When in Rome — Part One
PNW Goes Abroad
We gathered at O’Hare on Thursday evening: two professors, two grad students, and 15 undergrads, all headed to Rome for a spring break study abroad trip.
The first leg of our journey was an overnight flight from Chicago to Copenhagen. After a five hour layover in Copenhagen, we boarded another plane to make the shorter, remaining portion of the trip to Rome.
We got to our hotel late Friday evening and went out for pizza before returning to our rooms to collapse.
The hotel where we’re staying is a converted former monastery, complete with a chapel and a center courtyard full of orange trees.
It’s a maze packed with super cool nooks and crannies and doors that go nowhere. I opened a curtain in the corner of my room on the top floor to find that behind the curtain was a door that led to nowhere. I can step through it and stand basically inside the roof, although the ledge is high enough that you can’t see over it to take in the view of the city.
On our first full day in Rome, we started the morning with a walk through Trastevere and stopped to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria.
From there, we headed up — and I do mean UP — to La Terrazza del Giancolo, where there is a beautiful view of the city.
If you survive the climb, this is what you get to see:
Later that afternoon, we walked over to the Pantheon, where the painter Raphael is entombed.
After all of that walking, we were due for some sustenance, so we headed over to an amazing gelataria, Giolitti. They have a HUGE array of flavors of gelato, including some unusual ones, like champagne.
Post-gelato, we all took a few hours to venture out on our own, and then reconvened for a late dinner of pasta and pizza.
Our travel day and first full day in Rome were a rousing success. Stay tuned!
