodunda on the 2024 Winter ITAL/LLCU program in Siena, Italy…
The past few days have been crazy. No other word can explain it. I’ll start my collection of stories from leaving the Philadelphia airport for the eight hour plane ride. I have never been on a plane ride longer than an hour so this was definitely a nerve racking experience. I did research about how to make the time fly faster but, in the end it was still a very long flight. Luckily my flight was around 6pm so they served us dinner, which in my opinion made the plane ride go much faster. This food took my attention away from the scariness of flying. I am probably going to surprise a lot of people by saying this but I didn’t think the food was that bad. It was the right amount of food, plus they gave us chocolate chip cookies for dessert so it was worth it. The plane ride was rough to say the least but it was completely worth it for the amazing things I was able to see in Roma.
I have heard and seen pictures of all the beautiful views that we were going to experience but it was better than I could have imagined. There is nothing in America that could compare to them. The Trevi Fountain completely took my breath away. My Aunt and Uncle went to Roma this summer and I saw their pictures but nothing compared to seeing it in person. The amazing sculptors in the fountain were so well made. But Pomepii was the execution that really amazed me. Learning about how all the people and houses were pressured by the ashes and mud that fell from the volcano. The last excursion we visited was the Vatican Museums which was breathtaking, the colors and art that surrounds each room and chapel. It’s absolutely amazing, I don’t think words can describe how it feels to know you’re looking at artwork from thousands and thousands of years ago.- absolutely amazing. I would definitely recommend those three sites to anyone thinking of going to Roma. I would definitely stress the importance of comfortable shoes to walk in. I had almost 25,000 steps each day from the excursions to just wandering the amazing streets in the city. My feet will definitely be sore for the next few days but I’ll take the uncomfortableness from those experiences (Submitted in January 7, 2024).
