With my family across the Atlantic, I found myself walking through the Vatican Museums. It was during the first week of school, and a level of adrenaline I had never felt before was going through my body like lightning. Suddenly, time stopped. I froze and my eyes got bright as Raphael’s School of Athens appeared by my left side. I was left speechless as I thought about the masterpiece in front of me, and how many other amazing things I would get to see and deeply appreciate. After all, I was in Rome. The city I had seen many times in my dreams.

I felt a deep connection with the figures making eye contact with me. During a field trip with Mr. Brouse for my Medieval Renaissance History class, I was in front of the apse mosaic in St. Cosma and Damian’s Basilica, amazed at its fascinating features. I thought about a few minutes ago, when I was walking by the Roman Forum and looking at the majestic Coliseum, which had witnessed over 2000 years of different people with different purposes before me.

Standing in the basilica I thought about those nearly 2 minutes and 500 years that now separated me from what I had just seen. That is what it’s all about in Rome: time travelling.

Rome has inevitably woken up an unknown artistic side in me. I now not only have had the opportunity to learn about the variety of artistic representations belonging to it, but I have also got the chance to live and coexist with it, feeling as an important part of it. I feel extremely lucky I have had the opportunity to do so, and every glance I take at anything in the city makes me feel happiness in its finest state, with an incredible sense of belonging, making me feel not just like any common tourist, but a part of the immense cultural heritage that belongs to this astonishing city.

Time travelling in Rome is simply amazing and I cannot accurately describe with words how much of an experience this has been, is, and its going to be.