3 Days in Rome Itinerary

Following is my itinerary used for 3 full days exploring Rome and Vatican City. This schedule visits all of Rome’s most popular spots in a convenient manner, including the Colosseum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain. For information on public transport in-between places, I strongly recommend using Google Maps to know which metro or bus to take.

Where to Visit on Day 1: 

  1. Colosseum
  2. Roman Forum
  3. Pantheon
  4. Trevi Fountain

Click here to view a map of day 1.

Notes:

  • Upon arrival into FCO Airport, purchase Roma Pass at PIT Fiumicino, International Arrivals Area (Terminal 3)
  • Use Roma Pass to skip lines and get into  Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palazzo Valentini, and a few other attractions as well as the subway and metro.
  • For Colosseum and Roman Forum, either join a guided tour, bring the Rick Steves guided audiotour,  or buy the official Colosseum audioguide (5.5 euros each). Bring your own earbuds.
  • Make sure you visit the Pantheon before they close at 7 pm.
  • Carry an empty water bottle around with you to fill up at all of the cities fountains.

Where to Visit on Day 2:

  1. Vatican City
  2. Catacombs of San Callisto (or any other neighboring Catacombs)
  3. Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
  4. National Roman Museum

Click here to view a map of day 2.

Notes:

  • For our Vatican City tour, we used the 7 Hills company, which I strongly recommend.
  • The Catacombs close from 12-2 pm; take your time for lunch after the Vatican City tour.
  • The National Roman Museum stays open until 7:45 most nights, but if you’re feeling too tired you can always leave it out. Save plenty of energy for tomorrow!

Where to Visit on Day 3:

  1. Campo dei Fiori Market
  2. Church of San Luigi dei Francesi
  3. Church of Sant Ignazio
  4. Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini
  5. Basilica di San Clemente (last excavation 5:40)
  6. San Giovanni in Laterano (6 pm)
  7. St. Peter in Chains (6:30 pm)

Click here to view a map of day 3.

Notes:

  • It looks like there’s too much planned on this day, but everything is fairly close together so it’s definitely do-able.
  • Campo dei Fiori is a tourist and local outdoor market that opens early in the morning. Try the pomegranate juice – it is freshly squeezed!
  • Le Domus Romane is an ancient ruin home made easily accessible through the use of modern light, video, and sound technology. While in the house, most of your time is spent on a clear glass floor looking down. Be sure to call them and book a day in advance to make sure you have a spot [included in Roma Pass].

A Colombian Café

You’re walking around downtown Bogota. Sooner or later you arrive at a café. They serve either coffee or alcohol. That is – unless you would prefer to have coffee mixed with your alcohol, which is perfectly acceptable at 10:00 pm in Colombia.

A zealous Colombian waitress spots you staring through the tinted windows. “Bienvenidos, a la orden?“ She’s short – around five feet tall with heels. She sports bangs and a gaping smile. “A la orden?” she repeats – emphasizing that the cafe has drinks ready to be served. Like a broken cassette tape she repeats “A la order?” yet again, as she widens her smile.  She’s charming, no doubt about it. You let yourself be lured inside.

Your eyes adjust to the dim lighting. There are roughly 20 tables squeezed into the small café. In the back is a massive couch for relaxing, but it’s taken all night. The pathway through the restaurant is less than a foot wide; at some points you turn yourself sideways to squeeze through.

Eventually you make your way to a table. Upon seating you, the waitress from the door immediately asks for your order – expecting you to already know what you want. You ask for the menu, and she leaves in search of the only copy in the entire bar.

Sit back and you notice just how loud the music is. So loud that it can’t possibly be healthy. You try speaking to the person across from you, but all they do is cup their ears in confusion. They don’t understand a single thing you said. Pretty soon you give up on talking altogether and begin nodding your head to the rhythm.

The waitress is back with the menu. She hands you the menu and peers over your shoulders as you read. You spot the ideal drink – not too cheap nor expensive. You yell the drink’s name to the waitress, trying to be louder than the pounding music. The veins in your head throb yet you can barely hear your own voice. Miraculously, the waitress understood and nods her head.

colombian bar rose seller
Photo by Rachel Jones

At one point during the evening, a short man carrying dozens of flowers enters the bar. So many flowers  that they practically cover his face. He offers a flower to each table, expecting each man to buy one for his date. He is successful more times than not. When he comes to the couch at the back of the bar, one man stands up and buys for each of his many lady friends.  A plethora of giggling and chatter ensues. Minutes later, the short waitress shoos the flower seller out of the building.

A moment of silence as the song ends. Peace, solace, a chance to relax. You lean back in your seat, but sudden trumpet blasting takes you to the edge. The next song has begun. On the other side of the café, a couple stands up from their seats, locks arms, and slow dances around their seats. Shortly after, another couple begins dancing – then another, and another. Eventually, the entire pathway around the bar is blocked as couples serenade each other. They share intimate dances, sharing affection and kisses along the way. Your eyes bear witness to the fact that there are no limits to public displays of affection in Colombia. The aisle remains blocked for the duration of the song, business shut down. The song ends and the couples nonchalantly sit down and resume their conversations.

Soon after, your group leaves to go back to the hostel.  As much fun as it was to ‘people watch’, the music’s volume has gotten to your head.  As you leave, you notice that the people at each table are the same ones as when you arrived.  Not a single Colombian left while you were there – they arrived hours before you, and have no intention of leaving soon.

Your ears ring from the music as you fall asleep.

My Colombian Mami

Does a perfect person truly exist? One without a single imperfect thought running through their head – a perfect embodiment of kindness, gratitude, and unconditional love?

Ask me last year, and I would’ve doubted this. But after visiting Villa de Levya, I am a believer. Meet Martha de León, the owner of Hostel Colombia. Or, as I came to know her, Mami.

colombian mami

What makes Mami such a special person? How can someone change from being a stranger to being family over the course of 48 hours? For starters, the first thing you notice upon meeting Mami is her voice. The softness and gentleness in her every word cannot be overstated. The love in her voice permeates the compound – leaving no souls untouched.  

Her trademark phrase, mi amor, makes figurative baby puppies roll over in joy. It’s repeated in intervals anywhere from three to ten seconds, and despite the repetition, remains purely genuine. Rarely will Mami go a sentence without saying mi amor; occasionally will her sentence consist of only mi amor.

The first thing Mami did when we met her (besides cal me mi amor) was to plant a juicy kiss on my cheek and hand me a refreshing fruit smoothie. She’s not shy about kissing – an undeniable part of Colombian culture. Each peck has the love of a box-full of bunnies, only a little less wet. Being in a bad mood is impossible after her kiss; she simply exudes positive energy.

Mami is genuine in every respect; one example is her purposely speaking Spanish slowly so  foreigners will understand her every word. When she brought us a breakfast of toast with homemade mora (blackberry) jam, and huevos con queso, we asked about her life – trying to understand how such a perfect embodiment of benevolence was shaped throughout her life.

Mami painted a picture of herself as an ordinary Colombian. From what we were able to translate, she worked in an “old woman clothes” factory most of her adult life. Married for 30 years, she had a bad separation with her husband nearly a decade ago. “Para muchos años, yo siempre llorar, llorar, llorar,”  (For many years, I always cried, cried, and cried), she said with tears in her eyes. She came to Villa de Levya and started Hostel Solar 8 years ago – in search of rest and peace.

The instant I met Mami, I became one of her sons. The fact that I arrived from a foreign land carrying a week of belongings in a  40 lb backpack and didn’t quite understand her fluently was a non-issue; the love she shared with each and everyone of us was pure and genuine. Through her love and acts of kindness Mami not only represented herself, but also Colombians as a whole. If you can make it to Colombia or Hostel Solar, please do so. But be sure to bring two hearts, because you’ll be leaving one behind.

colombian mami group photo
Photo by Rachel Jones

Spring Break in Colombia

It’s official – I made it out through midterm week alive! From endlessly memorizing Chinese characters for weather/food to analyzing the structures of Chilungu and Populuca, this week has been crazy. But now that I have, it’s SPRING BREAK TIME!

I’ll be spending spring break this year in Colombia, with a pretty awesome club I joined here at UF called OAR (Outdoor Adventure Recreation). We bought very discounted plane tickets through Spirit, and it should make a pretty awesome trip. We’ve talked about hiking, waterfall climbing, and I hope to take a cooking class (among other things). The others have mentioned bungee jumping off of an abandoned bridge… but I think I’ll leave that activity to them 🙂

So that’s my plans for spring break! I’ll be away for exactly week, and plan on journaling while I’m gone so hopefully a blog post or two can come out of it.

Random story of the day: We were learning directional prepositions in Chinese class (behind, front, etc), and had a slide showing a dog that was in front of a house. To describe the house, we had to say 狗前邊 (gou qianbian) – literally dog in front. My professor then asked where she was standing compared to us, and instead of saying 前邊 I accidentally said 狗. Which means dog. Yes… I called my professor a four legged mammal. Thankfully she was not offended, and instead just laughed at my mistake.

Happy break everyone!

Travel Channel: Street Foods International Premiere

travel channel and tremendous logo

The premiere of the final African-themed Travel Channel special I assisted with during my year in Ghana with YES Abroad is fast approaching!

Street Foods International: February 13, 2013 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Following is the video of my appearance on Fast Foods Gone Global: Africa.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2cZp4uI42A

Note: ‘Caramelly’ definitely sounded like a real word to me when I was ‘in the moment’. I apologize immensely to every English teacher I’ve had over the previous 12 years. Here’s a cute kitty photo I took during the shoot to make up for me inventing words…

cute kitty ghana

For Street Foods International, the upcoming show, I will make one solo cameo, one with my cooking school teacher Auntie Charity, and a final one with my fellow YES Abroad friends.

auntie charity interview

All in all it should make a pretty great episode with plenty of good Ghanaian eats including wagashi, okra stew, and the following pounded fermented rice pancake that I can’t seem to remember the local name of:

carl filming pounded rice pancake

Anyways I hope y’all can find the time to tune into my next appearance! It was a blast having the opportunity to be Production Assistant, and I’m sure that the end result will be fantastic.

ayoyo stew

Travel Channel Announcement

travel channel and tremendous logo

I am elated to announce the following dates for two African-themed Travel Channel specials that I assisted with during my year in Ghana with YES Abroad.

Fast Foods Gone Global: January 2, 2013 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Street Foods International: February 13, 2013 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time

EDIT: The show will replay on Wednesday, March 13 at 3:00 PM EST!

While I want to keep some aspects of this experience secret until the shows air, I do want to answer two questions about the experience in advance:

How did they find you?!

The first show I helped out with is Fast Foods Gone Global. Coincidentally, I wrote a blog posted called Ghanaian Fast Food. Tremendous! Entertainment found this post, and we exchanged e-mails for multiple months. Eventually, I was asked to be their Production Assistant.

‘Production Assistant’ sounds fancy, what on earth did you do?!

Basically I assisted with scheduling, local-food knowledge  and on-camera talent. Occasionally,  I did voice-overs for the writers so they could know exactly what they were looking at being filmed.

travel channel voiceover

For Fast Foods Gone Global, I was involved behind-the-scenes, although I may have a cameo or two. Both shows showcase all of Africa, so Ghana will be featured for roughly 6-10 minutes of the hour.

For Street Foods International, I filmed  segments with Auntie Charity (my cooking school teacher), and with my fellow YES Abroad students. It was a blast getting everyone involved, and I look forward to seeing the end result.

travel channel eating with auntie charity

I would like to thank Matt of Tremendous Inc!, Patrick, Mike, Carl, Robin, Eunice, Auntie Charity, and everyone else I had the pleasure of working with during my three-day stint as Production Assistant.  Our brief time spent filming was the pinnacle of my Ghana experience, and gave me a fantastic means to share everything I learned throughout my year abroad.

travel channel patrick and robin

And once again, another thank you to the fabulous staff and volunteers of YES Abroad, AFS-USA, AFS-GH, the American-Ghanaian Embassies, Flair Catering, and fellow exchange students to Ghana. I would not have had such a monumental experience without the effort of each and every one of you, and cannot thank you enough.

travel channel beach sceneFor everyone new checking out my blog, please feel free to subscribe to future posts using the button on the right sidebar. I will be sending out future Travel Channel updates and news closer to the shows’ release.

Happy Holidays,

Avery Segal

Melcom Shopping Center Disaster

In Ghana, I visited two malls: Accra Mall and Melcom. The former is two stories with a movie theater, Apple store, and primarily western designer clothing stores. Melcom is a four-story behemoth comparable to a Walmart.

Photo taken by me last January at Melcom

Shortly before opening for business yesterday, the building’s foundation collapsed.

Photo by BBC News

This collapse claimed 14 lives while injuring over 70 who have been pulled from the rubble. And while there are no official accounts of how many were inside at the time, there are likely more injuries to come.

Photo by BBC News

The building did not have a permit, and was possibly never inspected. Authorities are now searching for the owner of the building.

Photo by BBC News

I remember sitting down and buying kettle corn on the top floor of Melcom. The thought that such a new looking building could instantly collapse is honestly disturbing to me.  Also disturbing is the following photo I took with Santa while inside Melcom.

Photo taken last January at Melcom

According to the Ghana Daily Guide, Isaac Listowel, an air conditioner repairer for Melcom, saw one of the pillars of the Melcom walls with cracks last Sunday afternoon and reported the matter to one of the supervisors for action. He took no action, retorting, “The Lord is with us”, and left.

It’s rather astounding to think that such a massive four-story building can be built without permits and operate for such a length of time without being noticed by authorities. I only hope that the Ghanaian people remember this situation in the future, to ensure that such a travesty will never happen again.

 My heart goes out to all those affected by the tragedy.

Aboa bi bɔka wo a, ɔfiri wo ntoma mu. 

Edit: As some have noticed, the Melcom I took the photos in was not the one that collapsed.