Roma has been absolutely amazing so far; every day has felt weeks long, but in the best kind of way.  I find myself returning to our hotel exhausted yet continually thrilled and wanting to turn right back around.  The people, the culture, the food, the architecture, the sights– I could keep going on and possibly never stop.  Walking to get gelato and casually being told that the nondescript wall to my left is from the original wall around Roma, stepping out of the dark of the metro station to see the Colosseum rising before me, up the hill to the Roman Forum to be able to look down at the ruins, forever craning my neck around and around to see the Sistine Chapel in all its glory, squinting through the sudden darkness of St. Peter’s Basilica and having my breath taken away, the first hot sip of a (very necessary) cappuccino, wandering through the streets and suddenly coming upon the Trevi Fountain– Roma just gives and gives.  There has not been a single thing that I have not been able to fully enjoy; even getting lost or any other missteps can be forgiven because they have proven to be worth it in the end.  I could spend the next two weeks here and not be fully satisfied that I’ve experienced enough.  My favorite part (beyond being able to sit for a moment in St. Peter’s Basilica) would probably have been when a group of us were heading for the Trevi Fountain: wandering through the streets with some sense of purpose but constantly stopping and pointing out other things that interested us (gelato shops, dogs, vespas, flowering vines growing up buildings, nasoni) then walking through one final line of people to see the Trevi Fountain underneath us.  The sound of the water flowing echoed through the Trevi square, undercutting the people laughing and calling to each other.  Everything just seemed so much brighter and up close the water was clear and crisp, punctuated only by the careful plunk of coins being thrown into the fountain.  It seemed like we just stumbled upon this treasure, like it did not actually belong to the square it presides within.  It was amazing.  And so (partially) in the (supposed) words of Julius Caesar to the Roman Senate: veni, vidi, amavi.  I came, I saw, I loved.