When in BROme....

ROMA!! (This is going to be a long one)

I think it's safe to say that our travel break just kept getting progressively better and better as it went on. Becky and I flew from Dublin on Sunday morning (the 8th) and landed in Rome FCO like 15 minutes before the rest of our class coming from Copenhagen. (Oh, just to clarify, this Rome trip was part of a 1 credit class that I'm taking.) It was lucky that we met up with everyone, because I don't know how we would have gotten to our hotel otherwise. (Hotel Doge.... not pronounced "Hotel Doggie," but that's the name it eventually earned.)

After a week of traveling with just each other, I think Becky and I were ready to meet up with the 25 other people in our class. And I don't think we could have asked for a funnier mix of people. I was not completely optimistic about our group heading into the trip, but we all ended up meshing really well and we made a bunch of new friends, so that was great :) The best part though..... was our teacher, Mr. Thyge C. Bro. (First name pronounced TEW-GA, last name pronounced exactly how it looks.) Easily the most hilarious man I have ever met. I don't even have the words to describe him, really. His standard outfit is the jean suit, but for the majority of this trip (and I mean all except the last night) he wore the same UCLA sweatshirt, cargo pants, and optional matching vest, 24/7. He is sooooo socially awkard that it's actually endearing, and he knows more about Rome than the back of his own hand. I mean, I'm just speculating, but he knows a LOT.

Bro

The first day, we hit the ground running. Thanks to my handy little itinerary thing, I can tell you that we saw the Trevi Fountain (made a wish & it came true!), the Pantheon, Largo Argentina, Campo del Fiori, Piazza Navona (w/ the Fountain of the 4 Rivers), the Ara Pacis (Peace Altar), Piazza Del Popolo, and the Spanish Steps. So needless to say, after Day 1, our feet were already killing us. Courtney, Sara, Becky and I took a power nap in our room, showered, and met for our group dinner at Pizzaria Zio Circo. One thing that I love about Italians is that they consider a full plate of pasta to be an appetizer. We had soooo much food and wine, all on DIS! Well, I guess we kind of paid for it in advance, but it felt free. We also had some sort of weird mushroom-shaped dessert that was like a piece of cake drowned in rum or amaretto. It was gross. We named it the "drunken mushroom."

Trevi Fountain


The Pantheon

Day 2 started off with breakfast in the room. We got breakfast in bed every day.... which sounds great, except it wasn't. Basically cold coffee, a tiny stale roll, and a squishy little croissant was all we had to get us through Bro's walking marathons every morning. So, Monday started off with a hike to the Colosseum. I took sooooo many pictures, but the place is so huge it's kind of hard to capture. We also toured the Forum Romanum and the Palatine hill, where we had to do some sketches, and Courtney and I had to do our presentation on the Arch of Titus. Fun stuffffff.

Colosseum!

I think it was this same day that we discovered Pastarito! (I think that's what it was called?) Definitely our favorite restaurant, even though the wait staff sort of hated us. The first time we went, I got gnocchi with meat sauce... but we went back for dinner one night and I got this awesome gorgonzola & walnut sauce that Stephanie had the first time. I know, I know, I'm obsessed with food.... but I took a picture of it to remember it forever. The portions were so big that we ended up just getting gelato for dinner a few nights. Italy, you are the best.

Yummmmmm

Our favorite gelato place

Tuesday morning started early, with a trip to the Vatican. We had an audio tour of the museum, which was probably the most extensive art collection I have ever seen. In addition to all the Classical & Renaissance sculptures, etc., every inch of every wall/ceiling was intricately painted. Highlights included Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.... which I unfortunately couldn't get a picture of without being bullied by Italian museum cops. I think the coolest part of the whole experience was that we got to bypass the huuuuge line that forms outside the museum in the morning. Followers of Thyge Bro are VIP.

We broke for our group lunch, which included a full round of really good/interesting antipasti dishes, pizza, and once again.... WINE. Bro made sure to inform us that Rome is a "white wine district," so when given the choice, you should always opt for white. I don't know how it happened, but they kept bringing our little corner of the table bottle after bottle of white wine. Everyone started to get a little giggley but we all thought we were okay until we stood up. Bro informed us that they weren't supposed to bring us that much wine, but he was kind of whatever about it.

Don't worry --- we all sobered up pretty quickly because the next stop was St. Peter's Basillica. Or should I say, the cupola on TOP of the Basillica. I've climbed a lot of things this semester, but this was easily the most intense. Everyone was pretty winded on the way up, and I was embarrassed to call myself a cross country runner. We took a picture of how sweaty I was, but I'll spare you.

St. Peters

It was well worth it. The view from the top was incredible. ALMOST as incredible as the inside of the Basillica itself. I've also seen a lot of churches this semester, but I doubt I'll ever see one as impressive. It was beeeaauuutiful. Parts of it were being roped off, because they were preparing for the Pope to speak the next day, but we still got to see a lot... including the Pieta. I know I sound dramatic, but it didn't even feel real that we were actually there.

The Pieta

That night, as if we hadn't had enough wine already, we discovered some 2 euro bottles and got a good majority of the class together for a "social gathering" on the floor of our hotel. Good bonding. Bro walked in at one point, and we all got a little nervous, but he ended up just laughing and posing for pictures with us. I love him. Most everyone went out afterwards, but Courtney and I lost the group at the Trevi Fountain..... and Rome is not really the place we wanted to be aimlessly wandering at night, so we just went back to our room. From what I've heard, though, we missed some pretty good stories ;)


This is getting obnoxious, so I think I'm going to break this up into 2 posts for easy viewing. Keep reading though.... because it just keeps getting better!