Travel Blog for Kirsten Alana

Fighting my Dislike of Fighting…at Gladiator School

Sunday, May 6, 2012

My life has been marked by a lot of fighting. I have felt and seen enough of nasty words and fists and bruises; enough to mold me into a person who is now, rather a pacifist. In words and actions, I dislike confrontation. Even when others try to pick a fight with me, I tend to turn the other cheek. The psychology of all that is another post for another day and isn’t this a travel blog…

Thanks to the Rome itinerary put in place by HouseTrip and Viator, I was forced to spend a day wielding a sword. Like a gladiator. Absolutely, positively the last thing I would normally want to do.

We began by learning all about the history and sport of fighting in Roman times. Much of it went in one ear and out the other. Like I said, violence isn’t really my cup of tea. Though I like history, the museum portion of the school interested me more as a photographer than a fact gatherer.

This did stick with me: while gladiators could earn their freedom, many chose to remain in the ring after their escape was earned.

That situation sounded eerily similar to what so many people around the world do when they long for an escape from a life they dislike, yet they do not choose to change their lives even when they have the ability to do so. I was once that person.

My blogging friends really had a good laugh at my expense that day. Though I was far from the only one who had a moment or two. When our instructor informed us that scabbards were called vaginas in Roman times…we laughed so hard we were reprimanded and the instructor lost his cool for a few minutes until we could all recover. Admittedly, I did have the er, hardest, time with that one. Then, Dave was informed that he handles a sword really well. More laughter. Following that, the rest of the afternoon flew by in a haze of enjoyable sport because our guards were down and our moods were lightened. We may have fought each other with wooden swords but we grew closer united in the sheer hilarity of being forced to wear utterly unflattering costumes in an Italian theme park dedicated to killing.

It was, unique.

There is nothing I did in Italy that entertained me more than gladiator school, in the end. Perhaps I should trade journaling for sword fighting, as a means of dealing with turmoil, more often.

If you’re looking for the ideal mix of learning, history and fun: please book yourself a visit to Gladiator School with Viator. Even if violence is not your preferred piece of cake, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised just as I was.

HouseTrip rents apartments in Rome starting at just ₤23/night and they were kind enough to provide me this experience during my “live like a local” sojourn in Italy. Opinions in this post are my own.

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Katrina - Man, looks like so much fun! (Heh, Dave and Deb’s post utterly failed to mention the colorful terminology. ;)May 6, 2012 – 8:50 am

Angie Away - It was surprisingly fun, wasn’t it? And I’m a total turn-the-other-cheeker, too! We are not exactly the best gladiator match up…May 6, 2012 – 9:51 am

Kirsten Alana - Ha! And yet we really got into it when we did have to fight each other ….

It was definitely surprisingly fun. Much more so than I expected!! What can we learn to do if we ever get to Greece?!May 6, 2012 – 10:27 am

Kirsten Alana - It really was fun!! And I am not surprised D&D left out some details in their post – they have more traffic and have to worry more about writing things like that But it did, indeed, really happen! They do, have pictures to prove it Even if they didn’t post them on their blog.May 6, 2012 – 10:28 am

Andrea - It was definitely a unique experience! I still can’t believe we did that. May 6, 2012 – 3:51 pm

Kirsten Alana - Unique! And so fun!May 7, 2012 – 2:25 am

Laurel - Such a cheesy but fun experience and Marcus’ crush on you was so cute, especially since he was playing the role of a no-nonsense gladiator. May 7, 2012 – 6:54 am

Ayngelina - I also hate confrontation. I’d rather just stay away from all of it, although maybe I need to come here to learn some sword skills for the days I need to fight back!May 8, 2012 – 3:58 pm

Ceri - I don’t like fighting at all either but I’m so fascinated with the old gladiator games. This looks like so much! May 13, 2012 – 11:46 pm

Moscow Holidays - The photography looks stunning. All the pictures looks wonderful. It seems that the pictures are taken by the professional photographer. One can get the clear idea about the place by just seeing the pictures. I want to become photographer so these tips will improve my skills. ThanksMay 14, 2012 – 9:30 am

Seduced by Rome

Friday, May 4, 2012

When I was in college, my dream was to study abroad for a semester in Florence. My mother is a classically trained artist who I’ve always called the “female Michelangelo.” It seemed fitting to be in the place in Italy where art is such a prominent element. I even began the entry process for the program and planned my life around that semester. Yet things, as they often do, got in the way and I didn’t end up in Italy as an impressionable girl in her early twenties.

Instead, I ended up a decade later at 31 in an apartment in Trastevere not knowing what to expect and completely free of pre-conceived notions, eager for adventure. Still, slightly disappointed my first experience in Italy wasn’t going to take place in Florence.

So I think Rome heard the little sigh that escaped my psyche and planned accordingly, a grand seduction that I never saw coming.

I don’t know if it was the gelato…

11 comments

Marie-Eve Vallières - Aww, I love this post. So sweet! I’m glad you enjoyed Rome. It truly is one of the best cities in the world, and not just for photographic reasons. Although a big part of my love is biased by the large amount of gelato I indulged.May 4, 2012 – 8:26 am

Caanan @ No Vacation Required - I’m gonna say it was the gelato. Or maybe the wine.

Great to follow you running around the world!May 4, 2012 – 1:11 pm

Ayngelina - Love the photos, make sure you get some burrata while you are there. May 4, 2012 – 2:59 pm

Kirsten Alana - Awh, NOW you tell me. I’ve already left Rome. What’s burrata?May 4, 2012 – 3:37 pm

Kirsten Alana - The wine and gelato were definitely heavy influencers in my love affair. I won’t pretend otherwise.

Glad you are enjoying!! May 4, 2012 – 3:38 pm

Kirsten Alana - Thanks Marie-Eve! I’m so glad you liked the post and yes, I did enjoy Rome. I might agree that it is one of the best cities in the world. It certainly surprised me in how much I loved it.May 4, 2012 – 3:39 pm

Steph (@ 20 Years Hence) - Florence was my first introduction to Rome seven years ago and it was a good one. BUT, I still think of all the places I saw in Italy, Rome was the one that solidified in me the need to return. I ate a lot of gelato while in Italy, but my favorite was definitely in Rome near the Piazza Navona (I think). May 4, 2012 – 4:28 pm

Kirsten Alana - I’m glad that in some way Rome was the city which impacted you more. It convinces me I’ve lost nothing And hopefully, I will still get to Florence one day. But I am definitely not sad I have been to Rome. It was incredible! May 5, 2012 – 7:12 am

twoOregonians - Mmm…yes to all of the above! Italy seems to be quite good at these grand seductions. What is it about the way it can so quickly disarm the cynic? I love that you scored a ride on the back of the Vespa : ) How perfect is that?May 6, 2012 – 5:23 am

Cailin O’Neil - I loved Rome as well when I was there in 2007, but was only there for 2 days! Not enough time! Must go back soon, these photos just confirmed that May 6, 2012 – 6:56 am

Technosyncratic - We spent just two days in Rome waaaaay back when we backpacked through Europe after college. We arrived mainly with intentions just to see the Colosseum and Vatican, and left thoroughly entranced with the city. I can’t wait to go back someday. May 11, 2012 – 8:05 pm

Eating my Way through Rome with Context Travel

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

I always say that one of the best ways to get to know a country, is through its food. Lucky for me, HouseTrip took that into account when planning our “live like a local” experience in Rome. Enlisting the help of Context Travel, they planned for us to shop and cook like Italians in Rome would, as well as experience Cucina Povera.

We began a day of gluttony by meeting our first Context guide Eleonora, at La Fiorentina for coffee and Italian pastries. A better start to a morning in Italy may not be possible.

22 comments

toandfrommag - Might be too early to say this (it’s 8:40AM my time), but I could eat pretty much everything photographed in this post. Ah, Italy will do that to a person. May 2, 2012 – 9:42 am

Caanan @ No Vacation Required - Good gravy! Thanks for serving up major food porn. That lemon and berry dessert looks incredible. Can’t wait to read about what you are eating in Turkey.May 2, 2012 – 10:06 am

Steph (@ 20 Years Hence) - Oh dear. This post has not only managed to add inches to my thighs, but it’s also convinced me that I will need to up our food budget when Tony and I hit Rome on our big trip. The freshness of the ingredients is outstanding in the photos, so I can only imagine how good it all tasted. Suddenly cereal for lunch is not at all appetizing… May 2, 2012 – 12:52 pm

Kirsten Alana - major. food. porn. indeed!! that was all of Italy — so prepare yourself, there are more food posts coming! and yes, Turkey has been great for food as well …. but that lemon and berry tiramisu from the night in this post will stay with me FOREVER.May 2, 2012 – 4:34 pm

Kirsten Alana - I am sorry for ruining your cereal :-/ But yes, leave lots of money for food in Italy. It is hands down the best part of visiting.May 2, 2012 – 4:34 pm

Kirsten Alana - Haha! I felt that way while in Italy, I craved simple spaghetti with good cheese sometimes for breakfast May 2, 2012 – 4:35 pm

Pamela - My mouth is watering. I love Italian food, but I haven’t had the opportunity to eat the ‘real’ thing. I can’t wait to visit Italy someday.May 3, 2012 – 3:40 am

Sophie - Oh yes, I think I could manage being Italian for a while, too. Fab photos, Kirsten, all gorgeous. I want to reach into my screen and grab the strawberries.May 3, 2012 – 7:33 am

Sarah Lee - Good God, Kirsten these photos are making me sooo hungry! Italy gets a big #yumgasm from me!May 3, 2012 – 12:22 pm

Kirsten Alana - Thanks Pamela! I love Italian food too — even more so now that I have eaten Italian food IN Italy May 3, 2012 – 3:13 pm

Ceri - You are living one of my dreams at the moment, hunni. One of my big dreams is to spend the summer in Italy doing nothing but learning Italian and eating EVERYTHING.May 3, 2012 – 3:17 pm

Kirsten Alana - Darlin, I was only in Rome 2 nights and 3 days so the posts won’t last forever But yes — being in Italy was like a dream. I cannot recommend visiting highly enough.

Thanks for the comment as always Ceri!!May 3, 2012 – 3:36 pm

Kirsten Alana - Yeah it does!!!!!!! And sorry if I’ve made you more hungry May 3, 2012 – 3:37 pm

Kirsten Alana - RIGHT?! And yes, those strawberries had our whole group quite well salivating over themselves. May 3, 2012 – 3:38 pm

Don Faust - Ummm… yum. I hope you tried some of those treats in the first photo. The fruit tarts look awesome. I’m curious what the Pralines Artigianali are (craft pralines)? – looks like chocolate-covered cake squares, sprinkled with pecan bits.May 3, 2012 – 6:46 pm

Kirsten Alana - I don’t love pecans so I can’t speak to that but yes I ate my way through La Fiorentina that morning and my FAVORITE thing was a Nutella Donut. (Thanks for the comment Don!!) May 5, 2012 – 7:31 am

Don Faust - OMG – nutella donut! I’ve never seen one of those – sounds dangerous.May 5, 2012 – 4:20 pm

Kirsten Alana - Oh it was AMAZING!!! And very dangerous. I could have eaten 12. My teeth may have fallen out but it would have been an exquisite way to go May 5, 2012 – 4:28 pm

Abby - YUM! Just what I needed to encourage me out of bed to make some breakfast!! May 6, 2012 – 12:41 pm

Accident Lawyer Denver - Oh gosh, this looks incredible! I want to visit Rome one day! May 8, 2012 – 7:48 pm

Spencer - I love the food in Italy! I spent a month travelling through there in 2005 and had such a great time. Meal times have never been the same since! May 15, 2012 – 5:35 am

Context Travel in Media | Context Travel Blog - [...] us on a couple of food walks in Rome. Both bloggers wrote fun and engaging reports in Eating my way through Rome and Living Like a Roman posts. These are some pretty mouth watering pictures, so prepare [...]May 9, 2012 – 9:46 am

Carried Away on a Vespa in Rome

Friday, April 27, 2012

It is funny that my journey to Rome involved a lot of serious introspection because my first activity in Italy was not on any level indicative of the deep thoughts I was having during my plane ride. In fact, my first order of business in Rome was quite possibly the best fulfillment of a girlhood dream and a wild cliché, EVER.

I hardly had enough time to make it into the city, settle into my apartment in Trastevere, meet my roommate Heather and unpack a little; before we were picked up by two vintage Vespas and two handsome Italian men for a sunset ride through Rome to meet our other blogger colleagues near the Piazza Venezia.

8 comments

Life Lessons on the Way to Italy

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

During my Alitalia flight to Rome, at around 37,000 feet when Geneva was out the window to my left, I was trying to read the on-board magazine and a phrase caught my attention, “someday this pain will be useful to you.” Perhaps it stuck out from the rest of the words on that page because it was the only portion written in English. Perhaps, I was destined to find it.

20 comments

A Cook Not Mad (Nat) - Nice post, thanks for sharing.April 18, 2012 – 7:58 pm

Kirsten Alana - Thank you for reading it and taking the time to leave a comment Nat! April 18, 2012 – 8:36 pm

Peter Heck - Beautifully written and that phrase in the mag was destined for you. The only thing written in English, i’d say it was meant for you to find… This journey we’re on, it’s certainly not as easy as other people think it is sometimes.. April 19, 2012 – 1:59 am

Sandra - Lovely, heartfelt writing. And I can relate in so many ways – I’m still learning the road too! Best of luck on the journey.April 19, 2012 – 4:39 am

Mscathy Ly - It was destiny that I came across this blog because this particular post was exactly what I needed to read.

I appreciate your truthfulness, inspiration, and motivation. Thank you!

Cathy Trails April 19, 2012 – 9:05 am

spencerspellman - Well it would appear there’s more than one traveling philosopher out there in the world ! Some gems in here and it may inspire me to finish a post I started a year ago on embracing fear. I think often fear and pain is rarely approached. Fear and pain instead approach us and the natural instinct is to escape it. Now I’m not one to just go out looking for pain, but I am becoming much more okay with it. I can without a shadow of a doubt say that I am who I am today because of past pain and how I responded to it. But travel was a major part in helping me embrace and overcome it.April 19, 2012 – 12:02 pm

Ceri - That was such a personal note, Kirsten. Thank you for sharing it with us. I know what you mean about hiding that sadness that inevitably comes with travel and heartbreak. A lot of us do cover it up with photos of beautiful scenery and forced smiles of excitement. April 20, 2012 – 4:39 pm

Bird - I like this. I enjoy your blog/tweets because I think you have the balance of beautiful travel content and personal insight just right, but every now and again it’s good to just tell your readers how it is. I think more people than not will be nodding their heads to this and recalling pain from a time gone by and I hope it motivates them too like mine does me. And that love/relationship thing – it will come and it will be beautiful (I don’t say that as a smug married – I’m not – but as someone who can’t see it not happening for you!)xApril 27, 2012 – 5:58 am

Lola - i always love how honest you are, kirsten. you are an inspiration…scars and all!April 29, 2012 – 1:29 pm

Kirsten Alana - Thank you for saying so dear. It’s kind of the only way I know how to write but it often gets me in a lot of trouble.May 2, 2012 – 6:04 am

Kirsten Alana - Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment. It really means a lot to me and your encouragement is a gift. I appreciate so much that my writing and blog format style appeal to you. I don’t do it for anyone but me in the end yet the more I do it the more it becomes important that I have a bit of an audience and people who care and you are the kind of person I am writing for May 2, 2012 – 6:06 am

Kirsten Alana - Thank YOU for reading Ceri, and taking the time to leave such a nice comment.May 2, 2012 – 6:09 am

Kirsten Alana - Haha!! I have always been a bit of a philosopher or just a deep thinker. Perhaps I am over serious

But thank you for taking the time to leave a comment my fellow deep thinker. It’s been great to know you Spence and as you get more and more busy in travel it’s nice to still be able to keep in touch. It’s just wonderful the role travel has played in both our lives as a healing agent.May 2, 2012 – 6:10 am

Kirsten Alana - Wow! That is *really* wonderful to hear Mscathy Ly. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and thank you for reading.May 2, 2012 – 6:31 am

Kirsten Alana - Thank you very much Sandra!May 2, 2012 – 6:31 am

Kirsten Alana - Right?! I think it really was. And no, as you and I and Dalene have discussed many times … it is not, all, easy. But I am glad we have each other and others who work in travel that can understand the balance between good and bad that this life is.May 2, 2012 – 6:32 am

Ayngelina - My favourite posts of yours are the ones where you are vulnerable and share difficult things. As important as it is to inspire people how wonderful travel can be, it’s also just as beneficial to see that there are lows that accompany the highs. May 3, 2012 – 3:22 am

Kirsten Alana - I really appreciate that you would say that Ayngelina! With all the talk in travel blogging about how important it is to have a niche, I struggle with what mine is or even could be. Maybe it’s that I tell it like it is and talk not just about travel but about LIFE and how travel is simply a part of mine.

I don’t know. But I really appreciate that you took the time to tell me this Thank you.May 3, 2012 – 3:29 am

Best travel articles - [...] Kirsten is the iPhone queen and someone that just kicks ass. Check out her awesome iPhoneography and beautiful writing on her website where she is able to do things like turn one little quote that caught her eye, “someday this pain will be useful to you,” into something super inspirational. [...]April 27, 2012 – 3:47 pm

Carried Away on a Vespa in Rome | Aviators and a Camera - [...] is funny that my journey to Rome involved a lot of serious introspection because my first activity in Italy was not on any level [...]April 28, 2012 – 3:29 am

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Aviators and a Camera

Hi! I’m Kirsten…

Fighting my Dislike of Fighting…at Gladiator School

Seduced by Rome

Eating my Way through Rome with Context Travel

Carried Away on a Vespa in Rome

Life Lessons on the Way to Italy

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