If you know me, you’ll know that I have absolutely no sense of direction. Last year I tried to drive my friends to New York City from Allentown, PA and ended up in Philadelphia. I didn’t realize that I had been driving in the complete wrong direction for two hours until we were practically in the heart of the city. So I was a little nervous about traveling from Gaithersburg, MD to Rome, Italy.
Luckily I met the right people along the way. A very kind German woman helped me through security to my gate, and an absolutely amazing couple on both of the same flights as me helped me through Frankfurt airport. For all that talk of German efficiency, the Frankfurt airport was not very organized. We had one hour to get on our next flight from Frankfurt to Rome, and only two very slow security lanes were open out of eight. We waited in line for forty-five minutes and ran like crazy to our gate. Apparently it was a German national holiday, so they have an excuse, but it was not the most calming experience.
I arrived in Rome and white knuckled it through the drive to the hotel, during which the driver nearly hit multiple cars and pedestrians and drove with the car so perfectly between two lanes (literally straddling the dotted line) that it seemed intentional.
This is when the fun began. I met the four other girls from Muhlenberg and we all went on a guided tour of the Roman city center. It blew my tiny sleep deprived mind. First of all, our tour guide was gorgeous, and everyone in Rome seems to be constantly dressed to the nines. We were in a breathtakingly beautiful city full of breathtakingly beautiful people looking at breathtakingly beautiful sites. The Pantheon was probably my favorite thing that we saw- It really seems to come out of nowhere! You’re walking down a normal street, you turn a corner, and all of a sudden there’s this absolutely huge temple with humongous columns. The inside was my first experience with the grandeur and overwhelming beauty of Italian architecture. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was intricate and gilded. It’s sensory overload in the best way.
Life kind of came full circle when we got to the Trevi Fountain. When I was in preschool, my friends and I were obsessed with the Lizzie McGuire movie, so much so that my mom threw us a Lizzie McGuire themed party where we made Styrofoam microphones and sang along to the movie. Seeing the hallowed ground upon which teen idol Hillary Duff starred in her cinematic masterpiece truly is What Dreams Are Made Of. Also, not to brag, but I’m the only one who successfully threw a coin over my shoulder into the fountain.
By this point in the day I hadn’t really eaten anything or slept, so my first meal in Italy was a humongous cup of Gelato because the gelateria wouldn’t accept payment with a debit card for anything less than €4 and I didn’t have the energy to venture out for good food. But hey, I have no complaints about ending an amazing first day in Rome with Slightly Too Much Gelato.
Arrivederci, Y'all 