Rome, in its impenetrable and unmoving beauty, has been an experience I will never forget. While there were so many sites and experiences tightly packed in a two day time period, and there were various moments of stress and uncomfortability, I would not change anything. I could talk for ages about the Colosseum or the Roman Forum and how surreal it was to see such ancient structures full of rich history, but I found that my most memorable moments in Rome the past two days came from the small moments of walking through the crowded streets with my friends, ordering gelato for the first time, eating a croissant and a latte in a small cafe, and riding in a taxi with my professors. (Okay, seeing the Sistine Chapel in person and the Pantheon, and all of the buildings, in truth, was something unable to be explained until one sees them personally, but I digress.)

The first night in Rome, my friends and I walked a little way from the hotel to a restaurant called Ristorante 3 Archi. We eventually found out that it was called this because, naturally, there were three arches inside the restaurant, but we sat outside. Our waiter, who we found out was named Memo, was very kind and offered us a discount on our food. We all ate pizza, and, despite being in a state of exhaustion and culture shock, all enjoyed ourselves in the cool night air.

On our last night in Rome, this Saturday, my friends and I decided to eat at Ristorante 3 Archi one last time to visit Memo because we had told him we would come back. He was so excited to see us and even gave us his business card at the end of the night. I have included the picture that we all took at the end of the night as we finally said goodbye to Memo and his delicious food that he was so proud to present to us each night. I was always told that Italians were proud people who valued their relationships with every person they happened to meet, but experiencing the kindness and hospitality from a stranger was so nice and made me feel so much more comfortable in the unfamiliar city. I will never forget the small moments during these days in Rome, as well as experiencing all of the iconic monuments that one simply must see in order to truly be submerged in Italian culture.

The drawing I am including in this post is from outside of the ancient Pantheon. Before we went inside, the class all sat and admired it from afar on the steps of a fountain across from the Pantheon. While standing there, I noticed a strange looking animal sculpted into the fountain. I soon found out from Dr. O’Connor that it was some form of dolphin hybrid that was very popular within the culture; he said we would be seeing them a lot, especially in Florence. While we waited I decided to snap a picture of the animal sculpture and added a doodle of it to my journal.