First Day in Rome

Our first day in Rome wasn't exactly how we planned it to be. First, we had to wake up early in order to not miss our train from Florence to Rome. We dragged our luggage from our hotel in Florence to the train station and rode on it for a little less then 2 hours till finally we got to Rome, where bad luck first struck us! We arrived and had no idea where we were going at first. We gave Michael and he led us the whole way to our hotel which was a little over 2 kilometers away. It was a long cold walk and wet leaves and puddles were all over the floor, so by the time we got to the hotel, our bags had mud on them and leaves stuck in the wheels! We stayed at the Holiday Inn and arrived in the early afternoon. We all got assigned our rooms and then headed upstairs to freshen up, while the teachers figured out what we were gonna do next. After about 10 minutes and after eating lunch, the teachers told us that we should just stay in our rooms and they would get us once the metro strike is over, that apparently has been going since the morning. the metro strike lasted all day till about 6 in the evening, when we finally decided to go to the Colosseum and the Ancient Roman Ruins at night. So we found our way to closest metro station and Mr. Mumford bought our tickets and distributed them to everyone. We put the tickets through the machines and went through the doors and down the stairs to wait for the next metro to come. The metros were PACKED at night and we all had to separate into smaller groups and remember what station to get off at. Thankfully, we didn't lose anyone and hurried on up out of the station to see the glorious Colosseum all light up at night. We all were starving, so we found a nice little place to eat at and then went to the Ancient Roman Ruins to look around and see the remains left of what Rome used to be. Then, we headed back to the metro station and passed by the Colosseum again and took pictures of it at night and then we headed back the hotel, having to go through the packed metro and in groups again. Once we got back to the hotel, we were free to go upstairs and sleep for the night, hoping tomorrow would be better and we wouldn't be stuck in the hotel for 6 hours again.

-Ruchi Rana