By Tara Martinelli
Where in the world is Tara? Four words: “Sing to me, Paolo!” Roma didn’t know what was coming with a plane full of 90 Fordham students headed its way. One of the major perks of being a Gabelli student studying in London is getting to travel with all of your classmates to Rome for four days. Just as Rome didn’t know what to expect, neither did we. But let me tell you, it was awesome.
The trip started with buses picking us up from our respective flats at 4 a.m. on Thursday morning. I made sure to wake up with plenty of time to get all of my stuff together (disclaimer: I am the worst when it comes to packing. I pack the same amount for a three-day trip as I do for a three-week trip. Don’t try to change me.) Anyway, I was getting a little testy when 4 a.m. rolled around and the bus was nowhere to be seen. We had been preached to for months about how important it was for us to be punctual for this trip and now the buses were late? Unbelievable, right? Yes, it was. It turns out, the bus wasn’t running late but rather, I was making the bus late! I couldn’t see it from my flat, but a bus full of people was waiting on me. Come on, Tara.
After a two-hour flight next to Father Salmi, our fearless Jesuit leader, I touched down in Rome at around 10 a.m. Keep in mind, we were a group of 90 college students running on little to no sleep. So, naturally, the first place we all wanted to go upon arriving in Rome was the Colosseum. Yeah…okay. To be honest, the Colosseum was very cool to see even though I was exhausted and sweaty throughout the whole tour. What was interesting to see was a group of men doing construction on the Colosseum. It made me think of how people built this amazing, complex structure without the modern day tools and equipment. I wanted to dare them to do their work with nothing but a plank of wood and some elbow grease! Several of my friends and peers encouraged me not to, probably for good reason.
After being at the Colosseum for about three hours and then taking what was probably the hottest bus ride of my life, we finally arrived at our hotel. I definitely had sweat out all of the water I drank, but I still had all of my enthusiasm! People had plans to nap at this point, but when your entire class is all traveling together, there just isn’t time to sleep. The nightlife in Rome was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. Once 11 p.m. hit, it honestly felt like we could have been back in the Bronx at one of our bars. We all headed to the same places every night which made for so many good times and a whole lot of Fordham pride. We like to rep the Bronx wherever we go.
The following days of Rome were filled with more pizza, gelato and a ton of history. I have never been to a more historic city. Visiting the Pantheon, the Vatican, the Spanish steps and so many more places put me in awe of the way people lived and built an empire thousands of years ago on the very streets that I was walking on. One of my favorite things to see was the runway where the Romans would have had chariot races. Again, I was down to recreate it and again, I was shut down.
There was one night of the trip when all of us students had to attend a mandatory dinner at a restaurant that was pretty far away from our hotel. The entire taxi ride there, I kept wondering how one restaurant was going to fit all of these Rams. Every restaurant I had seen in Italy thus far had been the size of my grandmother’s kitchen. So when I arrived at the venue, I was shocked to see that Fordham had taken up every possible seat.
Of course, I made it to Trevi Fountain, which is so incredibly huge and breathtaking. Fun fact: over 3000 euros are tossed into Trevi Fountain every day. Don’t worry, when I made my wish, I only tossed 10 cents over my left shoulder. They say that if you throw a coin in the fountain, that you will make it back to Rome one day! I didn’t know this until after I made my wish…so does that wish get thrown out or does it still count? To be honest, I don’t totally remember what my wish was, so maybe it already came true! After an entire weekend with all of my favorite people, in my homeland of Italia, I don’t see what else I possibly could have to wish for.
