Rome, day 1
Let’s be honest, traveling really takes a toll on you, your body, and your mental state. Especially when, after a seven hour layover, you’re traveling internationally on an eight hour overnight flight that propels you ahead in time by six hours and all of a sudden the sun is rising but your body thinks it’s only 2 am and you’re scrambling to make sense of the world and why/how time differences are even a thing and all of a sudden you lose track of why you’re writing this blog in the first place…
Needless to say, I haven’t gotten much sleep since I left my little Pittsburgh apartment at 7:15 on Saturday morning. Since waking up on Saturday, I’ve gotten approximately three hours of sleep, and my mind is very exhausted. Airplanes were not built for tall people to sleep on them. My 5’10” self didn’t have anywhere to put my legs…or my arms…or my head…
To show you the real “glamour” of traveling, enjoy this completely candid picture of me sneaking in a 30 minute nap at the JFK airport in New York, taken by my lovely travel companion and sharer of wurstel, Emily Bennett (definitely check out her blog and Instagram page for some yummy content) –>
Despite being soooo insanely exhausted, I’m already loving this trip so much. The flights went smoothly, no one lost luggage (YAY), and I’ve already stuffed myself with so much delicious food (excluding the airline food, obviously).
We arrived in Rome this morning at 10 am and went straight onto a short bus tour, after which we got off the bus and walked around on very tired feet for about two hours, taking in the new scenery, grabbing some gelato on the way, and trying to keep ourselves awake. We visited the Fontana di Trevi, most commonly known to us as Trevi fountain. It was BEAUTIFUL.
After visiting Trevi Fountain, we walked around and visited the Pantheon (pictured left), which was beautiful. It was originally a temple, it was reconstructed into a church and is the most well-kept building from Ancient Rome times. Then, we got gelato and pizza (yes, in that order). Obviously, both were delicious, and if you’d like to take a look at a picture of my nutella gelato and imagine how wonderful it must have tasted, be my guest. I will be consuming a lot more gelato as this trip goes on…this is not the end.
After that, we went to where we’re staying and unpacked. We had an hour to get ready for dinner, so naturally I used 30 minutes of that time to sneak in a nap and a shower (worth it). We then headed out to a wonderful group dinner with all of us. There was tiramisu involved…that’s all I need to say about that.
Tomorrow, we head to our first academic adventure – the American University of Rome! We’ll also be visiting the Colosseum and eating even more delicious food, so stay tuned!
I’m not sure how these blogs are going to turn out…so if you’re still reading this, I love and appreciate you! Welcome to the journey!!
Peace + love,
Carrie