CNN iReport

One thing about being a student studying abroad is the great opportunity to travel to throughout the country of stay and to nearby ones.  I was fortunate enough to study in Spain for a semester, last fall.  Of course it was an amazing experience; I saw so many different types of people, ate culturally significant food, listened to the local guitar, discovered a love for wine and viewed some of the greatest art to ever grace the planet.  It is hard to think that someone would take this experience for granted, but I feel I did.  It has been one year since I took that plane from Chicago to Madrid by myself, knowing much less Spanish than I would admit.  I miss it more than ever.  There are many great memories, but I can never think of my time abroad without a twinge of sadness.  I wish I could experience it again, for I would calm down and try and absorb my surroundings more.  I also spent a week in Italy, most of which I was ill.  So I failed to forget that cold, failed to sit and watch the people, failed to go off the beaten path, and most of all failed to appreciate my journey. I can look back on my trip to Rome and remember that I saw some of the most amazing things I have ever come across.  I can finally appreciate this grand city, in reprise.

1: I'm sure many have seen this view on a postcard.  The river Tiber snakes its way throughout the city.

2: View near Palatine Hill

3: More of the ruins of Palatine

4: Closer view of the Trevi Fountain, once actually inside a building.

5: The sky just before a storm.  The building gets its namesake from Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, a 17th century Roman architect.

6: The old world abruptly meets the new.

7: Underneath the Colosseum

8: Imagine this not as ruins, but as filled with gladiators fighting ferocious beasts or the staging of mock sea battles

9: The Pantheon.  This old structure is still in use and is perhaps the most conserved of that era.

10:  View from the top of the Spanish Steps, which are surprisingly inconspicuous.