Rome in a rush

Back in 2005 while on study abroad I went to visit my pals in Italy. Most of my class chose to go to the study abroad center in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, which is situated between Florence and Rome. A couple of us from Barcelona flew into Rome. Our Italy buddies met us there. Unfortunately we had about 4 hours to visit Rome before we had to catch the last train back to Castiglion Fiorentino. So, Andrew mapped out a plan for us to see the best of Rome in our measley 4 hours. We were practically running through Rome. We hit the Forum then went to make a lap around the outside of the Colosseum then headed over to the Pantheon.

Andrew had been keeping a close eye on his watch the whole time, scooting us along whenever we were falling behind. So, we get to the Pantheon and Andrew says you have two minutes here if you want to make it to the Vatican. I basically look up, find the one portion of the Pantheon dome that isn't covered in scaffolding and snap this photo.

Literally two minutes later, Andrew and I take off running for St. Peter's Square (the others decided to hang back for coffee.) This was about two weeks after the Pope died, so it was a bit crowded. We made it there and went into the middle of the square. I shot a 360 video and then we started running for the subway. We had to catch the subway at that moment to get to the train station in time for our train. Rome only has two subway lines, so naturally they are always full. So we are running for the doors of one of the cabs, which were about to close. There was no room in the cab, and here I am leading our sprint. I just put my head down, and as we got closer suddenly the people moved out of the way and we managed to all file in. Just then the doors closed right behind Ara's shoulders.

It was probably the most adventurous day of my study abroad experience, and I loved every minute of it (all 240 of them).