First of all, it hardly feels like I'm in school here because I never have more than 2 classes per day and starting in 2 weeks, we have no more Friday classes! And yesterday, my morning class was cancelled so I had the whole day free until 5:30 pm! This is the life :) But really, the few times that I am in class, it is truly SO INTERESTING. I can't even decide which of my 4 classes is my favorite because they are all great and are all topics that I am most passionate about. For example, in religion the other day, Father Mark talked all about the Church before and after Vatican II and told (in story form, which let's face it, is much more engaging than a textbook) us about the popes from that time period. He talked about Pope John XXIII who opened the Second Vatican Council and boy, did he sound like a character! He was elected to be a "caretaker" pope since he was old and frail, but he ended up changing the whole landscape of Catholicism. His warmth and good humor, much unlike the previous pope, made him an endearing figure to Catholics. He was seen out in public, helping Jews during the Holocaust, and frequenting children's hospitals around Rome. Father Mark even told us stories about how Pope John would form a frequent habit of sneaking out of the Vatican late at night for an evening "passeggiata" or stroll along the streets of Rome; meanwhile all the Vatican officials would be sent into a frenzy trying to "find" the Pope! The way Father Mark tells us these stories makes me so interested and eager to learn more---and that's a lot for me to say since our classes meet at 7pm and 8am!
Last Tuesday, my friend Jayna from Saint Mary's who is studying in Alicante, Spain this semester came to Rome to visit. We showed her the places that we had already been to and were her "tour guides" for a few days. Crazy how comfortable I am already feeling with navigating this city that I can show other people around :) Jayna stayed with some friends she came with during the week and then joined us in the hotel for the weekend. On Friday after classes, she, Cara, and I ventured out to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's Basilica. With my handy Rick Steve's travel book in hand, I again played tour guide and read to the girls about the various paintings, statues, tapestries, etc. in the museums. There are 54 galleries (or rooms) in the museums, culminating with the true gem, the Sistine Chapel. I had of course seen pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but nothing could prepare me for what it really was: literally floor to ceiling frescoes of the Bible as depicted by Michelangelo. The main fresco, the Last Judgment is on the wall behind the altar, and was painted about 20 years after the rest of the chapel. The tension present in the Church at that time due to the Counter-Reformation is very evident in the painting itself. It was just too beautiful not to take pictures, so even though you aren't supposed to, I snuck a few in :) Afterwards, we got to go straight through to Saint Peter's Basilica where we saw JPII's tomb and Michelangelo's Pieta, a sculpture I have always admired and loved. We just happened to be there right as mass was starting (okay, maybe not so much of a coincidence since mass is said there almost every hour haha).
 |
| Jayna was super interested in the tour :) |
 |
| The Sistine Chapel |
Saturday morning we had our second day of our lectures and tours class; this time we went to Villa Giulia (a museum filled with Etruscan sculpture and pottery) and Villa Borghese (a lovely park, where I've seen the most green since I've been in Rome!). Villa Giulia is probably not a place I would have ever gone myself, since to the outsider it looks like a museum with rooms full of pottery and sculpture, but again, our professors who led the tours had a way of drawing us all in (at least for a bit before we all became too tired and hungry to function haha). Dr. Hansen, the archaeology professor who leads the tours along with the art history professor, is so into the subject matter that she describes ancient ruins as "handsome" and "sexy." She's quite entertaining! Unfortunately once we left the museum and went to Villa Borghese, it was pouring rain so we didn't get to spend much time in the park. I definitely want to go back there while the weather is still nice though and pack a picnic and read a book.
 |
| Dr. Hansen showing us around Rome |
Saturday evening was Jayna's last night with us, so we took her to Scholars to watch the ND game with some University of Dallas guys that we had met the night before (amazing game by the way!! Or last quarter, anyway...why is it that Notre Dame always gives me an almost-heart attack in the 4th quarter?!) The Dallas guys are also studying in Rome for the semester; however, their campus is an hour outside the city and getting into the city demands that they take several forms of public transportation and then usually cabs back late at night (which can cost up to 40 euro per person!). The fact of the matter is that many other university Rome programs are similar to this one in that they are located outside of the city. Every time I hear about one of these, I feel even luckier to be on the Saint Mary's Rome program. We are walking distance from everywhere and anywhere we could possibly want to go. Such a unique opportunity. I can't get over how great all of this is. If you couldn't already tell, I'm kind of obsessed with Rome already :)
Sunday morning, the deacons that work with the SMC Rome program, Deacon Mike and Deacon Nick took whoever wanted to go to the Basilica St. Paul's Outside the Walls. We had to take the metro to get there since it's outside the city a bit, but it was definitely worth the short trek. All along the sides of the basilica are pictures of every pope starting with St. Peter. St. Paul's tomb is also located at this basilica. Look for a separate blog post soon about all the churches I've been visiting. They are way too numerous to mention here!
 |
| St. Paul's Outside the Walls |
Off to get gelato at Giolitti with the girls! Hmmm...what flavor to choose this time? These are difficut life decisions... :)
No comments:
Post a Comment