Posted by Izzy Lewis on Thursday, June 1, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

For our free weekend, I went to Rome with Cynthia, Rita, and Katie. The first thing I noticed about Rome was how modern it is compared to Sicily. However, even with the shinier buildings and cars, historical monuments were everywhere. A common sight in Rome is a glass and concrete building right in front of, or near, a blocked off area of ruins. Like its structures, the people in Rome are very diverse in attitudes. Elderly man line the streets, watching the pedestrians, while young people laugh loudly with their friends. There are obvious differences between Rome and Cefalù, especially because one is a large metropolitan city while another is a smaller town. While both are touristy, Rome has the most English-speaking tourists, at least in my experience.

Going to see famous sites like the Colosseum and the Sistine Chapel was amazing. I found it so humbling to be standing in or under such famous pieces of history. Sometimes, the city felt really small because there was so much in one place, almost like Cefalù. Other times it felt impossibly big, especially when we tried to navigate the complicated bus system.

By the end of our weekend, I felt like I had learned a great deal about Italian culture. There were subtle differences in the way people acted, like how Roman people were more fast-paced and time oriented than the people in Cefalù, who were more laid-back. Both Rome and Cefalù had similarities, such as language and architecture, while also having subtle differences in those very two things. However, even though Rome and Cefalù are both Italian cities, by the end of the weekend I was excited to return to Cefalù, to the smaller size and warmer setting.

 

Navigating the Rome city map:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ZWYelPSIkLbjYycGpFZzJ1Y2c/view?usp=sharing

 

The Colosseum:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ZWYelPSIkLNjlYN2xPaXpXMW8/view?usp=sharing