Family Visit: Day 3

Ciao Tutti,

Thursday was my last full day in Rome with my Dad and brother.  We made the best of it, though, as we booked a tour to see the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the Roman Forum.  We started off the day with breakfast on our hotel's rooftop terrace.  Then, we caught a taxi to our tour's meeting point near the Colosseum.

I booked a tour with Dark Rome tours because they received great reviews on TripAdvisor.com, but was very disappointed with the quality of the tour.  That, however, did not detract from how amazing the sites we saw were.

We started off by going into the Colosseum.  It was my first time in the Colosseum since I arrived in Rome at the end of January.  It was a long wait, but was so worth it.  We learned a great deal about how the Colosseum worked and where everyone sat (rich people in the front, ordinary people in the middle, and women in the nosebleeds).  We also climbed up to the middle level of the Colosseum which provided a great view of the interior of the "performance area."  We saw where the elevators were and how they worked.  It was a very informative tour.

After posing for a few pictures, we headed over to the Palentine Hill.  I didn't know anything whatsoever about the Palentine Hill prior to the tour, so it was nice to learn so much information.  Palentine Hill was essentially where the city of Rome was founded and where the Emperors of Rome resided.

After the Palentine Hill, we took a very quick tour of the Roman Forum.  Our tour guide showed us the path that war heroes and other important people took when they were on their way to meet the Emperor.

By this point, we were all absolutely exhausted and decided to go to our favorite restaurant, Monte Carlo, for lunch.  After lunch, we grabbed a gelato and I headed off to take an Italian exam.  While I was taking my exam, my Dad and brother took a hop-on, hop-off bus around Rome.  Matt was able to enjoy Rome from a different perspective.

After my exam, I met my family back at my hotel and we went up to see the view from the actual roof of the hotel.  It was pretty cool and you could see the top of the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica.  Then, we took a taxi to the Trevi Fountain to see the Trevi Fountain at night.  We walked back towards my apartment from the Trevi Fountain and went back to Antica Taverna for dinner.

Ciao,
Michael

Are these the same blocks Julius Caesar walked on?

Ciao!

It's been a while since I last updated, but I had another crazy week in Roma.  With every passing day, I come to love this amazing city more and more.  It seems like everywhere I go I wind up basking in amazement at a beautiful statue or a detailed fountain.

Last week was what IES called "intensive Italian" week.  This meant that we had Italian every day for 2.5 hours.  On Monday we had 12 students in our class.  By the end of the week we were down to 8.  For me, the class was not too hard.  We reviewed three of the "past tenses" in Italian for the majority of the week.  Although I have studied them before, I welcomed the review.  Each tense has very specific rules about when you can use it, so I needed the review. 

Our class also watched a movie called "La Finestra di Fronte".  When our teacher asked if we wanted English subtitles, one of the students surprised her by asking for Italian subtitles instead.  This was a great idea as it allowed us to better understand the film and the Italian language in general without depending on English.  I know that I definitely expanded my vocabulary while watching that film!

We had an exam on Friday followed by a field study.  Since the film we watched took place in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome, we were sent there to fill out a worksheet.  I love how IES tries to get you out into the city as much as possible.  I was very happy to have my first field study so early!

The whole week I was debating whether to go to Florence with some friends or stay in Rome and do "Rome as a tourist" with some other friends.  I decided to stay in Rome.  On Saturday, we decided to go to the Colosseum (or try to go to the Colosseum).  We wound up getting there at 3:30 PM thinking we would have no problem getting in.  We were wrong.  It turns out that people are not allowed into the Colosseum after 3:30 PM and it closes at 4:30 PM. 



























While this was very disappointing we certainly made the best of it.  We walked around the Colosseum, took pictures of the Forum, and basked in the glory of the Arc of Constantine.  It was amazing.  At one point, I turned to my friends and said "Are these the same blocks that Julius Caesar walked on?"  It really put everything in perspective, for me at least.  The blocks I was walking on, the statues I pass every day, the monuments I gaze upon with awe, and the fountains I stop and rest next to are all older than not only the United States of America, but were all there when Christopher Columbus discovered that the world was not flat.  That is pretty amazing.  I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Tomorrow, my full schedule begins,  I can't wait to meet all my professors and find out exactly what we will be learning about.  I want to continue to take advantage of all Rome has to offer.

Ciao,
Mike