Italy has always been on my bucket list, and I have to say that it didn’t disappoint. I’m back in the states now, trying to readjust to the six hour time change, and processing what just happened to me in the past two weeks. It seems like an eternity since I first stepped onto the plane to Rome and discovered just how terrible airplane food is. But at the same time, it feels like just yesterday that I was roaming the streets of Rome with my new friends, eating gelato, and trying to communicate with an Italian pharmacist to get cold medicine.
It’s amazing just how much we were able to fit into two weeks, and looking back it still blows my mind. We traveled to five different cities, sometimes waking up at ungodly hours to do so, and experiencing what each place had to offer. Now that I’m back, I wanted to reflect on some of my favorite parts of the trip, and some of the things that surprised me the most.
In Rome I loved the colosseum. Of course it was a must see, and I had seen pictures, but getting to experience everything yourself (like those killer stairs) made the experience unforgettable. But I think that I actually liked the Roman forum more. The forum was a collection of buildings from various ages, some ruins dating back to ancient times. Our tour guide gave us a brief explanation on each building or ruin that we came across, and some of the stories were unforgettable. She explained that most of the buildings that were still standing were “Christian” (or dubbed Christian to be protected).
Another one of my favorite Roman moments in Rome was when a small group of us got up early and just took a walk around Rome and took some pictures. The alleyways were beautiful, each one was could be on a postcard.
Assisi was one of my favorite cities to visit. It had narrow, sloping alleyways and looked like how you would expect Italy to look. There was a beautiful overlook into the countryside, and it was a nice break from the busy city of Rome.
I also enjoyed Florence, while it was a city, it felt less touristy than Rome and Milan. The night we got the Florentine steak was one of my favorites. We were laughing nearly the entire dinner, the people around us must have thought we were crazy.
Venice was my favorite city to visit. Although it was very touristy, it was always something that was on my bucket list. It was gorgeous, every bridge was a work of art. It was so nice not to worry about the traffic for once. Our gondola ride was fun, but I really enjoyed the walking tour of the city where we got to see a bookshop with cats.
Milan was probably my least favorite city, although I still enjoyed it. I had expected it to almost look more like New York City, although most of the buildings were still very old and short in comparison. It looked a lot like Rome, if Rome was jam packed with Pradas and Guccis and whatever other designer you could think of. I don’t have a lot of interest in fashion (or money) so I wasn’t as excited about the shopping as everyone else. I did enjoy my time there however, and the farewell dinner was incredibly fun. We had a great conversation the entire time and great food, and you can’t really top that.
There were a couple of things that surprised me, and not all of them were pleasant. The first thing that struck me was how many people tried to sell you things in Rome. You get a bit of that in New York City where people with stands will call at you as you pass. But in Rome it felt more aggressive. They would come up to try to sell you anything, saying the same thing over and over again in Italian, and they wouldn’t leave you alone. Even though ‘no’ is the same in English and Italian, they were persistent. No matter what you told them they wouldn’t leave you without a good bit of hassling. Sometimes they would just shove things at you as well, and you would just have to get past them. They were mostly in Rome and Milan, although there were some in Venice as well.
Another bad surprise was public transportation. We mostly took trams and buses, but they were unreliable and packed, particularly in Rome. I was squished up against strangers and walls more times than I’d like to recount. Granted, there were nearly 40 of us on the trip trying to get onto a bus at rush hour, but the experience was always miserable. Some people took pictures of how crammed we were. I couldn’t move my arms most of the time, otherwise I would have.
Another surprise were the bathrooms. Italy doesn’t really have public bathrooms, which can really make life difficult sometimes. We had to take all of our bathroom breaks at our media visits, and with thirty something girls, it took a long time. The bathrooms in Italy were always interesting to figure out as well, they had full doors instead of the stalls with big gaps that we have in America. Their soap dispensers were always an adventure to figure out as well. Our hotel bathrooms were interesting as well. We theorized that Italians took very quick showers, because our showers overflowed almost every time we used them. The layouts of the bathrooms were interesting to say the least, as were the layouts of the rooms. I know that we were trying to travel cheap, but many things were just very small.
I was also surprised at how small Italian cars are. I knew before going over that their cars were smaller than ours, but it’s strange to get used to at first. I saw more Smart Cars than I had ever seen before in my life. The people who drove Vespas were also fearless, often weaving through traffic to get ahead.
I was also surprised at how many people spoke some English. Some were very apologetic that they didn’t know more English. I wish I could have told them that I took six years of Spanish and still can’t hold a basic conversation. It’s humbling to be in a country where you don’t speak the main language, but a lot of the people we encountered spoke two or more languages more fluently. It made me feel pretty dumb by comparison, although some of the blame has to go to the American education system.
Overall, I had a lot of fun, and had so many once in a lifetime experiences. I’d love to go back some day, but for now I’m enjoying free water and not having to sleep in a bunk bed.