Sunday in the city

On Sunday, Feb 22 we traveled by train into the city to orient the students to the transportation system. I stopped and talked with Gianni at the local grocery store along with his brother Sandro and his son Allesandro, along with the matriarch of the family, Gianni and Sandro's mother. It was almost like coming home again or like I never left. Although it has been almost three years since I have seen them, they all greeted me warmly.

The train is exactly the same. The swaying and rocking of the cars, and the heat of the train invariably causes me to fall asleep, especially when I am returning to campus after a long day in Rome.

We gave the students a scavenger hunt assignment to complete in Termini. Termini, the train station of Rome has a lot of reconstruction going on. Basically though it looks exactly the same. From Termini we took the students on the Metro to Piazza Barberini. The piazza holds Bernini's fountain, Triton. This is one of my favorite fountains in Rome.

We took them to the US embassy on via Veneto. In case there is a problem while they were in Rome we wanted them to know where the embassy was. This day and age you cannot be too careful. In Paris, they shut down all cell service and public transportation. If ever something like that happened in Rome they know how to find the embassy.