At the beginning of the day, a group of us decided to walk around the town to take some photos and look at the street art in Rome. We met with the rest of class and came to find out that a giant flight of stairs that we were taking photos of was a part of our “short” walk to the American University of Rome. The stairs led to another set of stairs, and then to another set of stairs. Finally, that led to a beautiful view overlooking the city.
The American University of Rome was a beautiful place. We got to hear a great lecture from Andrea Bini, about Italian media and the history of how the media became what it is today. It was really shocking when he told us how politics and big money companies own the majority of newspapers that affect the media. He also showed us an appalling documentary of how women are depicted on Italian television. My favorite part was his knowledge about the Italian cinema because some of my favorite filmmakers are from Italy.
After, we caught the bus to head to the Colosseum and the Forum. Right, when we got off the bus, it began to rain. While we were waiting to get inside it started to rain even more. The rain slowed down until we got inside but I wasn’t that bothered by it.
It was crazy for me to think what has happened inside of the Colosseum or to it. We walked over to the Forum to look at arches and what is left from the original Roman Empire. The views from everywhere were absolutely breathtaking. I loved hearing all of the stories about the buildings and their history. I was so surprised because I didn’t know that part of Rome was buried underground for so long.
I got back to my room around 7:30 and I was starving. A bunch of us asked Matteo for food suggestions, he told us that we should follow the last group to a pizza place. When we walked out the door it was still raining and, we couldn’t find them anywhere. We ran down the street and didn’t have any luck. Nikole took it into her own hands and walked to find the restaurant, but it just took us in a loop and got us a little lost. I walked up the street to the main road and then I saw the group we were looking for. It was crazy!
We ate at a pizza place called Ai Marmi that had a wonderful sausage pizza. I ate all of it and then ordered a large cup of tiramisu. It was AMAZING. I still went for the gelato after the restaurant because I couldn’t pass it up. Fonte Della Salute had a long line for gelato, but it was worth the wait. I had the pineapple and raspberry gelato that made me feel less bad for eating two desserts.