The first weekend in February, two friends and I made the trek to Rome. It had been cold in Florence prior to our departure but we were unprepared for what we were going to see when we arrived in Rome. We had checked the weather and there had been a chance of snow, but when we pulled into the ROME TERMINI train station, snowflakes the size of baseballs were falling. Growing up in the Philadelphia area, snow is something I am used to, but we were in a legitimate blizzard. Stupidly, my roommate and I only brought suede boots. Ipso facto we were treading around in six inches or more of snow and slush, losing feeling in our toes with every step because the snow soaked right through our shoes. We stayed with my friend from USC and had an adventure getting to his apartment. We had to take a bus and a tram to get to his place, which was not easy due to the continuous snow. We had to fight our way on the train and tram and stand uncomfortably close to people because everyone was trying to get out of the weather.

We finally reached my friend’s house after two hours of madness. He greeted us with a warm apartment (the boots went on his heaters), made us a wonderful dinner, and then we got ready to go out. Mind you, if I was in Columbia and it was anywhere below 50 degrees, I would not be going out at night. However, “When in Rome” was the saying of the weekend, so we decided we could fight the snow for one night. Rome nightlife is very cool, we spent the night dancing and meeting people from different places all over the world.

The next day was incredible, an absolute dream come true. We woke up and all of Rome was out to see the snow. This was the first time it had snowed in Rome in over 30 years. It was pretty amazing to get to see all the ruins covered in snow. The first place we went was to see the Wedding Cake, there was Italians building snowmen and having snowball fights all over the lawn. My friend said he had never seen that many people out, and normally people aren’t allowed on the lawn. Next, we found the COLOSSEUM. There are no words to describe how beautiful it was, especially in the snow. Writing about it right now, I still don’t believe that I was standing in front of it. We continued to the Forum and the Pantheon. Nothing was open because of the snow, which was fine because it was still beautiful and I am definitely going back. That night we went to a restaurant and we all had the waitress pick out her favorite dishes and we ordered them. I had AMAZING gnocchi with pesto. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We went to a cool local bar that night, it was filled with a mix of Italians and Americans. The atmosphere was so chill, but we didn’t stay that long because we wanted to wake up early and do more sight-seeing before we left. My friend and I ended up watching the movie Gladiator before we went to bed because I couldn’t stop thinking about the Colosseum.

Sunday we woke up and our first stop was the Vatican. It was massive and so beautiful. I cannot wait to go back and go to mass. The lines to go inside were very long and we would’ve waited but we wanted to see more of the city before we had to catch the train back. We really wanted to see the Spanish Steps but my friend said he hadn’t figured out where they were yet. It was almost too perfect how we came across them, we were walking down a random street when all of a sudden one of us caught a glimpse of them. While we were there, two men handed me roses (which usually they make you pay for) so I kept telling them I didn’t want them. Their response was, “it’s free, beautiful rose for a beautiful girl.” I thanked them and walked away, but then they came up to my guy friend saying that he needed to pay them. I tried returning the roses saying that I didn’t want them, but he ended up giving them some coins. After he paid them, they took his money AND TOOK THE ROSES RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND AND RAN AWAY. It was such a scam, but at the same time it was actually hilarious, neither one of us knew what to do but laugh. After the Spanish Steps, we went to my favorite place in Rome….Fontana di Trevi. We all threw coins in the fountain and then sat there in awe for about twenty minutes. Sadly, it came time to go back to the train station. The trip back to the train station went a lot smoother than the trip to the apartment, except at one point I asked my roommate if she was holding my hand.. and it turned out it was the man next to me.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend. I cannot wait to go back and see it with my Mom when she comes to visit in April. I can’t believe how blessed and lucky I am to be able to do these things.

Kelsie – University of South Carolina