Rome

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Tonight’s blog post is to be about our weekend in Rome. I would have to say that this weekend had felt like the shortest weekend yet also the longest weekend we have had while here. We started the weekend off with about a two-hour train ride and then we immediately went to our hotel. At the hotel I had stayed at, the shower was in the bedroom instead of the bathroom where you would expect to find your shower. I of course had to share that with everybody to see if they also had this experience. They did not, so that was a luxury that only myself and the other ladies that were in that specific hotel got to experience.



After we had dropped off our bags at the hotel, we went to the station to catch this metro-bus that would take us to the Vatican. The Vatican was a lot larger than I had thought it was going to be. Granted, it is a country within a country, so it makes since as to why it is so large. I did not realize it was a country though until Elizabeth had told us. I was always under the impression that it was a city because its name is “Vatican City.”



Once inside the Vatican, we were able to tour the grounds and we traveled from inside to outside and back inside to see the Sistine Chapel. We were able to see other things besides the Sistine Chapel but that was definitely a major reason we were there. A few things that we were able to see before that was a few rooms that the great artist Raphael had painted.



I really enjoyed the rooms Raphael had painted because his art was very vibrant, and it had movement to it. The way he was able to show variations in his light source within one setting was brilliant. In the background of one of the walls he painted the sun was either just setting or just rising and you were able to see the faint glow on the scene. Then on the same wall, Raphael had two other light sources. Both emitting from the same man but in different scenes. In the first, the light is radiating from the man and the shadows that were created in the paint were like shadows you would actually coming from a real person. The next scene, the light is more directed toward the side of the figure and you could again see the shadows as if they were actually there.



The next day we were able to go to the Colosseum. I enjoyed it but it definitely was not what I was expecting. All my life I had wanted to see the Colosseum, but when I finally was able to see it personally, I was a little let down. I am not really sure what else I was expecting other than it to be larger I guess. In my mind I think I had this picture of the floor still being complete, full of sand, and the basement part not showing.



Overall, there was not much of a difference between Rome and Florence. I enjoyed the time I spent in Rome and I think that Rome is something all the students that go on this trip should partake in. However, I do prefer Florence over Rome. To me, Rome is more crowded and a busy and honestly more touristy. The street vendors were more persistent and I did not like that at all.







My total steps from Friday were 17,927, my steps from Saturday were 22,414, my steps from Sunday were 21,1651, my steps from Monday were 13,651, and my total steps from Tuesday were 16,364.

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