Day 11 – Rome & Genoa
We started the day off by going to the Spanish steps located in the city of Rome. Professor Rice explained the history behind them, and he went on to give us a quick tour of the major sites of the city, including the Trevi Fountain, and the Panthenon, the oldest Roman temple. It was impressive!
After that we had some free time to wonder around Rome. After eating at the famous sandwich shop, All’antico vinaio, we rode the city bus with the tickets Professor Rice gave us. This was a unique experience, since we felt like locals taking public transportation to the city. We finally reached the colosseum and wondered around the area. We did took a lot of pictures from different angles of the colosseum and even ate a restaurant that is just in front of it! Honestly, this day felt like a dream, since I’ve been watching TV shows and moves about this wonderful city for so long!
In the afternoon, we found the rest of the students around the area too and we decided to take the metro back to the hotel. From there, we took a 5-hour train ride back to Genova Brignole, which the train station we recurred to during the program.
Day 12- Milan
This was the last day we had a “day trip” from Genoa. We were all very tired from the day before, but at the same time excited for Milan! We dressed nice and went to the train station were I got a delicious focaccia to enjoy on the train ride over there.When we got there, we went on a quick tour of the city, including the Duomo di Milano, galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the Quadrilatero fashion area. After that, we went shopping to the shops closer to the duomo, which were the ones we could afford. After, we decided to go to an Asian restaurant, where they sold bowls, to take a break from pastas.
From there, we went to the Fernet Branca Distillery. I was very excited for this experience, since I am from Cordoba, Argentina, where the famous drink of “fernet with coca-cola” was invented. The tour and our tour guide were awesome, very interesting and it honestly taught me a lot I did it know about fernet. Additionally, it was also fun to see how excited Professor Dodge was, he was so happy during the tour, clearly he loves fernet!