My Semester Abroad

Local college students — from the Puget Sound area or studying at a Puget Sound university — are traveling the world as part of their studies; several are sending dispatches about discovering their corner of the globe. They welcome your comments and questions.

Editor's note: Thanks to all the students who shared their experiences on traveling and learning. "Semester Abroad" is being discontinued.

All blogs and discussions:

March 29, 2006

London: Rome in the high beams

Posted by Laura Geggel at 02:21 AM

At night Rome switches on beaming lights that illuminate its monuments. The Forum, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the fountains...mix pale moonlight with yellow spotlights aimed at the sky and 2,000-year-old stones and marble, add in some flashy bar signs and you've got Rome after dark.

Tom and I explored the city today, walking to churches and memorials, temples and statues in the middle of busy traffic circles. Gelato is our new favorite thing: it's soooo cool and creamy and wonderful. Lighter than ice cream, and each mouthful a refreshing reminder what how strawberries and chocolate should really taste when crystallized.

We took a siesta on this little isola (island) in the middle of the Tiber river and basked in the sun while reading our books. I turned rather pink, but that's the curse of being a redhead.

My friend Sarah, a 2003 alumna of Sammamish's Eastlake High School, joined us later that evening. Sarah's studying in Edinburgh this semester and dealing with a fractured foot and removable cast we all fondly call The Boot. She's stomped around Europe, flip-flop on one foot and Boot on the other.

TOM GEGGEL / SPECIAL TO THE SEATTLE TIMES

Fontana di Trevi in Rome, Italy, March 28, 2006. If you throw two coins in it means you'll return to Rome, three coins promises a new love in your life.

We went to dinner via the guide called, "Well, it smells good, so why not?" and soon ourselves enjoying ravioli and thin-crust pizza. Tom tried ordering little fried donuts because they sounded really good, but the waitress shook her head and brought him a meat platter instead. That went rather well with the three hulking meatballs he had already ordered. Sarah, the vegetarian, laughed so hard when he tried to get us to help him eat all that meat.

But the man sitting next to us at the restaurant didn't find it so funny. He suddenly turned to us and shouted, "In all my life, never have I heard such a loud conversation! Do you think you are the only ones in the restaurant?" His glare was enough to stifle our conversation. Gulp.

Jennifer Henrichsen
E-mail|Bio