Coming back to normal life from Morocco was not easy to do. After getting used to just following someone else for 5 days and not really doing much anything else, going back to self-initiative and studying was not fun. However, I was only going to have to do that for 3 day, after which I leave for my next trip was. So only 3 days, how hard can it be?
School
I missed 3 classes in total for this trip, two of which were for Systems and Signals. Thankfully that class isn’t that hard to make up, and I can just copy Panth’s notes. However, the other class I missed was Biomechanics, which is a class that I really shouldn’t miss. I need to get a great grade on this next test if I want to get a good grade in this class. I have 3 weeks until the next test, so not much time really. But there wasn’t really anything I could do. So we continue on with life. We have all our normal classes with no surprises. I have a presentation next week for Biotransport, which if I know anything about how I present, I know I will mess it up somehow. My slides are fine, but I need a lot of time to explain them properly, and its just going to end up badly, I know it. But other than that, everything is going fine.
Except for my stomach!! For some reason, after coming back, my body did not like any of the food I was eating for the past 2 months. I was nauseous all the time, I barely ate anything that week, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to go to Rome if my stomach didn’t get better. I have never had problems like this, so it was kind of worrying. However, thankfully, it went away on Wednesday night, after having a bland diet of white rice and crackers for 2 days, and I was ready to go to Rome. I made sure to order only 1 taxi this time, so I think we are all good lol.
Rome – Day 1
Very early morning, my taxi got to the house at 4:00 since my flight was at 6:30 and it takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport. However, the night before, the ticket told me that I need to print out my ticket in order to get it stamped. So for probably 2 hours the night before my flight, when I should have been sleeping, I was messing with the old printer in the house trying to print off my tickets. I eventually gave up and asked Panth to watch my computer and make sure it prints them. He tried for at least another hour, but eventually got them printed off. I got to the airport and found out I never needed to get a stamp, so all that work the night before, and sleep lost, was all for nothing. But I made it to the terminal, everything ok. The flight was chill, nothing super fancy or interesting happened, thankfully. Got a bus ticket, got on the first bus that came (not knowing whether it was the right bus, which I probably should have checked before I got on, but my brain was still groggy from the early morning, and I was channeling large amounts of stupid energy), got to a bus station that connected to the metro, got on the metro, and eventually made it to the main transportation hub in Rome: Termini.
From the first moment I got out of the metro, I was in love with the city, except for one thing: the rain. If it wasn’t raining (and if I was smarter), this trip would have been 10x better. Besides that, my first impressions were good for the city. I start walking in the direction I think my AirBnB is at. Now I say that because I don’t have data in Italy. I thought I would have data since a lot of services in 1 EU country, such as cell service, usually work in the other EU countries. However when I turned my phone off airplane mode, I didn’t have the usual 4G connection. So I don’t have data, and I did not download a map of Rome that I could have used without data. GPS doesn’t use data either, so I could have used that, but I was dumb, and found cafe’s with WiFi, figured out which compass direction I needed to go, and literally used my compass to keep track of where I was going. I guess I must have lost some of my Boy Scout skills, cause I still got lost. I could have used the metro at Termini to get to my AirBnB, yet I wanted to walk around and explore the city. That would have been fine, if I wasn’t so dumb. I eventually did find my way to the AirBnB, but not until after getting drenched by the rain and buy 3 coffees at 3 different bars to use their WiFi. But I will live.
I was able to go to the AirBnB early to drop off my stuff, so after getting lost, I got there about an hour after I said I would show up. But that’s fine, I’m still happy that I was able to drop off my stuff and not have to worry about that rain drenching my clothes as well (if they weren’t already). Immediately after seeing my room, I knew I was going to love staying here. I could see the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica out the window. The AirBnB was on the top floor of an apartment complex right across the street from the Vatican City. It was insane because I was a 5 minute walk from St. Peters Square. I was fangirling about that literally the entire time I was there. I looked out the window, saw the basilica, and was like, “Oh my gosh this is actually real AHHHHHH!!!”
Continuing with the events, I dropped off my stuff, and had about 30 minutes until I could officially check in since the host was still cleaning my room from the last guests. So I decided to do some shopping for breakfast food cause I knew I wouldn’t have much time in the mornings to come. I had a tour at the Vatican Museum at 9 am the next morning, a 9 am tour of the Coliseum the next morning, and then I was flying back the following morning. So not much time to eat, so I just bought a pack of muffins, something to tide me over until lunch. The host told me about a local market that was 4 blocks away, so I decided to go check that out. There were a lot of meat and vegetable stands, as well as baked goods stands. I would have loved to buy something from the baked goods people, but I was timid about the language barrier. My first instinct was to talk in Spanish since Italian and Spanish have a lot more similarities than English and Italian, but I eventually just started with English since more people understood that. I was timid as well because with my nut allergy, I need to be sure that I am expressing myself perfectly and that I can understand their response, cause I am not up for taking a trip to the hospital in a (more) foreign country. But at the stand that I eventually bought something from, one of the workers spoke Spanish, so I was able to ask and be confident that what I was buying did not have any nuts. I bought a pizza and a portion of lemon pound cake, both of which were truly transcendent! After that I continued exploring the block, went to a souvenir store and bought my necessary magnet, and since I had time and I was there, I decided to check out St. Peter’s Square. Once I stepped into the square, my jaw dropped and remained dropped. Everything was so beautiful, and I was still in disbelief that I was actually there.
I was going to see the square tomorrow when I toured the Basilica, so I didn’t spend too much time there. After that, went to the AirBnB and took a well deserved nap. After about a 3 hour nap, I woke up hungry, and went searching for a good restaurant. I found one on Maps, but when I went to the address, it wasn’t there. I then went to a close-by restaurant (that was really expensive. 6 Euros for a glass of wine!?!? stupid), where my waitress knew Spanish!! So I ordered with confidence the Gnocchi, which was super super good!! Italian pasta slaps really hard. After that, I went to a close-by bar, had a couple drinks, and rediscovered that I’m still not a beer person. After that, I planned out my day tomorrow and went to bed.
During that night, I also received a text on Snapchat from an old high school friend that she would be in Rome the same time I was. I was super happy, since my other friend got sick and couldn’t join me. I hadn’t seen her for about 2 years, so I was excited to catch up and hear how she was doing. We made plans to see each other in Sunday.
Rome – Day 2
Early start to the morning!! I showered, got ready, and ate the breakfast that my AirBnB host (yea, I said breakfast. I’m surprised too) as well as the lemon pound cake I bought yesterday, which was HEAVENLY!! After I was ready to go, I left for my tour of the Vatican Museum at 9:00 am. Thank God I reserved my ticket beforehand. The line at 9 am was already a city block long and barely moving. But I just walked in, got my ticket, and was touring the museum within 10 minutes. Very handy. And good thing too, cause I spent 4 hours in that museum. There was so much, from ancient Egyptian mummies to Greek pottery to Renaissance masterpieces from Raphael and Michelangelo. Here are some pics!!
I loved being able to look around and see my history, the history of the Catholic Church. The art pieces were amazing, I loved seeing ancient languages written on stone tablets, this entire place was amazing!!
After the 4 hours in the museum, as one can imagine, I was tired and very hungry. I exited the museum and looked around the local area for a cheap place to eat. After looking for 10 minutes, I found a nice little place a block away from the Vatican, and ordered a nice pasta with bacon and tomato sauce. It was also served with bread and olive oil infused with chili peppers. This was by far the best meal I have ever had. The olive oil was spicy but not overpowering, the sauce was very creamy, the cheese really brought out the flavor, and the bacon added a hint of flavor that rounded out the entire dish. I will swear by this, it was the best meal ever. And it was at some random Italian restaurant. I’m sad that it had to end, and I was tempted to order another thing of it, but I wanted to explore some more, so I went back to the apartment to rest for like 5 minutes, and then I made my way over to St. Peter’s Basilica.
There was a long line as usual, but within 30 minutes I was at the metal detector and in the Basilica. The Basilica itself was extremely gorgeous and breathtaking.
I walked around getting some video, made my way to the treasury where there was reliquary upon reliquary, gold monstrance upon gold monstrance, and a lot of diamonds and emeralds. After that, I went to the tombs where Saint Peter the Apostle is buried, as well as all the Popes. After that I left and made my way back to the apartment, as I really needed a nap by then.
I still could not believe that I was actually here. Every minute I was there, I was hoping I would see the Pope, but I never did, which is really sad, even though I knew it was a long shot. But all the history that was there, the significance and implications everything had and how much I related to it, I don’t think I will ever feel this way again. It really was like seeing my history all over an entire complex. Super cool.
After a nap, I jumped on my phone to look for something to do. There was a contemporary art museum, but it cost 9€ to go to. I should have sucked it up and went instead of going to the free museum, cause the free museum didn’t have anything and was more so about the creation of art than the display of art. But that’s fine, I got the chance to see how Italians do art. I then went to dinner, hit a bar for a quick brewski, and made it home. I had another early morning, so I really didn’t want to be tired. And this one, I knew, would be a lot more walking.
Rome – Day 3
My last day here. Had to make it count. So I started by day off with a self-guided tour of the Roman Forum, which is the general area where the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and the archaeological digs are located. Again, thank God I bought my tickets beforehand, cause the line to the Coliseum was super long at 9 am, and if I had not bought my tickets online, I would have had to wait at least 3 hours. But here are some views of the Coliseum.
Coliseum was super cool. It felt weird standing and looking at the same building that existed 2000 years ago, where people fought for their lives against each other and angry animals. Super cool. After that, I went to the Roman Forum, which is the central square of Rome 2000 years ago. It was huge and I got my 5 miles before noon, and got some nice views!
After 4 hours, again, of me touring the Forum, I was hungry, tired, and needed a break. So, I found the nearest pizza place, ordered a nice cheap pizza, went shopping, and then went back to my apartment. After getting back and taking a nap (cause apparently there is nothing better to do), it was 3:30. Since I wanted to go to mass, and they had one at 4:00 and 5:30, and I still wanted to see my friend Anna, I decided to go to the 4:00 one. However, there was no mass at 4:00, so I actually still went to mass at 5:30, but with Vesper Prayers included. It was cool, and I did enjoy mass, except for the fact that everything was in Italian and I couldn’t understand a single thing.
After mass, I went straight to the bar we were planning to meet at, which is a large Irish Pub located in the center of the city. It was great to catch up with her!! I told her how my life has degenerated into the normal all-work-no-play routine of an engineering student, and she told me about the life at a Catholic university. Truth be told, if I was placed there, I could not survive. It is just vastly different from what I am used to, and I can see myself being extremely bored really fast. But she is enjoying it, which is all that matters. After a couple drinks and a trip to the Trevi Fountain, we parted ways and I went back to the apartment to get ready for my return flight tomorrow. I also still had class tomorrow that I was going to, so I needed to get ready for an overdose of caffeine.
Conclusion…
I am super behind on everything. At the time of me finishing this, I have 3 tests in 5 days, a weekend excursion tomorrow, 3 lab reports due in 2 weeks, and finals sloooooowly approaching. Also, for one of my lab reports, I need a special piece of software from the creator of the program, and they are taking their sweet time getting it to me. So I cannot start on that project until I get that software. I am very stressed about everything, the impending doom of my return to the states is hitting me in waves of sadness and excitement, I am taking more naps than usual, and I am unprepared for these tests. All I have helping me get through this are the final 2 excursions in Europe, my parents coming to visit me for a week, and the lovely food and coffee that Spain has. So, as I descend into infinite madness, wish me luck! Hopefully the next blog doesn’t take so long to post.
Brennan's Semester in Spain 