Whirlwind in Rome (No. 1)

Well, it’s been a while. Too long, my mother would say (I would also say this).

I guess I do have an excuse – I’ve been so busy doing things that I haven’t had much time to write about them!

Please say you’ll let this one slide.

Anyway – I’ve got a lot to catch you up on. So let’s look back about two months…

My roommate/fellow OU student/BIFF (best Italian friend forever) Rachel is half Italian – her mom is Italian, and her parents met when her dad spent about eight years living in Italy. In addition to her two American siblings, she has a half brother, Christopher, who grew up here in Italy but now studies in Edinburgh, Scotland. In February, he made a trip to visit us and his family that lives nearby.

Christopher and a friend came and spent a weekend with me and Rachel in Bologna (we were still fairly new to the city – they took us out more than we did them. Whoops!), went to visit their families during the week, and then…

Met us in Rome the next weekend!

My first trip to Rome was a whirlwind – Rachel and I took a train on Friday afternoon to meet Christopher and another friend, Giulio, at the Tiburtina station. Giulio and his family have an extra room in their apartment, and were kind enough to put the three of us up for a few nights.

We did a bit of sightseeing on this trip, but our priority was spending time with Christopher, who hadn’t seen his Roman friends in a few years. We got to know them over the weekend, and had some fantastic tour guides for the local sights.

Our first night in Rome was a doozy. We went for an aperitivo and then out to a street with many, many bars. We met about a dozen friends of Christopher and Giulio, including an Italian journalist (who warned me about what I was getting myself into!), a scenographer for Italian film, and many, many computer programmers. After wandering the streets of Rome for hours and exploring all the nightlife there, we all piled into a car and headed into a more residential area.

I, maybe foolishly, thought we were calling it a night at 3 a.m.

How wrong I was. We pulled up at a discoteca.

We finally collapsed in our beds a little after 6 a.m. So, we got an understandably late start the next day. We may or may not have slept until it was once again getting dark outside.

But that made for some really great sightseeing – Rome at sunset is something else.

First up: the Colosseo.

What an amazing way to see something as, well, colossal as the Colosseum for the first time. It’s amazing to me that something this gargantuan is possible now – let alone 2,000 years ago!

Enrico, Christopher, Rachel, Giulio and I

After we marveled for an appropriate amount of time, we walked around Rome, hitting the major sights – the Spanish Steps in Piazza Spagna, Piazza Venezia with Mussolini’s palazzo, the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, and…

The Fontana di Trevi.

Giulio, our lovely host, had a bit of a surprise for us as we walked down Via del Corso. “Do you trust me?” he asked us, and we hesitantly responded yes. Let me tell you, I’m glad we did – he had us close our eyes and take his hands, and he led us blind to… something. We had no idea what. After a corner, he had us uncover our eyes, and there it was – right in front of us.

It’s a great sight to see, and what a way to see it! I’m so glad that was one of my first experiences in Rome.

So, night no. 2 progressed much as night no. 1 had – we made it in slightly earlier, but not by much. Christopher had to leave for a very early flight and only got about three hours of sleep. Luckily, Rachel and I got a few more hours before Giulio took us to the station.

It was a great weekend – seeing Rome through the eyes of a native was an experience I couldn’t have duplicated. I knew I’d have plenty of time to do the tourist traps later – and I’m so glad my introduction was such a whirlwind.

Getting to know Christopher was a great experience as well – he and Rachel didn’t grow up together, so being a part of their time together felt very special. There’s a definite family resemblance. He and all his friends were so welcoming and helpful, and Rachel and I have our eyes on a trip to Edinburgh sometime this summer… I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

The happy family

I’m going to keep chipping away at these stories. There’s a lot to tell, but hopefully I’ll have you all caught up soon!