What Textbooks Can't Teach: My 24 hour Journey to Ancient Rome

Since earning a Classics minor as an undergraduate, I have been fascinated with ancient Rome—from its political structure and military tactics to its art, architecture, and pottery. Though I have studied many Roman stone buildings, key sculptures, and graphic ceramic pots (with geometric patterns and detailed scenes of hunting, myths, and daily life) in textbooks, it is impossible to experience scale, texture, color, and context without standing right here, fully present, in front of the structure or object, preserved in situ in one of the most magical, ancient cities in the world.