Have you ever stopped yourself in the middle of doing something, kinda like pinching yourself, to make sure what’s happening is real? Well that’s exactly what I did once I stepped onto the streets of Rome. Since the ages of elementary school, I can remember always being fascinated by travel. My great grandmother would travel to Europe every single year to return to her homeland, which is now the regions of Scandinavia. And every other year on her travel, she would make her way to Rome. While looking through the photos she took and playing with the souvenirs she brought home, is when I promised myself I would travel abroad whenever I was given the opportunity. So far, being able to see the Colosseum, Roman Forums, Vatican City, 16th Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain (just to name a few) has been completely fascinating and perspective changing. For me, there was just something different about being able to see such architecturally designed monuments in person rather in photographs or on the internet. It has been so difficult to pick just one favorite, but if I had to, I’d say the colosseum because of how impressed I was the entire time. Well, the raspberry basil gelato was quite impressive, too. Anyways, when we arrived at the colosseum we had to wait in line to enter, because only 3,000 people are allowed in at one time. Being in a crowd that large was quite overwhelming, which put the 70,000 people crowd who entered thousands of years ago into a large perspective. Not to mention those 70,000 people could exit in less than thirty minutes thanks to the open 80 arch design, unlike any arena or stadium we have in use today. Also, we only saw the existing 30% of the colosseum, which left me in awe, because what we saw so was ginormous and detailed that I couldn’t imagine what it would be like seeing the other 70%. I found the use of the colosseum for public entertainment to be shocking, because even the poor were allowed to enter. While on our tour, I learned that a gladiator did not always die in the dual. Ultimately, it was up to the Emperor if the losing gladiator was killed or not, which he would signal with a horizontal thumb (meaning cut his throat). And, the purpose of the short swords was so that the interactions between the gladiators would be closer, which meant more excitement and more entertainment. As sad as I am to leave Rome without seeing everything (which is impossible I know), I am so excited to experience the culture and history of the other Italian regions!