Being in Rome for about two months now, I have had a lot of time to explore and see more of Rome that I could have ever imagined. I can admit before I came, I was a big ignorant on the history of Ancient Rome. Although i was not educated on the Ancient remains before we arrived in Italy, I can honestly say I learned quite a bit. Personally, seeing is believing for me. I can learn much better when putting facts and history with a picture and better yet, a tour of the exact place I am learning about.
My favorite part of the ancient ruins of Rome was definitely The Colloseum. Although I did not fall in love with it when I was physically there, I romanticized about it after I left. Many friends from home would ask questions about Rome and the first thing was about The Colloseum. I feel like I was blessed to see something that most people throughout the world are aware of. The pictures of The Colloseum are much more rich than the site its self , once again it makes you romanticize about the experience its self.
I thoroughly enjoyed Pompeii Scavi. I thought the entire site was extremely educational and moving. My favorite part was the facts about the ancient brothel. Although a brothel in its self is not a good thing, it was interesting to see that such mischievous acts dated back as far as 2,000 years ago. Being able to walk through an actual village and see where the citizens lived was more than I could have ever asked for. It is so intriguing to see that a village could last so long all because of the rupture of the volcano which preserved it by burring it for over 1,000 years. I believe the most moving part of the entire site was the casts of the people killed when the volcano ruptured. It was amazing to see that the people were just like we are today. Although they may have been shorter they had customs, holidays, babies and restaurants just like we do today.
Overall, my favorite between ancient Rome and Pompeii Scavi is definitely Pompeii. I took great interest in the city and thought it was beautiful inside and out. Seeing the body casts really helped me relate to the ancient ruins and the city that was once active. Rome, to me is very repetitive. It is all history about Papal families, rich families or ruins that I cannot personally relate too. Instead of having to imagine life in Pompeii, I could actually see the remains and relate to the buildings, art and way of life. The city of Pompeii was less crowded also. Being at The Colloseum is so popular that there were tourists everywhere. It was nice to be able to have a wonderful tour in private with quiet and have time to ask questions. Not to mention, my love for dogs was very prominent in Pompeii. I really enjoyed that they took time to try and get the dogs adopted, and that they were accepted around the ancient city. Overall, my personal preference was the ruins of Pompeii over ancient Rome.
I too fell the same way about "seeing is believing" and coming to Rome deffiantly helped with that. I am not a big fan of history and never took much interest in it but being in seeing all of the history in Rome, Pompeii and all of the others places we went really helped bring to life the history that I have been learning about.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pompeii was a better experience then seeing ancient Rome. In Rome, it is just so crowded and the atmosphere is definitely more rushed. I feel like in Rome, we only see what the tour guides want us to see and don't get to explore as much as I would like too. Yet in Pompeii, not only did we have the best guide so far, but he actually took the time to walk us slowly through the city and let us explore.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting about how you said that now you can romanticize about the Coliseum after being there. For me it is the exact opposite. I have studied the Coliseum throughout school and I romanticized that it would be this amazing place to visit. Yet now that I have actually been there, I find myself so disappointed that I don't think that I will be able to look at pictures of the Coliseum the same anymore.
I learn that way too, Jackie. I like being able to see the places we talk about because it’s easier to remember and the facts actually stay with you longer. And I agree that the brothels probably aren’t the best thing, but it was interesting to see what was going on 2,000 years ago. I loved walking through the city because it was so big and there was really no outside influences like there are in Rome. It was very cool and I enjoyed it. Pompeii was my favorite site visit while on this program.
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