Our adventure in Italy is well under way! We spent half of this past week in Rome. We started our trip in the beautiful Coliseum. The Coliseum was almost overwhelming. It’s something that I have always learned about but we just stared in awe and amazement. We then spent the day seeing the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and more.
The Trevi Fountain was my personal favorite in Rome. It is undeniably, absolutely beautiful. The fountain was more grand than I imagined and there were people everywhere with excitement pasted on their faces. The city of Rome comes with a long history; it’s amazing to be standing in the same place or on the same road as some of Rome’s greatest emperors.
Our next day, we got to see St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. St. Peter’s Basilica was the most beautiful church any of us have ever seen. One of our professors, Emilio del Gesso led us around both St. Peter’s Basilica and the Non-Catholic cemetery. The Non-Catholic, or Protestant, cemetery is where both the poets John Keats and Percy Shelley are buried.
We had a scavenger hunt project so we all stayed in Rome overnight to complete this project. We visited fifteen fountains, monuments, buildings, and other important objects that we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see with the program. This scavenger hunt gave us the opportunity to work together in our “teams” and learn how to successfully navigate in Rome.
Overall, the second week in Italy was wonderful and a great week to learn about everything that the wonderful city of Rome has to offer! I can’t believe that we are already this far along in our journey in Italia and I’m beyond words excited to see what else this summer brings us all.
Ciao from Italia,
Mary Elizabeth Woodward

Some students throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain!