Under Stars and Over Seas: And So The Romans Fell

Rome was a disaster in a way that everything turned out well in the end. And I say disaster with a somewhat fond memory and the knowledge that everything that happened can be joked about now. And 'disaster' is a bit harsh; it was more of a very intense three and a half days where everything that could go wrong did. If I ever get a hernia at some point in my life, I’m blaming Rome. It’s sort of like as long as I keep up the mantra of, ‘it could have been worse’ I’ll still think well of my time there.

It all started with a rushed morning in Sicily. We were scheduled to be leaving Sicily by plane at 6:25 in the morning. We left Sant'Elia at 4:53 and arrived at the airport at 5:40, with just enough time to check my bag and be informed that the gate were closing. So we ran dramatically through the airport (something that is much more stressful than I realized before, and not at all like movie montages) and cut through security, where we were just tearing off layers and shoes and pulling electronics out of bags and just trying to get through before the plane took off. I was actually running barefoot at one point. We made it to where our plane was sitting on the runway in time, but when we went outside rain was pouring down and I hadn't put all my layers back yet, so I just had to get through the rain and onto the plane. We got on at the front of the plane and realized that our tickets put us in the second to last row, so we had to fight our way back there, scooting past people and sitting on others when people had to get by. We got to our seats and the plane took off a few minutes late. We ended up getting to Rome about half an hour early anyway, but that time was eaten up by our luggage taking forever to get off the plane. We had to catch a bus at 8:30 after that, and we walked all the way through the airport only to realize that we needed to print our tickets before hand. So we had to go all the way back to the help deck on the other side of the airport and put the ticket PDF on a flash drive for them to print it out there. By then it was 8:30 and we booked it back to try and get the next bus. Luckily the 8:30 was still boarding people so we made it onto that one and rode the hour to the termini station. There, we proceeded to get lost attempting to buy bus tickets and find the tram. We ,eventually, (after about forty five minutes) did find the tram, only have it break down after three stops. We had to get off and wait for the next one. After that happened we finally made it to our stop for where we were staying and walked up. Anna (the girl we were staying with) was ridiculously kind and let us in, gave us a key and a map of Rome, and told us about the bus system a little bit. She went to the store to get things while we settled in, but when she returned she came bearing bad news. The elderly man who lived two floors down (Anna is on the top floor because that's just how today was going) hadn't been heard from lately and the neighbors called the police to check on him. So they broke down the door and part of the wall and basically we got to Rome and someone literally died.

Feeling a little desperate at this point ,we decided just to go out and do a bit of sightseeing. So after setting all of our stuff down we headed out around 11:40 to see parts of Rome. Unfortunately, the Monday after Easter is a festival day/holiday in Rome, so the bus we needed wasn't running, and after waiting an hour we got on a different one only to have it break down one stop later. We had to get off and waited an hour for the next one until finally playing charades and the pointing game with another bus driver to ask about our bus. He then told us it wasn't running today and by then it had been two hours. So we went and got pizza for lunch (which was fortunately really good, but I mean it's Italy so) and resigned ourselves to a day of frustration and not sightseeing. However, when we returned to Anna's and told her what happened, she immediately offered to show us around on her day off. So, with Anna in the lead, we walked around and saw everything we wanted to see that day (including the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Castle De Angelo, the Pantheon, and Basilica de Santa Maria de Popolo) and then some. By the end we were completely exhausted and just ready to be back in Oxford.

Day two went much more smoothly. The plan was to go to the Vatican in the morning and then walk down to Monte Aventino afterwards. We got up a little later than intended to have just a bit of extra sleeping time and grabbed the tram and bus we needed to get there. On the bus we were shoved around by the Italian desperate housewives but we made it to Vatican City unscathed. We ended up going in with a tour group to see the museums and Sistine chapel. My camera struggled through that day with a worryingly low battery but made it through to the end, which I am eternally grateful for. The Vatican museums were incredible, full of ancient tapestries and statues of both Greek and Roman ancestry. It was especially cool to see a statue depicting a scene from the Iliad, which I had to read for class last semester. The Sistine Chapel absolutely blew me away, though, and with my love of decorative ceilings I was basically in heaven. No pictures were allowed in there unfortunately, but it is beyond incredible to see the images in real life as opposed to in history books or online.

After that we headed into St. Peter’s Basilica, where the Apostle Peter was buried after being crucified upside down (ghastly, I know). Going through the museum and basilica was like going through my Core History and New Testament classes again, and it was really cool to see all the connections to things I’d learned about. We finished up at he basilica and headed out to find a Swiss Guard, who wear these fabulous striped uniforms, because they were the ones giving out the tickets to go see the Pope on Wednesday. We got those and wandered down out of St. Peter’s Square and had lunch. After a bit of shopping we walked basically across the city (it’s all much smaller and closer together than you think it is) and saw Monte Aventino (where Emperor Nero, you know, the crazy emperor who dancing on the buildings while Rome burned, had some connections) and Circus Maximus, where the Romans used to race their chariots. We headed back to Anna’s after that, opting for an early night since we’d have to get up early to see Pope Francis the next day.

We ran into some trouble getting to the Vatican the next morning, which was entirely the fault of the unreliable Roman public transportation system, but made it just in time to grab a great spot and watch Pope Frances go by on the Pope mobile. The service was interesting; the Pope spoke Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and all the other languages were translated by other priests. Pope Francis extended blessings to everyone present and their families at home, as well as blessing any religious items we brought. My roommate got three sets of rosary beads blessed, and then we all butchered our way through the Lord’s Prayer in Latin.

After leaving the Vatican we had a scare where my roommate couldn’t find her credit card and we had to go track it down in the store we’d stopped at the previous day. After that, feeling like our time in Rome really couldn’t get much worse, we took a tram to the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. The Colosseum was smaller than I imagined, but still really cool. The arch was nice too, and after that we wandered back over to Monte Aventino, where the keyhole of Rome is (I couldn’t get a good picture with my camera, so Google it because it’s really cool). We tried to find a protestant cemetery that we’d looked up before coming, but the streets of Rome were confusing and we accidentally ended up at a basilica dedicated to Saint Anselm, which was cool because we’d read some of his work in school. We headed back to Anna's in an attempt to go to bed early since we had to be up and catching a bus at 3 am the next morning. We still had to print our airplane tickets and were hoping to catch Anna when she got home so we could say thank you, good bye, and ask about a printer. By 11 o’clock, however, Anna still wasn’t back and we were exhausted, so leaving a note we packed up our bags and went to bed.

2 am, dark and disgustingly early, we were up gathering our belongings and found a note back from Anna explaining some bus information and thanking us. She woke up while we were getting ready and we said our good byes before heading out at 3:18 am to try and find the right bus station and catch the 3:47 night bus to the train station. Almost an hour later and the so called ‘easy to find’ night bus stop is nowhere to be found and we needed to be at the train station to buy bus tickets to the airport at 4:10. Two people have already offered directions and we were still unable to find it. Finally just contemplating walking/jogging to the station, a taxi pulls up and asks if we need a lift. We gratefully accepted and got to the train station in time to buy our bus tickets. The bus then proceeds to leave almost fifteen minutes late, and we were already cutting it close as it was, and it meant getting to the airport only an hour and a half before our flight left. That would have been slightly less stress inducing if we’d already gotten our tickets, but we needed to check in at the airport and then go through security and customs.

Luckily, when the bus finally left it drove quickly and we made it to the airport at 5:30. Check in went smoothly, and the only other less than satisfactory thing that happened after that was at customs, when the guard took one look at my passport photo, frowned, said to my face, “bad picture,” and then handed it back. At that point I was a combination of looking for a fight to let some tension loose and just laying on the floor in a complete and utter sense of 'done with the world'. So I took it and just walked away (though I did buy a 1 euro chocolate bar in the airport to compensate).

The plane from Rome to London should have only taken about two hours, but due to some unexpected fog and some air strikes in France, we ended up circling the airport in London for an hour, finally touching down in time to sit on the runway for another thirty minutes. By the time we got off the plane and onto the bus to Oxford we were both 1200% done with everything. We got to Oxford without any further complications, and I have never been so relieved to be back in a place with terrible beds and not-so-functional heaters.

But we couldn’t quite relax yet, as well were meeting a professor from our home college for dinner that night and then needed to pack up our bags to be taken in for storage at the study abroad office the next day. Dinner was a lovely affair though, and the Lebanese food was delicious. Getting our things stowed away went well too, and afterwards we even went and saw Cinderella in the city cinema. The following day a friend from our home college who had been attending Cambridge came to visit, and we showed her and her friend around Oxford. It was great to catch up with her and see both some new and old things in the city I now consider an important part of me.

The following morning we had the flat cleaned up and emptied out and headed for the train station to catch a few days in London. Fingers crossed that this round goes more smoothly than Rome. But at this point really anything might be better than Rome was, so with an increased confidence in my ability to conquer things and the relief that London is easier to navigate public transportation-wise, I look forward to the days ahead.

So until time, good night London and good morning California,

Sam

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps Fountain

Spanish Steps

Square De Popolo

Basilica de Marie De Popolo

Popolo

The Twin Basilicas

The Roman Court of Justice

Castle Sant Angelo

The only square in Rome that doesn't have a church

The home to over three hundred stray cats

St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican Museums

Vatican Museums (this is the statue that depicts part of the Iliad)

Vatican Museums

Outside Sistine Chapel (called such because it was given to the Pope by his sisters)

St. Peter's Basilica

Castle Sant Angelo

We just kind of stumbled upon cool buildings and parks and such

Circus Maximus--where the Romans used to race their chariots

View of Rome from Monte Aventino

Pope Frances

Vatican

Paletino ruins

Palentino ruins

Julius Caesar

Palentino ruins

Colosseum

Arch of Constantine (he was considered the first Christian Roman emperor because he stopped the persecution of the Christians that Emperor Nero had started)

Circus Maximus

Anselm's Basilica

Under Stars and Over Seas

Monday, April 13, 2015

And So The Romans Fell

No comments:

Post a Comment