After a rough night of sleeping on the 9-hour flight, we finally arrived to Rome. When the flight landed, I was unable to hear out of my ear for most of the day. From the start, I was very overwhelmed by my surroundings just because of how many people we have with us on the trip and how many people are in Italy in general.

 

Immediately, we set off on a bus to get a tour of the beautiful city. It felt like information overload since there’s just so much about the city to tell of, but it was enjoyable to get a general run down of the city and get a feel for the set up.

 

Following the bus tour, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, the Panthanon and a few other places. There, our guide, Matteo pointed out the history of each destination.

 

While we were out, we were able to grab lunch and, of course, gelato! My group stopped at a place with 150 different flavors. Needless to say, it was hard to decide which one to get. I ended up with a cream biscotti flavor with another scoop called “Super Black,” which was dark chocolate. Delicious!

Our entire group headed to check into our hotel and freshen up after the long day. After waiting for the bus for quite some time, it showed up and provided us with a much needed break off our feet. I settled into my room with my roommates, and we freshened up before dinner. Matteo took us to a restaurant with the entire group to have a group dinner. The starting dish was a pasta, then we had ham and ended with tiramisu.

 

Italy has always been my number one bucket list destination, and I’m so happy I’m finally here. The thing about Rome that surprised me the most was the amount of graffiti within the city. Since it holds so much history, I assumed the entire city would be very well maintained. I’ve been so impressed with everything else that we’ve seen so far. Its so nice to finally to see these things in person rather than the pictures I’ve been looking at.