It was a day of heat and anguish perpetrated by the Roman Gods. It was a day in which many civilians and tourists scurried under any inanimate object for a brief moment of shade and a break from the scorching sun. The large, grandeur drinking fountains of the ancient city were bombarded with thirst-quenching people. And then there was my summer abroad group. After a long and exhausting day of tours to museums, churches, palaces and of the astonishing architecture and vigor of Rome, our legs couldn’t go any further. My close nit group of friends I made on my trip to Italy finally conceded to the record-breaking heat-wave and collapsed under a monolithic marble structure. In less than a few minutes everyone was dead asleep. I woke up and realized before this trip I didn’t know one single person, now I have made six life-long friends.

This picture shows the line in the Vatican to get to the beautiful Sistine Chapel. We first had to walk through what seemed like a mile long maze of rooms and hallways filled with tourists and the sounds of chattering camera shutters. When entering this long hallway with paintings on the walls and a very intricate ceiling, looking down towards the end of the hallway almost seems like you are in a 17th century painting because of the perspective you get from looking down towards the end. It was quite mesmorizing.