Rome via Brooklyn

Word count: 1,340

Time to read: 5-6 minutes

Today was somehow the worst and best day ever. It started off with an early walk with my roommates; I’ve been enjoying walking — and actually preferring to public transport — since you can really see the city you’re in. You can also go at your own pace, and for someone like me, it also helps that I can stop whenever I want to snap a few pictures. I’d been over the bridge the day prior, but in Uber. Today, I got to actually cross it on foot, and happy I was! The part of the city our apartment is in is stunning. Seriously, it’s magical, and exactly what I imagined Italy would be like. Any feelings of disillusionment I had regarding Rome or Italy in general dissipated after today — at least in terms of its aesthetic appearance.

We made it in perfect time for our first lesson of the day. We made it to the Temple of Portunus and then to the Round Temple. The lesson was engaging and the history was incredibly rich. I was saddened to hear that there is no longer a cattle market just a few blocks down from where we were, though! I was also saddened to hear that our professor hadn’t seen the temples open in any of the times she’d been in Italy over the last 30 years. Our reading pointed out that the interior of the Temple of Portunus is “decorated in frescos,” a tidbit taught by our professor, too, and I wish I could have seen those in person.

Nonetheless, Fannie and Dakota delivered a fantastic presentation where they taught us about the Mouth of Truth. Afterward, Ramon and I debated whether to grab food or see the Mouth of Truth in person; we decided to look for food!

We received a rec for a great pizza spot from our professor. The instructions were clear, but his phone was dead and my phone’s GPS system was bugging out. Finally, once my CityMapper started working again, I was able to confirm we were on the right path. Just one thing, though! The place opened up at 12:30 PM and it wasn’t even 12 yet. We decided to just keep walking regardless. We accidentally stumbled across the museum we would wind up seeing on day 4. Not knowing what it was, we stopped and were intrigued for a second, before our hunger and the blasting sun reminded us we’d better get going.

Ramon and I walked around the town, talking about movies we should watch and giving each other show recs. In that conversation, I decided that I’d just cook the pasta we have at home. We were incredibly limited on what our pantry had, as we didn’t grab too much the day prior. We were especially sparse in the seasonings we had. Really, all we had was red pepper flakes; nope, we didn’t even have salt and pepper.

I didn’t want the food in the pantry to spoil, so I’m glad I decided to cook at home, but this pasta might have been the worst pasta I’ve ever had. It looks good, yes, but its taste is in complete juxtaposition to its appearance. At least, I was full, though, because the next stop was the museum of the day!

On the bus ride there, we accidentally met up with quite a few of our classmates. The museum today was excellent. In typical me fashion, I took photos of all the horse statues and depictions. They’re my favorite thing to see at museums!

On the walk back to our apartment, it started raining very mildly. At this point, I began to really appreciate our part of the city and how its entire landscape seemingly shifted so dramatically just by the change of sky.

The night prior, I couldn’t sleep, so I went on TikTok and searched up some fan-favorite restaurants and complied a list. We sort of threw a dart at the wall and decided on a place called Nannarella. Almost all of the restaurants on the list happen to be in this little area we’re in, so we’d walked past Nannarella earlier in the day. At this time, though, it was packed; so packed, in fact, I didn’t think the crowd was even a queue at first.

It was, so we just started walking a bit and came across a restaurant called Di Marzio 75. It was good, but it wasn’t great. Regardless, our other roommate, Timur, called us and said we should meet up for dessert after we finished eating. Just inside this little town, Fannie, Lucy, and Paola also joined us, but only briefly.

My roommate instead I try my hand at learning the Lime scooter again. Their insistence swayed me, and I figured I’d wanted to give it another shot anyway.

It was a major disaster. After just a minute or two, the oncoming traffic decided for me that I need to come to my senses and not take something so precarious on a 20 minute drive. I was determined to be a team player, though, and made the choice to run behind the guys as they took the Lime scooters. They were very kind about the whole thing, but I was positive I was okay with running behind them as I pulled up Google Maps. As I was running, I also realized I got a small cut from the Lime scooter. I don’t know how, but in that moment, I knew I made the right decision.

I ran, I walked, I jogged, and I kept up. In fact, I only really made it a few minutes after them to the gelato spot. The gelato was good, but maybe not normally worth being bathed in perspiration for. This is Rome, though, so circumstances aren’t normal to begin with!

We walked around town and stumbled across tons — one thing being the Trevi fountain. To be embarrassingly honest, I did not know what this was, but I knew it was stunning enough for us to stop and see it. Funnily enough, I learned the next day that Dua Lipa and her husband were at this same fountain the night we were! It’s become a bit of an inside joke, because before learning its actual name and importance, I was referring to it as the “Dua Lipa fountain.”

After this, we just walked, with no rhyme or reason. Walking is a bit of a common theme on this trip, but it’s met with different emotions each time I do it. Isn’t it amazing that we can do the same things every day and remember it different each time? I was really down and out at this point. I’d been functioning off a few hours of sleep, and from beginning to end, the day started at 7 AM and ended at 2 AM, technically the next day.

I was in my head for some of the walk back, where 20 minutes became 40, and 40 became an hour and a half walk… trailing just a bit off from the group. I’m glad I’m writing this blog now and not directly afterward, because I worry the actuality of how the day went would have been misconstrued. This day was actually incredibly, and I have some amazing people around me. In the last 2 hours, the circumstances regarding being away from home and my usual avoidance tendencies made me think I wasn’t having fun; like I wasn’t enough; like my personhood was challenged. I’m glad I can look back fondly.

This day was eclectic — even hectic at times — and really, if I didn’t have the photo timestamps to prove it, I’d believe all of this happened across 2-3 separate days. I’m embracing the changes of plans and the openness to just do whatever. Life isn’t always going to be sweet in the moment, but I’m relishing in this rarity (or so it seems) when something bitter in the moment actually becomes pleasant the more you think on it.

I’m just happy to be here!