When In Rome

When in Rome
I mentioned earlier that I took a Western Civ recently, so I was really pumped to go to Rome. The class sucked (because of all the reading and writing) but it was cool to learn about places I was visiting. At the end of the year, my teacher had asked who we thought was the most influential group in Western Civilization. I voted, hands down, the Romans. And that choice is clearly biased, since I didn't really pay attention that much to details, lol. But Roman history is much more real and interesting than Greek and its mythology, in my opinion. (Don't hate me).

In Italy, only Italian nationals with a degree in Italian History (or something like that) can give any sort of tour. Our little old man tour guide was great! He would say, "Conteeeekiiii, follow the guide!" The ruins in the Forum and the Colosseum were huge. When you think about it, its really sad that all that exists are bits and pieces. Imagine hundreds of years from now, the White House just a wooden frame. Hell, that couldn't even last hundreds of years. The Romans knew how to build. Even after a collapse, and hundreds and hundreds of years later, pieces still remain. BIG pieces.

I read Spartacus and the Slave Wars in my class, and it was actually really mind-blowing to be in the Colosseum, remembering the things I read about the entertainment of fighting to the death, the riots and escapes, and the slave wars. The slaves were monitored at all times, so that they were not allowed to kill themselves. Suicide was a better choice for the slaves, rather than fighting to the death with other slaves, even their friends. On the way to a fight, they would try and find sneaky ways to kill themselves before entering the fight for entertainment. Every cultural history has its dark points. But anyways, the ruins were amazing!

Inside the Colosseum, those are the underground tunnels that were under the main field.

After we checked out the Colosseum, a few of us wanted to head over to the Vatican. I kinda forgot my dress, so I wasn't going to be allowed in the Vatican. And the line was really long. Liz really wanted to go in, so we told her we would meet her after. Me, Peter, Chantel, and Amy mostly just walked around checking the side streets outside of Vatican City. We stopped at a few gelato places, having several scoops of the yummy ice cream. After awhile, we found some random alley next to a busy street and just sat there eating our gelato. Later, Amy and I went on a freaking journey trying to find a internet cafe.

Note: When in Italy, make sure you have clothing that will cover your shoulders and knees when you visit churches.

Later that night, back at the Contiki Village in Rome, there was a theme party going on. It was 80s night! Sara, Liz, Amy, and I dressed up with random stuff that we put together from our suitcases. Everyone was drinking outside our little cabins and going to the bar up the hill. It was fun because our whole group was there, and everyone was hanging out, dancing, and having a good time.

80s night! When in Rome...

Oh yeahh, I almost forgot! Quote of the trip! On the way to the city, we had to take the metro. As you recall what happened to us in London on the tube with the doors shutting abruptly, the comment Ollie, our tour manager, made was super funny. Our group was about 45 people, so you can imagine trying to get us ALL on the metro at the same time. He was instructing us to hurry and get on through the many entrance doors, and he yelled, "Hurry! They dont fucking wait!!!" in his cute little Aussie accent, lol. Yeah, we know they dont wait!

All the cars had graffiti on them; I thought they were artistic looking. We had to take a ride from the Colosseum to the Vatican. I love public transportation!