Ciaowdy! Welcome to our first blog post of our Italy trip! This is Barrett Brown, Gabi Ganser, and Abram Allen writing the first of many blog posts to come!
We began our journey with a LOT of traveling. For some of us, our morning began at 4:30 AM so we could catch a bus in College Station to Austin. For others, it began at a later 7:00, with our moms yelling at us because we forgot to set an alarm. Regardless, 28 of us made it to Austin on time for our first of two long flights. At JFK in New York, we met up with two other Pesci from Chicago and Indianapolis. Our lively two hour layover consisted of a very long deli line, an argument about purple Delta uniforms, and some Italian counting! Then, on our overnight flight to Rome, we were surprised with some very passive-aggressive flight attendant arguments, reverse-pickpocketing with starbursts (Abram), and perhaps the worst junk sleep the three of us have ever had.
Shortly after our arrival in Rome (and a surprisingly very quick stroll through customs), we were granted our first taste of freedom, in awe of our Italian surroundings. Greeted by an enthusiastic waiter, we entered our first Italian restaurant. Little did we know, this quick lunch break would go nothing like what we had expected. A “crazy” Brazilian waitress attended to us (she herself described herself as “crazy”), and she instantly was blown away by Abram. We very much thought she would even pay for his meal, but tragically, we had to cut our visit short due to a quickly approaching meet up time.
Once we met up by one of the many, many structures that have been in Rome for thousands of years, we made our approach to the Flavian Amphitheater (not the Colosseum, as it turns out it only has that name because of a mistake one guy made hundreds of years ago). The structure towered before us, measuring at the height of Kyle Field, and made entirely of interlocked concrete barrel vaults. The Colosseum is a marvel of engineering, capable of withstanding earthquakes and floods without a scratch. The only thing capable of taking it down was the ground falling from beneath it in a massive flood, which is why much of it had to be reconstructed. This structure had stood here for thousands of years, seen by millions of eyes, and now our little A&M squad was added to those millions.
But Rome was much too powerful to ever settle for resigning themselves to only the construction of one amphitheater to display their power. The heart of Rome, the Roman Forum, houses countless relics from the glory days of the empire. We gazed upon the space that the fire of Rome once burned bright, the Senate building where the entire multigenerational empire was run, and many other temples, palaces, and overall, excessively exorbitant expenditures that showcased the might that the empire once had.
After an extremely long day and not enough sleep on the plane, our day in Rome came to an end, and we boarded our bus to head to Assisi. Full of napping and marveling at the passing landscapes, our bus ride was over before we knew it. Eager to see our rooms, we rushed off the bus. I (Gabi) quickly realized that this was a mistake, as I ended up leaving my phone on the bus! Yay! A valuable lesson was learned this evening, but fear not, for my phone and I have been happily reunited.
Stay tuned for more updates from your Italian fish! Buonanotte!
