We’re 2 weeks into our JSB experience of Spring 2017, and the palace is really starting to feel like home! The week was full of day trips to Rome and learning about all the important sights and history. It was an exciting and tiring one, but I feel like I’ve learned months’ worth of history classes in a week. My personal favorite was our trip to St. Peter’s Basilica. Who knew touring one church could take 2 hours!
The amount of detail they put into the tiniest bits and pieces of everything is insane. We complain about having 2 weeks to do a project! It really makes one think. The amount of spirituality in all the different components was enlightening because I could understand a lot of the religious Italian roots. For example, the way a statue’s hand might be placed tells a whole different story if three fingers are showing instead of two. It’s nuts. And of course, the hike to the dome was unbelievable. The 551 steps are so worth it to get even a glimpse of that view.
Everyone chose to go to Rome this weekend to finish our scavenger hunts and have a real taste of the city. The weekend was full of sightseeing, beautiful sunsets, Roman nightlife, and delicious meals. We definitely made the best of it. Although we all weren’t staying together, we somehow managed to reunite each day. Whether it was at dinner in Trestevere, shopping at Zara, or dancing at Shari Vari, the groups got to share some portion of the trip together. The weekend came at the perfect time because we were all ready to put everything we’ve learned about the history and lifestyle of Rome to a test. Eating around the city was a nice breath of fresh air because we had a lot of variety. We could just walk around to any restaurant around our AirBnb and have something new to try.
My favorite part about the trip was hiking around the city and ending at the Aventine Keyhole. We were pretty exhausted from exploring for 8 hours (and going to bed late the night before definitely didn’t help), but that didn’t take away from any of the enjoyment. We hit it at the absolute perfect time, because the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful, making it one of the coolest (unplanned) thing I’ve ever seen. We all concluded that we were in love with Rome.
The week and weekend were everything we wanted it to be; a complete success.
-Arianna Stevens

Le ragazze de Roma in front of Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi