Rome Trip Overview

Rome Sweet Rome

Number of students: 10-18

Chaperones Sean Mulholland, (other parents, teachers)

Number of Paying Parents : 1-4

Fee: Group of 14-18 $2300;   for Group of 10-13 $2400

Departure Day:              Thursday February 15

Return Day:                   Friday February 23


Priority List for up to 18 students traveling to Rome

 

Mr. Mulholland has been leading student groups to Rome since 1999 ( about 10 trips and 200 students). He knows the city quite well and has developed an itinerary that allows students to travel and interact with the local Romans, see all the most popular monuments and sites, and explore hidden gems and special off-the-beaten-path places. The trip has a rather full daily agenda which includes some fun and games during evening excursions (music, gelato, ice skating, games arcades). Mr. Mulholland is a licensed tour operator with the city of Rome and he has close contacts with officially licensed and professional local city guides.   

Fee includes Round Trip Airfare to Italy, accommodations for 7 nights in a 3 ½ star hotel double occupancy, all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) all local transportation, all tips, all entrances to museums and landmarks, fee for local guide at Vatican Museums and half day tour,  round trip excursion to Pompeii, transportation to and from Boston, and cost for group leader.  

 


 

 

 

Academic Requirements

 

How this trip might differ from other school trips

 

 

Student Collective Diary 

 

A cold, damp, but ancient relic which has, for the most part, been very well preserved, Nero’s Palace is always an interesting stop. Without a doubt, its crown jewel is the virtual reality tour given halfway through the excursion. Although the VR tour was the same as before, it always left me wanting to see more of what the world of antiquity may have looked like. Later, upon exiting the building, the small group had to wait half an hour for the rest of the group to continue their tour. We decided to go walking in the park that was right next to the attraction. There, one could find a great view of the Colosseum and have an all around good time just walking down the paths of the park. 

Joining up with us, the gang then walked to the opposite of the park to see some baths which were actually built on top of the remains of Nero’s Palace. From there, we stopped at one of the entrances of the parks which was a large staircase. There, Mr. Mulholland once again cut us loose and gave us an hour to grab some grub. Christian, Dash, Nick, and I went to one of the pizza places that Mr. Moho pointed out earlier and got some great Italian cuisine. I was given a slice and was supposed to save it until we got back to the park, but while waiting for everyone else, I just ate my pizza. As soon as we entered the park, I made an executive decision of exiting the park and going to grab some gelato. Dash and Christian joined me and we went to the very same place where I was first reunited with gelato back in 2018.



THURSDAY

 

Wow, I am soo tired!! I have been up for about 40 hours, no sleep.  We just arrived in Rome today after about a total of 9 hours in a plane. Our hotel is pretty sweet, but not incredibly lavish.  Then we got on a nice coach bus and did a quick tour of part of Rome.  I got some amazing pizza, and saw the Trevi fountain.  I am so tired, so I will now go to bed. Good night.

 

We got about an hour before we had to meet in the lobby, so what we did first is go to an Italian super market near the hotel.  They had jars of Nutella that were twice the size of my head.  Libby and I got bread swords, 2 liter bottles of Fanta, and itty bitty jars of Nutella.  We get to go back, which is nice because I want to get Matt a mini Nutella.

 

So then we went to the Trevi fountain, which was my favorite part.  We got 45 minutes to ourselves, so Libby and I tossed coins into the fountain.  We went to the pizza place right by the fountain, and Max and Aaron told us to try the Brushetta so we did and it was awesome.  Then we got gelato. Then even though my legs were about to fall off, we walked up all the Spanish steps. If I didn’t get some sort of butt workout from that, I’ll be mad.  After that we went to the symmetrical thingy and back to the bus.  On the bus everyone fell asleep sitting, and I drooled on my sweatshirt.

 

Max, our tour guide was awesome. We saw almost everything! While we were at one of Bernini’s fountains at the Piazza Navona there were men dressed as statues, posing. These guys already creep me out enough, and same with Mikayla, so we tried avoiding him, but when we were taking a picture of the building behind him he turned to us. We ran and hid in the group, however we still wanted a picture of that building so we tried again, only to have the statue guy step down from his stool, approach us, and yell at us about how pictures are money and we show no respect. Scariest moment ever!

 

FRIDAY

 

I am overwhelmed with all that I saw today.  We did alot of walking, but it was well worth it.  We saw the Colloseum, arch of Titus, Palatine hill, a museum with many statues, and much more.  The food is pretty awesome, and it’s fun to try and understand Italian. Everyone wanted to go ice-skating, so after Gelato we went to this cool outside ice-skating rink.  It was so much fun, and we played tag.  Time to go to bed.

 

We then left the Colloseum, had a snack and went to an arch where I realized I taped over the Colloseum because I showed Dave the tape.  We then went to the Palatine Hill and saw the first Roman huts and the Arch of Titus.  Jon did his presentation and then we went somewhere and then we went to a church.  After that we went back to the hotel and had what some people might call dinner.  After dinner we went for Gelato and went ice skating across the street from the hotel.

SATURDAY

 

We went to the Baths of Diocletian today. It was really interesting to see the exhibit and learn about the ancient ways of life.  We also went to an art museum and saw famous statues like the bronze Boxer and the disk thrower.  Afterwards, we went to visit a basilica were we saw the Ecstasy of Theresa, which is a sculpture that I have admired for  a long time in books, but never imagined I would ever get to see.

 

Then we went, finally, to see the cats of Rome.  There were soooo many cats! They didn’t have any t-shirts in the gift shop (it smelled too much for me to look too long.) 

 

Today we stared with eggs, fruit, and cereal!   Everything was once again delicious. I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m 4000 miles away from home! Even though I am a bit homesick, yes me, I am loving every moment here! Today we started off by going to this museum, and after we visited a few churches.  Everything was absolutely beautiful. 

 

We made our way to the ruins of Ostia Antica.  We all broke up into small groups to view the remains of the ancient city.  As Aaron and I took pictures of the walls and structures, Michael played a ninja warrior game. 

 

After we rested at the hotel and had dinner, we went to see the Spanish steps at night. Although I think I prefer the comparative calm of the Spanish Steps during the day, I’m glad I got to witness Roman night life because it is a big part of their culture. I am looking forward to the Pope’s Angelus address tomorrow, and I hope it will be warmer than it was today.

 

Today was an interesting day. Although we have seen many things so far, today we were about to check out some ancient Roman buildings.  After our long walk to some churches, we went from one to another, learning something new in each and every one. After this we walked to the subway and hitched a ride to Ostia. In Ostia, we saw a new Roman town being excavated by architects.  Although many parts were closed, we managed to see it all from tactical positions and view points. From roof to porticoes to sewers we were trying to find something fun to do or something cool to observe. We learned that Romans had 3 and 4 story apartment buildings like we do today.

 

SUNDAY

 

We saw the Pope today after packing on a bus. He gave us his address and then we saw so many historic sites around the city.

 

We woke up and went to the Vatican today because it was Sunday. We saw the Pope do his address.  Afterward we went to the forum of Trajan, where we saw many interesting exhibits, plus Dave lost his sunglasses on the ledge of the building.  We spent a lot of time getting the museum curator to go out on a ledge and get the sunglasses.

 

There were sooo many people in St. Peter’s square.  We heard the Pope say mass, which was cool because he said stuff in Latin.  Libby and I managed to translate some of the stuff he said.  After that Libby, Christie, and I went shopping and I got a Totti jersey.  Max gave us an awesome tour tonight.  We went up about a billion stairs to come to an amazing view of the city.  

 

Today we woke up early. After taking the subway for a shorter time than usual, we arrived at some fountains and walked to the Spanish steps dedicated to a group of Spaniards.  Ryan and I climbed to the top and took pictures. Later, when we returned, members of our group purchased extremely strong laser pointers from the Gypsies.  We had gotten pretty good at bargaining by the time we had to go.

 

Today we visited the Colloseum.  I walked around the entire thing and I got alot of good pictures. No more coach bus. We have to use the subway now. There’s a cool ice cream thing call a Gelato.  It tastes just like ice cream but it looks so different. I accidentally left my backpack today.  After 20 minutes it was still there I was really lucky.  We went to the Palatine hill and I saw the circus maximus . My feet hurt from all the walking. I’m getting used to the hotel room now.

 

Today we went to the Capitoline museum.  We saw many famous statues such as the Capitoline Wolf and the statue of Hercules, which Michael did his presentation on.  After that we had lunch, then played soccer on rocks.  Next we saw the Tiber Island, with the symbol for health and healing. Following that we went to see the Ara Pacis, the altar of peace. Then, best of all we went past the Ferrari store, in which they sold Ferrari clothing and such.

 

MONDAY

 

Today me and Nick both overslept and he had to carry the camera for a full day.  We visited the Appian Way, the road where the ancient Romans walked. I filmed again today. I got some funny footage of people try to jump off of things.  We went to an Italian arcade called xtraball, which was very fun and exciting.

 

The day started by going to two churches, one called San Clemente, the other was called San Giovanni.  Then we stopped at a WWII memorial which, like most war memorials, made me feel depressed. Our next stop was an ancient catacomb.  I felt short changed at the end of the tour because I thought that they could have shown us more.  Our last destination of the day was the Appian Way, one of the oldest surviving roads.  To be honest I thought that we were going to walk a greater distance.

 

Today we went to the Church of Rome (St. John’s Lateran) and then to the Catacombs and the Appian Way. Mikayla got wicked sick and so Mrs. Kelly had to take her back to the hotel.  The Appian Way was so pretty! Early into the walk Austin jumped off a tomb and dropped his sunglasses, but he didn’t realize it until we were basically at the end of our walk.  So he and Aaron sprinted all the way back for them.  It wasn’t until they were out of sight that Dave realized that he had them the entire time.  Moho got pissed and made Dave run back to Austin and Aaron. It was so funny!

 

TUESDAY

 

The day began with the group travelling to the Capitoline Museum.  I thought that the place was amazing!  There was so much history in that place that it was almost too much to take in.  I did my presentation on the relief of Marcus Aurelius there.  I was able to see the legendary statue of the Capitoline Wolf as well as many other pieces of art.  Once we left I stumbled upon a gift shop that sold replicas of Roman armor and weapons!  I bought a Roman dagger for 25 euro. 

 

We went to the Capitoline museum today.  We all had to do our presentations and they went well and were very informative!  The museum is filled with sculptures and other ancient pieces of work donated over the years.  We then went to the Altar of Peace where Zules did his lovely, vivid, and glorious presentation.  When we stopped for lunch we played soccer, freshmen against everyone else, and we won!  That night we did not go out due to the freezing temperatures.  Instead, we bonded with some British kids that were also staying at the hotel.

 

WEDNESDAY

 

Today was our last day with our tour guide, Max.  He was an awesome tour guide. We saw St. Peter’s church, the largest church in the world.. We also explored the Vatican museums.  The Vatican has less than 1,000 inhabitants.

 

Today we went with Max to Vatican City. We started with a trip to the Vatican Museum where we saw tapestries that portrayed biblical scenes.  My favorite was one of the Last Supper that was an optical illusion.  The table appeared to coming out at you no matter which direction you looked at it. I also thought that the sculpture of Laocoon and his sons being attacked by snakes was interesting because it comes directly from the Aeneid, a story with which we are familiar. I especially liked the Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  St. Peter’s Cathedral was probably the most beautiful place we have been all during the trip.

THURSDAY

 

I’m so sad that today is our last day in Rome!  After a 3 hours bus ride we arrive in Pompeii. Although it was freezing, it was so interesting to see the ruins of the city we leaned so much about in the first few stages of Latin.  It was sad, however, to see the fossilized bodies of some of the victims, especially the mangled, struggling dog.  I loved seeing Caecilius’s house, but I had pictured it being a lot different because I thought it would be bigger.  The preserved mosaics were very pretty and it was hard to imagine that they were crafted thousands of years ago.

 

FRIDAY

 

Today was Crazy!  We left at six in the morning to reach the airport.  We took our plane from Rome to Dulles which lasted an hour more than it should have and the landing felt like a rollercoaster with people next to me barfing or being scared for their lives. After that frightful ride, I decided to sit with Jon on the ride to Boston and was able to catch a few zzz’s. Finally on the long bus ride back home I sat with Christie and caught some much needed rest.

 

Right now we are on a plane, going home. I am sort of excited ,but at the same time wish I could stay in Rome. I bought several souvenirs such as a huge hunting knife, 20 chocolate bars, a St. Peter’s Cathedral post card and a little statue-like thing. This time the flight was 10 hours to Dulles, then a 2 hr. flight to Boston.

 

Later, we went on our final evening trip to the ice skating rink, where I actually “skated” for a change.  Most people, when then go to the eternal city, go with the expectation of shopping in upscale Italian stores, sampling every flavor of gelato, and finding the love of their life; and while I may never shop in Rome or have every flavor of gelato, I did find the love of my life: Rome.