Here stands a naive aspiring world traveler. With nothing but a camera, a backpack and a desire to explore, I embarked on a hellish 24 hour series of flights that brought me to Rome and the experience of a lifetime. My first real time out of the country was quite a leap from the US to living for 5 months abroad. Today marks 1 year since the day that I stepped on that destined plane and did the most daring thing I have ever done. My adventures abroad began as soon as I stepped off that plane in the Rome Fiumicino Airport and walked through the customs gate. The moment I stepped outside, everything was novel to me. I remember the sheer loudness as taxis raced, fellow travelers shouted, horns honked--Italian drivers were notoriously awful--and my senses were briefly overwhelmed. Having never been in a very large city for more than a week at a time (vacations and such), this was a radically different experience from residing in the stereotypical American suburbs. Whereas at home I relied completely on my dependable Mazda to get me to and from school or the grocery store, the walkability of European cities absolutely blew me away. Within a 10 minute walk of my apartment there were 3 grocery stores, a slew of specialty food shops (butcher, cheese shops, etc), a bank, several coffee shops, and countless restaurants. While school was about a 25 minute walk, the public transportation was abundant and cheap--though not always timely or reliable. The 25 minute walk turned into a 10 minute tram ride. Being able to accomplish all of my daily errands by foot was incredibly convenient, cost efficient, healthy, and gave me time to truly appreciate the city. I found this to be true of all the major European cities I visited, and even some of the smaller towns. Here is a gallery of some quick highlights from my time in Rome and surrounding cities in Italy. Feel free to check out my full photo galleries for all of the cities I visited. If anything, the way that European cities are designed for the pedestrian and not the automobile was inspiring to me and sparked an interest in city planning and the urban design scale. During my month of solo backpacking I spent a good amount of time walking through the cities with no particular destination in mind--just experiencing the things that the locals would as I happened upon them. I came across an annual street racing event in Budapest. I relished in the picturesque streetside cafes of Paris. I ate tapas everywhere I could in Barcelona. I delved into the vibrant nightlife of Vienna. I smelled the roses as I meandered through London's Hyde Park. I visited the teeming markets in Madrid. I strolled beneath the jacaranda trees in the hilly streets of Lisbon. I admired the public transportation in Switzerland. More frequently during my travels I was intrigued by how the cities were laid out--I found myself spending equal amounts of time visiting landmarks as observing how people interacted with the built environment. Granted I only traveled in typical tourist destinations so tourists constituted a significant portion of the people I observed, but it was fairly easy to tell the tourists apart from the locals. The quieter the neighborhood was, as I ventured off the beaten path, the more authentic the adventures that followed. I find myself inspired to pursue the field of city planning and/or urban design after this trip. As for the architecture along my journey, it was extraordinary. It was an incredible spectrum ranging from the 2000 year old Roman Forum, to the Zaha Hadid MAXXI Museum built within the last decade. The ancient and the modern co-existing side by side was the case in most cities I visited. Aside from Rome, which I called home for almost 4 months, my two favorite cities were Berlin and Paris. Berlin has the most rich history of any city I have ever visited. The poignant Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind was so powerful, I found myself transported to 1940s Berlin, learning about the horrors that occurred there. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe contained terrible beauty as I wandered through the daunting concrete array at sunset. Paris manifested a less somber atmosphere, yet equally entrancing. The major landmarks--the Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, the Louvre--all held up to the hyped up expectations I had beforehand. I got to see one of my favorite buildings of all time, the Notre Dame Cathedral. I have been fascinated with it from a young age, and getting to walk beneath its vaulted ceilings, see the light shine through its south rose window, feel small next to its massive flying buttresses, was a dream come true. Granted I had to drag myself on a 30 minute walk on a blistering hot day while I was very ill, but it was all worth it. All my other experiences--taking the wrong train back from Villa Savoye, walking up those endless stairs at the Sacre Coeur Basilica, climbing the Eiffel Tower in the pouring rain--made my time in Paris so much more memorable. Sometimes I find myself longing to be back in the big cities again, the hustle and bustle, the mix of the old and the new, the joy of walking to your destination and feeling a connection with the city and its people. I lived in large rooms with 6 bunk beds in them, I took public transportation, I walked everywhere. This caused me to meet so many people from different corners of the world and make so many new friends. That would have never happened if I had relied on a rental car, or if I had the financial luxury of staying in a private hotel room (so there is an upside to being poor haha). Sharing your living quarters and day-to-day experiences with strangers forces you to become closer to people you otherwise never would have talked to. Seeing world-famous architecture and exploring these large cities gave me valuable firsthand experience that allowed me to observe more detail, and actually feel the spaces. Meeting new people and living like a local Italian broadened my horizons and provided new perspectives. I'm glad I went into this open-minded and came out better on the other side. Ciao Italia, and all of Europe. Until we meet again!
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Amy HostetterCurrent student. Archives
January 2019
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