Ever since I was a freshman in high school, it has been a goal of my mine to make it to Italy one day. Just two years ago, it seemed like a distant dream, a goal I could perhaps never reach. But here I am now, sitting in a hotel room in Rome, stomach full from the mouth-watering authentic Italian gelato I had just eaten minutes before, and I couldn’t be more satisfied.    My favorite part of Rome, no doubt, was the Colliseum and the Roman Forum. I’m finding it hard to put my feelings into words here because, in that moment, my thoughts were only vague—I was more focused on the emotions seeing all of that made me feel, how unreal it was to see all of that real history right before my very eyes. There was almost too much knowledge for me to soak in it was that rich in history.   It’s just crazy to think about how the Roman ruins are actual ruins—they’re not fake, they’re not some commercialized product for people to make money off of, they’re actual pieces of world history that helped shape the world we live in now. When you really think about it, all world history is intertwined—Greek history has an influence on Roman history, and Roman history has an influence on British history, and so on, and all of that history gives the human race life, gives it purpose even. To me, all history is relevant—no history can exist purely on its own. What matters most is the influences and how artists and creators execute such influences.   So, in short, this three-day visit to Rome has been three of the best days of my life because I am able to see history, I am able to see historical influences on the Roman culture, all which, in turn, influence the modern day culture.