Rome: Natasha, Lacey, Megan, Maekayla, Jess, Dane, and I spent our first couple days of spring break in Rome. Rome is beautiful because of its rich history and culture. The first day being in Rome we went to go visit the Pope at the Vatican, which is a beautiful area where St Peter’s Basilica is located. The Church was incredibly intricate because of its architecture, statues, and its furnishings; not to mention, it’s the largest church in the world. Shortly afterward, we went to go roam around certain attractions like the Roman Forum, a plaza that has several ruins of ancient buildings in the center of Rome; The Collosum, an amphitheater built in the first century that would be used for entertainment purpose such as dramas, gladiatorial contests, re-enactments of battles, and used for religious reasons; and Spanish Steps, a monument where there is a fountain at the bottom and a church at the top of the steps. When the day was winding down to an end, the group went to an authentic Italian restaurant. The next day, the five of us - Jess, Lacey, Maekayla, Megan, and I – decided to go explore the Pompeii ruins. I never thought in my life that I would go and see these ruins, but that was probably one of my favorite attractions during this trip. Pompeii is an old ancient Roman city near Naples. (From what I saw in Naples, seemed like a sketchy city that I plan never to step foot on.) Pompeii was mainly destroyed and buried of volcanic ash because of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
After seeing Pompeii, we headed back to Rome where we would have one more last day until the group would go to Split, Croatia. When we got back to Rome, we reunited with Dane and Tasha in the hostel. All of us took a nap before going to one of the most famous fountains in the world - Trevi Fountain. Trevi Fountain is very beautiful because of its size and complex stone work (Travertine stone), but what I found most interesting about the fountain is how many euros must be in there? When you go to this fountain, there is a massive group of people who are just throwing coins in there. There is saying that if you throw the coin into the fountain, you will ensure a return to Rome, but that is just a legend.
Rome has so much history that it makes it difficult to go and see all the attractions, but for only being there for two days I was happy for what I experienced. What I found most annoying about the trip was the street vendors. They were immigrants from what seemed to be Africa and Syria, but I would migrate too if my country wasn’t safe. Rome had so many people that it seemed like a chaotic zoo that was unsupervised, but that makes me part of the problem too then. Overall, I would like to see Rome again and see the places that I didn’t get the chance to see.
