From the minute I woke up on Friday morning, I knew that this trip was going to be unforgettable. In a good way or a bad way though, it was too soon to determine. If there’s one thing I learned this weekend (it was much more than that, no worries) it’s that the rule about getting to an airport 2 hours before an international flight is a bunch of boloney. The only time that’s truly necessary is if you’re at a big international airport like DFW or Madrid Barajas for example, not XNA, VLC, or Rome’s Ciampino, where getting through security only takes about five minutes. Now by no means is this my attempt at giving travel advice, I just felt the need to share this with you because with the way I tend to make decisions/live, every second counts.
Allow me to further explain:
When in a large European city, one does not spend their weekend nights at home. Regardless of whether you have a flight to catch the next morning (just me? Ok, sorry). Let’s just say I thought getting home at 3 AM when I had to be up at 7 to catch my flight would work out fine. For the most part it did, but I did have a scare when I woke up 30 mins later than I should have.
Now before leaving for Madrid a few weeks ago, I had never flown alone before. That was one of the things that I was the most nervous about prior to arriving. If I had survived 12 hours of traveling to get to Spain, surely I wouldn’t have an issue getting into a country only a short 2 hour flight away, right? Well, sort of. A new challenge presented itself to me here: I could navigate an airport and fly alone just fine, but what I was missing this time was a way to get to and from both airports…. So 2 busses, a questionable airplane, and 2 subway rides later (6 hour travel time in total, LOL), I managed to get myself to our home for the weekend: Alessandro Palace Hostel and Bar.
The Alessandro Palace was my first hostel experience and lets just say… It was about what I expected from a hostel. Lots of young travelers, a shower that switched back and forth between scalding hot and ice cold water, a toilet that only flushed when it wanted to, and good ol’ bunk beds. For a place to sleep and shower, it was just what we needed.
Now my plans for Rome were to travel alone and meet my Phi Mu sister, Sophia, who has been studying about an hour outside of Venice, there. Sophia and her friend Rachel had managed to get to Rome the night before, so they decided to spend Friday in Pompeii. That meant that I was pretty much on my own on Friday. Now when one only has such a short time in such a famous city, you do not waste a second. So I arrived to the hostel, dropped off my bags, ran a brush through my hair, and off I went. I had no plan in mind but to wander, but less than 5 minutes into my walk I ran into one of those super cheesy tourist double-decker busses that will drive you to all the major sights in the city and I quickly decided this was just what I needed to make the most of my afternoon. So I hopped on and in 2 hours had seen all of the major landmarks- several cathedrals, the outside of the colosseum, the Vatican city, the Roman forum, and so on. I was starting to fall asleep towards the end of the tour, so I decided it was time for a siesta and went back t the hostel for a quick break.
About an hour later, the rest of our Rome group, excluding Sophia and Rachel, arrived and we took off for dinner and the Trevi Fountain.
First stop: The Colosseum. Constructed in 70 AD for the purpose of “gladiatorial contests and public spectacles”, this is the largest amphitheater ever built and the iconic symbol of Rome. If there was one thing we had to see while we were here, it was this. We spent about an hour inside trying to explore it from all angles, and another significant amount of time trying to find the perfect photo spot.
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| Was this actually a candid?? the world may never know |
Next up: Roman Forum. These ruins were previously a gathering place
for public affairs, like markets, government elections, public speeches,
etc. We spent another hour here trying to find the perfect photo spot
but the ruins were actually pretty neat.
Next (and most exciting!!!) stop: The Vatican City. I’ve never once
had anything but appreciation for my Catholic school upbringing, and
that made this trip that much more special. We opted to do a guided tour
of the Vatican which helped us decide that guided tours are never a
good idea. What’s better is to wander at your own pace (we were ready to
die during this one about 15 mins in) and if you’re curious about
something, either hop into another group (if you’re gonna follow them,
make sure its a big one) or like Sophia likes to do, just ask someone
what they know.In her words “its more concise and interesting” than trying to look up information or reading excerpts. Same goes for maps or anything you’re curious about.(Sophia and Rachel quickly became my favorite people to travel with, they constantly had me nearly in tears from laughing and always managed to make friends wherever we went, turns out most strangers don’t actually bite!!) Well we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, the site of the Papal Conclave and where the famous creation of man painting Michaelangelo rests. I was super excited that I snagged a picture this iconic work, and getting yelled at was 100% being able to have my own image of the inside to remember.
By this time it was 4 PM and we had really only seen half of the Vatican. We took a quick break and made our way to St. Peter’s Basilica. Another thing about the Catholic church I love: there are no dull sacred spaces. I was blown away once again by this site for many different reasons: the intricate architecture, the opportunity for confession in every language, the masses of people gathered to appreciate the Catholic church was especially neat, and of course all the shrines, statues, artwork, and the significance of the basilica itself. My favorite part was the list of all of the deceased popes, probably because I was actually able to identify what it was without any help :))))
We went through the basilica fairly quickly. The entire time we were
at the Vatican, we were super eager to get to the plaza in hopes of
getting a glimpse of the Pope. Curious ol Sophia decided to ask a few
volunteer security guards if he was going to make an appearance any time
soon. These fantastic gentlemen informed us that he wouldn’t be doing
so that night but was in fact giving a mass and canonizing two saints in
the morning and proceeded to HAND US TICKETS TO ATTEND. Literally. A
Catholic dream come true. I could not even contain my excitement. More
about this in a moment. We quickly concluded that this was the
opportunity of a lifetime and if we had to get up at an ungodly hour (we
did) and give up our last hours in Rome (we did), it would be well
worth it. That also meant that we had to see everything else that night.
And so we did.One thing that we heard at least 10 times that day was that we had to visit the Pantheon, so that was our next destination. I really had no idea what it was but I knew it was important. If you didn’t know, the Pantheon was a temple/church that is characterized by its open dome. It was the first building constructed in this manner, and the dome is open at the top because the Romans had no way of closing it at the time, so there are holes in the ground inside for the rainwater to drain. Inside we (Sophia and Rachel) met a lady from New Mexico who shared with us her knowledge of the site and recommended us a place to eat in the Jewish Ghetto. Yes, you read that right. We had an authentic Italian Kosher meal and it allowed us to cross off another site visited in Rome. The girls had missed the Trevi fountain the night before so that was our final destination where we tossed coins in, ate gelato, took more photos and finally decided to call it a night.
Once we got through we ran (I mean RAN) following the example of a group of nuns from the Order of Saint Bridget convent in Sweden who were in attendance because one of the nuns from their convent was being canonized that day. How. Cool. Is. That. We ran, they ran, and all of us got an excellent seat for mass and for a view of our dear friend Pope Francis. We sat next to a Carmelite from New Jersey named Gloria who talked us through exactly what was happening that day and explained to us the Jubilee of Mercy and many other significant parts of the city.
I have a totally new appreciation for my Catholic faith and upbringing, and if I needed any more indication that dreams do come true, this was it. Also got to hear Latin for the first time, way more exciting that I thought it would be and yet another reason to appreciate the structure/tradition of the Catholic church.
However my 12 year old Catholic schoolgirl self would not allow me to miss such an opportunity and I decided that the least I could do was stay until a got a glimpse of the Holiest man on earth. And I did. Which then resulted me sprinting (the best I could in my not-so-sensible gladiator sandals) back to the hostel to get my suitcase and then to find a cab to get to the airport. The entire time I was on edge about getting through security and such and catching the plane because trying to get another flight to Valencia/ spending another night in Rome would’ve been a huge nightmare but again, THANK YOU LORD JESUS, everything turned out just fine.
So I’m back in Valencia, sacrificing my siesta for the sake of this lengthy post, and reflecting on the fact that this weekend still does not feel real. But it happened. So thank you Sophia and Rachel, thank you volunteer security guards, thank you Gloria, thank you Jesus, and thank YOU dear friends and family for your ongoing love and support and reading the longest post ever. I promise to keep everything else much more concise.
Next weekend: Barcelona!!! Stay tuned fam!!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo,
Kassandra
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Read more from Kassandra at https://salazarinspain.wordpress.com/
Take a look at http://studiesabroad.com/programs/country/spain/city/valencia/duration/17 for more information about the ISA Valencia, Spain: Hispanic Studies Honors Program.
