The next morning we visited Rome. I was exhausted since I only got a little more then two hours of sleep. Once we got to Rome there was a whole lot of running around. From the colossem, to the Spanish steps, to this "special fountain" that's name I can't remember, for three hours we toured the "sights" of Rome. I think if I knew more history, these things would have been a lot more meaningful. However, since I didn't know the significance of hardly any of these things, I viewed everything as interesting architecture. The ruins and stuff were cool, but once again I didn't know what they were ruins of. After we left the group we went to this restaurant that was pure health food and definately not good. I honestly believe that the worse a food is for you the better it test. It was nice though because at the end of this horrendous meal, the girl gave me a free chocolate croissant.
To continue with my previous complaints, I pulled a muscle when we weere hiking and my feet were killing me, so I was in alot of pain for most of the day. Ilana and I went shopping all throughout Rome, which was nice. It was pretty funny because it seems that Italians really liked stairs when they were designing cities and I was having the hardest time getting around. Every shop Ilana and I went into had steps to get to the next level of clothes. It was horrible though with that pulled muscle and when we sat down on the train to go back I could not have been more relieved.
One thing I noticed in Rome, which was a little more intense then here in Florence was the amount of homeless people here. Begging in Italy seems to be a very common thing. One of the people that touched me the most though was this man in Rome. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with him, but he was extremely disfigured. His legs seemed to either be broken or just not functioning properly. Nonetheless, Ilana and I had walked out of a store to see this man literally crawling through the streets pushing this shoebox filled with money down the street. He almost sounded like he was chanting something in Italian, in a dull cry. Ilana appeared to be afraid and I instantly felt extreme remorse for this man. Some of the homeless people in Italy don't seem to be "unfit" but this man was obviously disabled and it was very easy to understand how he probably ended up on the streets. What's interesting is that I was looking back on a lot of the other homeless I've seen since I've been here and it appears that a lot of homeless persons use fear methods in order to get money.
There is this woman in Florence that does something similar. She is not disfigured as far as I have seen, but she lies every single day next to the duomo with her face in the ground and a can in front of her. This scene is honestly disturbing because you never see her face, you never see her move, and it makes me feel very uncomfortable. What I'm wondering is whether or not these fear induced methods work and increase the amount of money beggars get, as opposed to those in the US that sit with a McDonald's cup and a sign?
To continue with my previous complaints, I pulled a muscle when we weere hiking and my feet were killing me, so I was in alot of pain for most of the day. Ilana and I went shopping all throughout Rome, which was nice. It was pretty funny because it seems that Italians really liked stairs when they were designing cities and I was having the hardest time getting around. Every shop Ilana and I went into had steps to get to the next level of clothes. It was horrible though with that pulled muscle and when we sat down on the train to go back I could not have been more relieved.
One thing I noticed in Rome, which was a little more intense then here in Florence was the amount of homeless people here. Begging in Italy seems to be a very common thing. One of the people that touched me the most though was this man in Rome. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with him, but he was extremely disfigured. His legs seemed to either be broken or just not functioning properly. Nonetheless, Ilana and I had walked out of a store to see this man literally crawling through the streets pushing this shoebox filled with money down the street. He almost sounded like he was chanting something in Italian, in a dull cry. Ilana appeared to be afraid and I instantly felt extreme remorse for this man. Some of the homeless people in Italy don't seem to be "unfit" but this man was obviously disabled and it was very easy to understand how he probably ended up on the streets. What's interesting is that I was looking back on a lot of the other homeless I've seen since I've been here and it appears that a lot of homeless persons use fear methods in order to get money.
There is this woman in Florence that does something similar. She is not disfigured as far as I have seen, but she lies every single day next to the duomo with her face in the ground and a can in front of her. This scene is honestly disturbing because you never see her face, you never see her move, and it makes me feel very uncomfortable. What I'm wondering is whether or not these fear induced methods work and increase the amount of money beggars get, as opposed to those in the US that sit with a McDonald's cup and a sign?
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