Chloe Rousseau is a sophomore communications major with a political science minor from Tampa,,FL.
As we have been unable to travel, I have spent quite a bit of time reflecting on when I was able to do so. My dad and I went to London, Rome and Naples all in six days. You would not believe how much you can see just walking around, especially in Rome. However, we were not there just to take in the sights and history of the rise and fall of the Roman empire. We had a mission. A year or so prior to visiting Italy, my grandpa died after having spent years working on our family genealogy — and there were still missing links. We knew that my family was from Caserta, Italy, but we needed to find a few more marriage and birth records to complete the family tree.
So, we flew into London Gatwick airport and took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, where our rental was for the night. We dropped off our bags and set out to explore. I had the best pork belly bao in chinatown and we even did a tour of all the places where Jack the Ripper struck down women. The next morning, we flew into Rome and Ubered to our rental atop Vatican Hill. It had a beautiful view, and every morning, you could smell fresh-baked bread from the city below. We spent the day exploring on foot since all of Rome is walkable and it’s much easier to get around that way. We attended the big New Year’s celebration in the Circus Maximus, watched live performances from Italian artists, saw art installments all throughout the city and even watched a woman performing aerial silks hanging from a balloon.
After spending a couple days having fun, exploring and diving into the culture, we got on the train and made our way to Naples. The ride was about three hours each way, but the view was stunning and I could not stop looking out the window. Once we arrived, we split up. I looked for a café to grab a bite to eat and my dad looked for the heritage center.
This is where things get spicy.
As I was walking around, I noticed that I was being followed from a distance by a pretty large man. I began to cut through alleyways and through fish and produce markets trying to shake him off my trail, and I called my dad to tell him to meet my back at the station. We were supposed to go to Caserta by rental car since it was only a 30 minute drive, but we ended up going back to Rome because I did not feel safe in Naples and the heritage center ended up being closed anyways.
We spent our last day in Rome eating as much traditional food as possible and thrifting in the local vintage stores before we had to fly back to London and then back home.. I can not wait to be able to travel again, and I would love to see more of Italy, maybe actually visiting the village my family is from without nearly being kidnapped.
