Overdue Post from Jan 15th, 2010

I woke up for orientation and took the bus for the first time. It was interesting to see Rome from the windows of the public transport. We got to see everyday workers and commuters and I just noticed that everyone was quite reserved and when they spoke, they were all very soft spoken. Also, when we spoke, I noticed that everyone stared at us because we talked quite loud relative to their standards. After orientation, I got lost in the middle of Roma and ended up in front of the Pantheon. I was quite taken aback because it was so unexpected. From the outside, the columns were just enormous, however, it didn’t seem as big as I had imagined. However, as I walked into the church, I was awestruck. It was even bigger than it seemed from the outside. The dome above was so big that as I looked up, overwhelmed my whole vision. It was about dusk and the giant hole in the middle of the dome illuminated a soft tranquil blue and was contrasting the stone colored coffers surrounding it. I completely lost track of time walking around the Pantheon. Then as my roommate and I walked out, we noticed a sign pointing towards the Trevi Fountain, so we followed it and there it was, about 50 times as big as the imitated one in Vegas. I just sat there for a while and enjoyed the scene. Then we walked towards the Spanish Steps and walked up to the top. It overlooked the skyline and noticed that we were pretty high up. Then we just followed a road where some locals were going headed towards Piazza Dell’Popolo. The view we saw it from was amazing. Then we chose a random street to get lost in and found a few art studios and walked into one and just enjoyed the local art. Then my roommate conversed with one of the artists and asked him what his favorite restaurant was and he showed us on a map. We found the place which was just down the street. The pasta was all handmade and tasted amazing. After eating, we wanted to walk home, but didn’t realize how tired we were so we took a cab back. I was sill fighting jetlag so I tried to stay up a little longer after changing into my pajamas to write this blog but instead, I immediately KOed. Great first two days.