Out of a few cultural confrontations I have experienced in Rome, one of the biggest has been Rome’s public transportation system. Due to my apartment being a little ways away from campus I either have to walk or use the bus which has been entirely different from when I am on campus back at Rollins. During my freshman and sophomore years, I lived on campus, meaning that if I have a 10 am class I can most likely wake up at 9:15 and get ready and walk to class without a problem.
However, in Rome and being a little person, the multiple flights of steps to AUR are not exactly the best way to get to school unless I want to arrive super tired and potentially sweaty. This leads me to have only a couple of options uber, taxi, and the most affordable way of Rome’s bus system.
Though the bus system here can pretty much get you anywhere, it is not always reliable or on time. Transportation strikes and delays are unfortunately common and can happen on a dime. Even though there has not been a strike yet during school hours, the bus system does a complete 180 when it rains. During rainy days the buses are likely to either show up jam-packed, incredibly delayed, or not at all. On one rainy day, I found myself arriving at school 20 minutes later after squeezing onto a completely different bus than originally while soaking wet. Even though my professor understood and said its normal, I felt bad for coming in cold and late. Since then I have learned always to plan extra time when using the buses especially when it’s raining and to always have a backup plan like splitting a taxi with friends. Rainy days may create some challenges in Rome but they can be easily fixed.
