Markets of Trajan

Giornale uno

I decided to go to the Markets of Trajan for my solo excursion with Sarah. I knew that I could receive extra knowledge on this trip because of Sarah’s previous experience with Rome so I was excited for that. My day started off at 9 am, which was kind of early for me but I can now see it was a blessing (just kidding..maybe). I was able to get up and shower but was not able to run for breakfast. Luckily Sarah allowed us to get some breakfast. My life changed that morning. I had my first freshly squeezed orange juice in Rome and it was amazing. There was a burst of flavors and my taste buds were so confused that it was painful. It was like sticking a straw into an orange and sipping it. I know have to have a glass every morning to function. Anyways, a group of about 10 of us headed to the metro to get to the Coloseum train stop and walk to the markets. This was also the first time I got on the metro in Rome and to counter my amazing experience in the morning this one was more traumatizing. As we waited for our train at the termini station we witnessed a lady getting robbed. We were really close to them but I was not able to tell who was robbing whom. I just remember seeing both ladies pulling, yelling, and screaming in Italian, but there was one that was smacking the other in the face, so I’m using she was the one getting robbed. It was very sad and the sadder part was that everyone stared and no one helped. Sarah told us to move away and I understand that we couldn’t do anything because putting ourselves in a dangers situation in a country that is not our may not be the smartest of things. I still felt that the own Roman people did not feel the need to help their own people. After that I started clutching my bag and becoming more alert. It’s sad because I live in a dangerous city and I never felt the need to constantly clutch my bag and watch the people around me. 
I remember saying the day before and quote “we survived the day no one got robbed, maybe its not so bad”. Now I am always prepared and follow a buddy system. 
Moving on from the sadness; we all made it safe to the stop. I walked out of the train station and the first thing I see is the Coloseum. I knew it was the stop, but I did not think that it was going to be so near. I was literally in shock. I was not prepared to register the grandness and its beauty. We had to move on quickly to get to the markets but I kept looking back at the Coloseum because I was not ready to let it go. Eventually we got to the markets of Trajan and in my mind it had a lot to live up to because I just saw the damn Coloseum. I didn’t expect to actually walk through an ancient building so it did live up to my expectation. It was very cool to be able to walk inside a place that others in ancient time laid their footsteps. Looking back on it now it’s kind of special because a lot of the structures and ancient buildings we visit are sometimes closed off or are ruins that don’t allow us to have a full experience (I still love it, don’t think that I hate it). The museum was my first experience with ancient structures and it really brought me back in time. There was one set of stairs that brought me back so much that I was shocked.. It reminded me of the movies. It led up the stairs but it was dimly lit, had dirty old bricks, and actually looked very dingy and dungeon-esk. I guess I think of ancient hallways like scary dark dungeons. Regardless, it was very cool. Other than that I walked around the space, enjoyed the ancient structures, and touched a lot of walls just so that I can feel a part of the history. Sometimes I imagined others walking through the same space and it just made me feel damn cool. 
My only complaint was the random art that was in every single room and exhibition that held ancient structures or ruins. The first room I walked into had manikins with designer dresses in the room with the statue of a headless armored male man. I was a bit confused but I let it go. As I continued walking around I notice there were random instillations of art, jewelry, dresses and abstracts in every room. The Modern art pieces really took away from the exhibition. It was taking away from the significance of those structures, which to me were beautiful in itself. I’m not sure if they were training to make it look like a modern market, which I get but by the end I was seriously pissed and hated all the art instillations no matter how beautiful. Imagine walking into a room where there is a beautiful marble structure of a cupid angel that’s thousands of years old in a room with designer dresses and sound it the background. It totally ruined the moment and overshadowed the piece. I could not even here the explanation of the piece because the sound installation was too loud. I may have gotten overly worked but I really think those art instillations took away from the moment. Other than that I really enjoyed the ancient structures and ruins. I was able to see a lot of beautiful scenic views when I went to the outside area of the markets. It blew my mind how old the structures were and it really made me internalized the moment.