On day two we went and toured both The Coliseum an The Forum. Both were fairly impressive and demonstrated how advanced and powerful the Romans were for their time. Most of Rome’s architecture depicted ancient battles and important events which is also very interesting because it has become one of our best sources of the history of ancient Rome.

First thing in the morning we got up and went to Pontifica University for our first day of class. Pontifica is The Holy See’s college and is primarily a school for missionaries. The atmosphere was a lot different than any school I have ever been in. It seemed very quiet and professional but at the same time it was not very organized like most things in Rome. The school itself ties in with religion because of it’s nature as a missionary school. The Forum was also of large importance to religion because it is were most of the temples of the Roman gods were placed, making it the center of ancient Rome’s religion.

After seeing The Forum we walked to the Coliseum which was fascinating in the sense that someone could build such a thing in that time period. The Forum and The Coliseum also share a bit in common with IR. They can both help us understand what politics and international relations looked like back then. By looking at where leaders once stood and the depictions of certain wars you can actually learn a lot about Rome while also being able to connect it to modern politics/international relations. Things like high stages for speaking and depicting wars isn’t new. We just happen to do it with paintings and news stories instead of column and archway carvings.