Ventunesima Giorno - Palazzo Massimo

We are getting to the end of this crazy journey today I went to Palazzo Massimo a museum with a lot of statues and an entire floor of mosaics. Here are a few things I noticed/learned from there:

• The statues had very intricate and interesting hair ( I went crazy for all the different types of hair)


• During ancient times, in circular tables they would have a hole in the middle and during celebrations they would pour wine into it so that the deceased could participate in the celebrations


• Medusa

Ventesimo Giorno - Caravaggio Hunt

I finally got to do my Caravaggio scavanger hunt today! Rome has SO much Caravaggio that would have been simply silly if I hadn't tryed to see more of it than we did as a group. Even though I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to, it was still a lot of fun.

Alison and I got up early and set out in search of Basilica de San Luigi dei Francesi. We walked around a little bit but eventually found it and right in time for the doors to open! We walked in and saw probably the most famous Caravaggio painting ever, The Calling of Matthew and yes it was totally worth it. After seeing the trifecta of Caravaggio at this church we went in search of Basilica de San' Agostino and with a little more wandering we found it. There we saw Caravaggio's Madonna of Loreto and (though we didn't know about it before we went in), a fresco by Rapheal! It was amazing to be able to walk into what looks like a normal church and be able to see a priceless piece of art. I think that is definitely one of the things about Rome that is so special. You can do things like this any day and it's not a big deal to most people it's just a normal part of life.

Diciannovesimo Giorno - Etruscian Museum and Palazzo Altemps

We were finally able to go the Etruscian and it was pretty interesting. Basically there were a thousands of bowls and urns and plates in pottery and bronze. It was amazing how vivid the imagery on each piece was and how bright the colors still were. These pieces are millions of years old, they are older than roman things because the etruscians came before the romans. There was a lot of images of sphinx's, hercules, Pan, and centaurs(these are mythical creatures that have the torso of a man and legs of a horse, this came from people looking at horseback riders and thinking that they looked like they were part of the horse.) I noticed there was alot of similarities between egyptian art and etruscian art. I also found out that Pan is supposedly the ancient symbol for the devil, in ancient times satrys, (half man - half goat), were considered evil creatures. The jewelry was just as intricate as the pots. It was amazing how ornate they could make tiny pieces of jewerly. I also realized that in general everything in history is inter-connected in some way. It's so interesting to see how everything builds on top of eachother and takes things from eachother and makes it their own. It is all sort of the same and in-turn we are all sort of the same. People really need to realize that more often and it's funny how going to a museum that is dedicated to an ancient extinct civilization made me think about that. This experience really is opening my eyes to more than just religion and art and culture.

In the afternoon I went to palazzo altemps, which is a museum in an old palazzo with a bunch of statues of gods and goddesses and other famous figures. Here are a few things I gleamed from the experience:

• Nymphs followed around dionysus and drank wine etc. with him, they were the original groupies!


• In ancient times, helmets were made with eyes on them so that battle enemies would be fooled and shoot at the helmet and not the real face.


• The image of god the father developed from the image of Zeus


• statues weren't made plainly. Alot of them actually were painted ! ( we found gold specks on one of the statues)


• All palazzo's had their own chapels in there with intricate depictions of flowers and angels.


• The flower is a modified symbol of the sun


• Capricorn is the symbol of the family of Palazzo Altemps because it was all over the chapel and almost every wall painting etc.


• The couples Isis and Horace, as well as Apollo and Artemis are symbols of Mary and Jesus

Quindicesimo-Diciottesimo Giorni - Keep Calm and Carry On

We have reached the point of no return. We are past the middle point of this trip and a lot has happened. Simply put, the past four days were quite eventful. We went on our first real trip outside of Rome to Napoli.

We were all so excited to get out of Rome for a few days, but it turned out to be completely different than we all expected. I don't want to say that it was completely bad, because I think that everything happens for a reason and that you should use every experience you have in life to help make you a better person. You can't go through life dwelling on things that have already happened, you have to learn from every experience and move forward. Live your life to it's fullest and try your hardest to not think about what if's or how you could have changed something that has already happened. Instead try to think of how you will fix it in the present, or move on from it, or avoid doing it/ having it happen again in the future. That is really all you can do, because otherwise you will miss out on life and probably won't be too happy either.

Quattordicesimo Giorno - The Ancient Sebas in his Natrual Enviroment - Ostia Antica

Well, today was quite interesting. We went to Ostia Antica, which is an ancient roman city about half an hour from Rome. There were three major things I got out of the experience:

• The city was a huge place


• It is very dusty(when I got home my hair was literally covered in dust)


• Ancient ruins are basically a big kid playground

We saw 7 major types of structures, the necropolis(city of the dead), shops, the neptune baths, Insula, the theatre, a temple to Mithra, and a Salareum(as well as enough rocks and dust to last a long time.) The Necropolis was right at the beginning and it was like a domus except that the rooms were smaller than normal because it was just a place to go visit your dead loved ones. They were thought to be heavenly rooms, that allowed you to be closer to god and to your beloved dead long after they are gone. Next we came across the shops. You could tell they were shops because they had different little arches and there were many of them side by side. They also had stoa's where people could sit around and preach. For example the apostles, Peter and Paul would probably have done their leather works and then preached afterwards. The neptune baths were public baths that the whole city would use. They had serpents and dragons depicted in mosaics on the floor(it was beautiful and very ornate for a public bath.) Each room would have about 3 feet of water in it and there was a hot room and a cold room, as well as a room called a stringletta where the slaves would scrape your skin and take off excess dirt and oil. The Insula were basically houses and they would go up 3-4 floors, most had only a fire pit and no kitchen. The theatre was probably one the tallest structures in the city. I climbed up to the top of one of the side and had a great view of the entire area. It was similiar to the coliseum except it was a semi circle with the front side being open and the backside having up to 3,000 seats. Theatre was the ancient peoples form of entertainment so everyone would come to see it. Apparently the first two rows had stone chairs for the wealthy and they left spots for muses and gods in those rows as well. As we walked along we stumbled upon a rundown/roped off temple to mithra. Of course a bunch of us jumped over the railing to see inside and found it. The mithra is a god that is always depicted killing a cow. Next we saw a salareum were the ancient people used to lay on their side and on each side of the temple had 30 people eating a meal together. People would lay with their feet facing towards the wall like a sort of couch and the slaves would walk down the middle to serve everyone.

After we saw all these things we explored more and I don't know if it was a mixture of the heat, dust, lack of food and water and sleep or what, but Sebas as well as a lot of the rest of us started to get a little delirious. Sebas started treating Ostia Antica like a personal playground. He was jogging along the cobblestones and then jumping on top of things and jumping off things. It was so entertaining.

Tredicesimo Giorno - Jewish Museo and Tiberna

The past 12 days have been completely filled with activities to do as a group and they have been planned out for us completely, but today was the first time we had the option to go out on our own and do different activites. Aly, Jacob, Katie and I walked all the way to the Etruscian museum, only to find out it was closed, so we decided to switch it up and go to the Jewish Museum instead.

We have been going to so many churches and doing so much christian stuff that it was nice to switch it up and see something completely different. Growing up in New York City, I have been well acquanted with the jewish religion, but the museum was actually really interesting and I learned a lot about Rome in general from it.

Well, Rome has the oldest Jewish community in Europe and the world because in the 2nd century Jews arrived in Rome and Rome is the only city that Jews weren't expelled from during the various wars etc. So the original community is still in Rome, with around 14,000 jews living here currently.

From the beginning of the city, Jews always lived in separate neighborhoods from the christians, but in the 1500's they were forced to move into ghetto's or prison-like neighborhoods. They didn't get emancipated and gain equal rights until the 1870's. By then they finally started to deconstruct the ghetto's and then in 1884 they built the synagoge which is still standing next to the museum as a symbol of emancipation.

It's so interesting that humans no matter who they are want to be superior to someone, so they go about it by persecuting people who are different from them. The Roman's persecuted the Christians, then the Christians persecuted the Jews, the Christians also persecuted the Muslim's during the crusades, and today the jews and muslims are still in conflict. The chain is endless. It is truly a never-ending cycle of persecution. I think humans also always want to be in control of something or someone and by persecuting people they are in control of them and making them feel inferior. It is just sad that people don't learn from there mistakes or at least don't completely learn from their mistakes. History really does repeat itself and learning about the Jews persecution and life in the ghetto's really brought this issue to forfront of my mind.

On a lighter note, by going to the Jewish Museum we got to see a completely new part of the city and we took a bus from right outside the vatican to trastevere and walked across a bridge to the museum. When we were walking across the bridge we realized that we were on the tiberina which is a little island in the middle to the Tevere. There was a little dam that looked a little like a waterfall. It was really cool to explore a different part of the city!

Dodicesimo Giorno - Hey Iggy, Whats up?

Another sunday in Rome. The most memorable parts were going to the ignatius rooms, aka the rooms that St. Ignanius of Loyola lived, worked, wrote, studied in. The Ignatius of Loyola that my school is named after, yea him. Well we got to see his study, a bust of his head and his chapel, which is also the room that he died in. There was definitely something special about being in the same room that Ignatius lived in and died in. We have literally been in so many places that historical figures were, like people that I have read about and learned about, I've been where they lived! It is such a weird and awesome feeling to be able to say that.

After being in the Ignatius rooms, we went right next door to mass in the Basilica de Gesu(Jesuit.) I think this may have been the most beautiful church that I have ever been in. Don't get me wrong St. Peter's Basilica is obviously beautiful as well, but this church was just my personal favorite, I realized this during mass.

As I sat through mass, trying to catch different words in Italian to understand where we were in the mass and going over the past week's events I looked up (also, because you can't leave an Italian church without looking up.) When I looked up I saw something that amazed me. There were statues that were carved into the ceiling and were literally 3D or 4D actually. They were on the ceiling and the sides of the walls, but they weren't into the wall they were freestanding off of the wall. It was breathtaking. The more I looked around the more of these statues I saw, they were all over the ceiling and the upper part of the walls. After I got over the inital amazement I went back to paying close attention to mass, but afterwards I continued to marvel at these structures. They were so unique and exquisitely beautiful.

Undicesimo Giorno - It's cool guys just leave me...again, Musei Vaticani AND free Lady Gaga in Circus Maximius!

Today we went to the Vatican Museum and yet again, I somehow got lost from the group and had to take the subway by myself to meet them. Luckily the line to get in was very long so I spotted them in line and it was fine. Now I'm going to be honest, I really didn't think the Vatican Museum was anything too special. I was really excited to see the sistine chapel and it was kind of a let down. The whole museum was overcrowded and confusing to get around. Once we were in the Sistine Chapel there were too many people for me to really appreciate the amazing place I was in and the guards were yelling at everyone. It made me feel like I was in a prison or something like that, so unfortunately I don't really have much to say about this day. But at night I went to a FREE lady gaga concert in circus maximus. Circus Maximus is a huge field/ open park that was used by the Romans for chariot races and sacrifices of animals and humans, it is near the forum and the coliseum. So, yet again I was blown away by the fact that I got to see a free concert by a world famous artist in a place where people used to live and have entertainment millions of years ago. Also, because Lady Gaga's song "edge of glory" had become our theme song for the trip and then she happened to be playing for free in Rome, (I'm telling you there was some kind of power watching over our group.) Anyway, it was amazing and a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget! I'm definitely on the edge!

Decimo Giorno - My Dear Friends, Caravaggio, Bernini and Pricilla ( as well as the other 40,000 christians buried in her catacomb)

Today we went to the Borghese Museum. We had all squeeze in this tiny bus, a short bus as we called it. And when I say squeeze I'm not kidding we literally squeezed together just to all fit on. Once we got into the Borghese it was beautiful, it is an estate that was owned by the Borghese family and is now a huge park with many different things inside of it including this museum, which used to be the house of the family. This was one of my favorite museums ever going to, because it didn't look like a normal museum it was a beaufitul villa that just happened to have priceless works of art in it. The building itself was gorgeous and ornate inside and out, but what we saw inside was really exquisite and unlike anything I've ever seen, Bernini's sculpture's. In Hades abducting Persephone it is so realistic, I could have stood there for hours staring at it. There are dimples in her leg and the hair is so perfectly carved it is truly amazing. Then I stumbled upon an entire room of caravaggio. It was amazing to be able to see so many of his paintings in one place. I literally ran up to them and pointed them out to people because I was so excited about it. Like I've said before I have never felt so passionate about learning before. With the caravaggio, I just can't get over the fact that I learned about and saw it in a book and now I'm looking at the real painting and I know all about the background of the painting etc. It makes it so much more interesting.

In the afternoon we went to our first catacomb. We must have some kind of lucky charm following us though because we got to the catacomb late, but someone got inside and lied to a nun to get the group a tour. We were at the Pricilla Catacomb. It is outside the city walls and has over 40, 000 tombs in it stretching for 8 miles, 35 meters underground. It looked completely different from the SCAVI. It was just a dirt walk way with small holes carved out of the walls(people were a lot smaller back then.) It was dark, damp and very eerie, but there were actually a lot of frescos and symbols through out the catacomb. I found out that the first real symbol of a christ was the fish. Then there was also images like the :

• Anchor - eternal salvation - you are anchored in christ/ your faith


• 7 baskets of bread- which symbolzed breaking of the bread,


• Phoenix rising from the ashes - resurection of christ, new life


• 3 wisemen


• arante


• jonah - symbol of resurection of christ


• madonna


• alpha and omega - symbol for god


• moses and noah and jonah scene - underdog stories and the tombs were of the poorer peoples so they wanted to believe that they had hope for going to heaven - promise of something nice so that they could survive through the suffering in this life.


• hermes = christ as the "good shepard"

There are 60 catacombs in Rome and 5 are open to the public, this was the biggest. There are also a lot of unopened tombs, which is what made it even creepier, and the fact that as we we were walking the tour guide turned the lights out on us, to make us walk faster. I screamed and got very freaked out by that. Oh and stories of the christians hiding in the catacombs when they were being persecuted is a myth, but they did come down to bring things to family members, like the family tombs in the SCAVI.

Nono Giorno Continua - Mind-blowing, Life-Changing Experience: The SCAVI

Getting back today I was in a total trance. I can't even describe how I felt, but I will try.

This afternoon I went to the SCAVI, which are the excavations underneath St. Peter's Basilica. It completely renewed me in all aspects of life and made me feel so awe-inspired. I have a renewed passion for learning, history, art, religion. It just made me really excited about everything. I literally couldn't stop talking about it and (though this is completely cheesy and cliche') I wanted to shout from the rooftops about my experience.

Well those were my reactions afterwards, but I'll explain a little bit what the SCAVI is. St. Peter's Basilica is built on top of about 4 other churchs and tombs, which were all built on top of eachother as well. They originally built the basilica on a hill and make it the focal point of the city, but the ancient basilica remains are whats so interesting, it is the tombs that are the real jackpot here.

In ancient times, they didn't have grave yards, but they had something called family tombs. These were rooms that they kept the bodies or the remains of family members and the family would come and have little parties to celebrate the dead. It was the first time that middle class people had this type of place to keep their dead. So, 35 ft underneath the Basilica you see today is an entire city of family tombs, a city underground. The tombs stretch all the way from the back of the basilica to the river. When you are walking in St. Peter's Square you are walking on top of a city of tombs. And inside these family tombs they would have up to 78 urns of family members! In all, there are more than 100,000 people buried in this city of tombs under St. Peter's, but it wasn't eerie or creepy at all. It was fascinating and really felt like I was walking in a little city.

After seeing this, we were taken into a little room and in the wall there was a hole, in the hole was a clear plastic box with real bones in it. These were the bones of St. Peter himself. I literally got chills when I saw this. I was in the presence of the bones of St. Peter. It was beyond words.

To top it all off, on our way out we were taken through the crypt of the popes, where there are a bunch of popes buried. I was with Dr. Sebastian, our teacher, and on the way out, the last two popes were Boniface the VII and Nicholas the II. Two of the popes we had just talked about in our lit class the day before.

It put me off the edge, in a good way. I still don't know if I have fully wrapped my mind around the idea that there are still remains and structures from millions of years ago and that a modern city is built on top of these structures. Life goes on on top of places where people used to live millions of years ago. The world is so big and so much has happened, it's just amazing. There is literally so much out there and so much to see, learn, find, do. I am addicted now. I just want more and yet I still can't even believe that I was there next to St. Peter's bones or that I was walking in an area that ancient people used to walk in all the time.

Nono Giorno - Sunday Best for the Ambassadore and Doria Pamphili

We woke up today and put on our sunday best even though it was thursday, you may ask why? Well we were going to see the Ambassador to the Holy See! So, of course we had to look nice and surprisingly we are a very good looking bunch when were all done up. Anyway, we got to the embassy and had to give in our id's to the guard. Then he called us in one by one, we were met by Nathan Blans, who is in charge of Public Relations for the embassy. His job is to talk to the media and answer any questions for the ambassador and the embassy. Also, to set up different conferences and talks for the ambassador and set up appointments with the media( there are only two major media outlets for the vatican, vatican radio and the observatory romano, the vatican newspaper.)

He took us inside where we had to go through a little security check and then on to the main room where we all sat down and waited for the ambassador. Then the ambassador came down. He greeted us and asked a little bit about our college and everything. Then he asked if anyone spoke italian and I timidly raised my hand, which he countered by immeadiately starting a conversation in italian with me. It was short, but I got to speak italian with the U.S. ambassador to the holy see!

The ambassador happens to be the first hispanic ambassador and first professor/ theologian ambassador. He is cuban american from florida and used to be a professor. His job now is to combine resources of the U.S. government and the network of the catholic church and help them advance U.S. policy within the catholic church.

Also, If you were wondering the Holy See refers to the vatican. It is a way to describe vatican city, basically, the vatican is an actual place, but the catholic church is worldwide and huge, so the holy see encompasses all of that into one.

He engages with the Holy See on many matters, not just religious. During his time he has hosted 3 major international conferences -

• prevention of HIV/AIDS from mother to child


• a dialogue on interfaith action - trying to engage people in all different communities, religious backgrounds to come together to help resolve conflicts etc.


• Building bridges of freedom - to end modern day slavery

He said that he wants to try to have people "come together, so we can produce a better yield for everyone!" He was saying also that it is important to engage conversation across the world about religion, because "religion needs diplomacy and diplomacy needs religion."

What I really got from this visit though was that there are so many different options for careers out there. He was a professor 4 years ago, and now he is an ambassador in Italy! If you want to get out there and try new things there are so many different outlets and places to go. It just made me think that I can do so much with my life outside of the U.S. It gave me hope and ideas of possible things I can explore in my future. In the scheme of things, I'm still young!

Ottava Giorno - A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum.

Today was an eventful day. I woke up and saw my roommate still in the room on her computer. Then I realized that it was 8:27am, which was 27 minutes after we were supposed to have left. I woke Antonia up and we both flew into a frenzy trying to get ready and decide what to do! When we went to sleep the plan had been to go to forum, so we figured that if we took the subway we would be able to meet them in time. Somehow though, me and Antonia got split up and I ended up taking the subway by myself to the forum, without a phone to contact people or any real idea where to meet them.

I got off at the coliseum and then walked around trying to find the group to no avail. I started walking around the edge of the forum in hopes that I catch them on there way in or walking, alas, I did not. So, I ended up walking all the way around the forum. Even though at some point I had no idea where I was, it was a fun adventure. I ended up walking parallel to circus maximus, then I turned up a street and found myself in a piazza in the middle of a protest. I snuck around it and continued up the hill on a smaller, less populated street. I walked all the way to the top and found myself with a nice view of the whole forum. After stopping and looking out on the forum(and trying to look for my group in the forum), I continued up another street and found myself at the top of the capitoline hill, where the capitoline museum is. Here I sat and wrote in my journal for a little bit, because I was very discouraged. I had been walking around for a hour and still hadn't found my group. I continued down a street which was on the otherside of the hill and found myself at the entrance to the forum. I looked around for a minute and then decided to go inside and look for the group inside. Once inside I just walked and walked all around searching. I found out a few things about the forum.

• It is HUGE.


• It is really interesting, but I had no idea what any of the structures were.


• There was no hope of finding anyone

So, once walking at least a mile and a half inside the forum, I decided to give up and just enjoy myself. I felt like a little explorer, because there were so many little paths to take and each lead to a different field or structure. Then as I was standing looking out over on the many different fields. I heard someone say " Hey look, it's Kristen Himmie." I turned around and saw the whole group. Apparently they had stayed and had class in the morning and were given the option to come to the forum afterwards.

But as fate goes, I just wasn't meant to be with the group this day, because only a little while later I got separated from the group again. After that I just gave up and walked back. I wandered around the area near the trevi, but stayed on streets that were not crowded, somehow I found my way to the spanish steps. I sat down on the steps and eat my sandwich that I had made for the day and wrote in my journal for a long time. Though it was really frustrating being lost from the group, I did like having sometime alone just to ponder the experience and be able to process everything that has been happening these past few days.

Settimo Giorno - Are you ready for some....Coliseum

We left bright and early today( it has become a routine for us to get up at 7am and walk till our legs fall off; today was no different.) But today we were going into the coliseum! Just one of the thousand year old structures that are apart of Rome.

Our tour guide met us outside of the coliseum and led us in straight in. I learned that the coliseum was built by the emperor Nero(you know the emperor who called himself domus laudus or god and lord, and the same one who had the whole city burn down during his reign, yea him) in 64 AD. It was built right after the burning of Rome when the city was being re-built and took 8 years. Also, I found out that 1/3 of Roman land was taken by Nero to rebuild the city including the land the Coliseum was built on.

After our short history lesson we followed the tour guide to the back end of the walkway and we snuck into the underground portion of the coliseum. Basically we got to see the "behind the scenes" of the coliseum, it was pretty awesome. We walked through the tunnel where the gladiators walked from their quarters to the floor of the coliseum. It was important for them to have their own private walkway so that people who had vendetta's aganist them couldn't do anything to them(something's haven't changed that much.) The way that the ceiling is held up is by a series of arches. The romans were the master's of arches. They would push blocks of rock(interestingly enough, each rock wasn't exactly the same size, in other words they weren't perfectly cut, they were each unique) together with enough pressure that they would stay in place and hold up an entire building. The middle rock was the central one that held every other one in place. Anyway, back in the ancient time this walkway was very dark damp for the gladiators.

As we kept walking we say a little stream and we found out that they would actually store boats underground and simulate a waterfront scene during the shows on the floor of the coliseum. Also, during the reign of Claudius they made this stream was made into an aqueduct that brings water to all over the coliseum and all the way to the palantine hill. Then we came to stand right at the underneath of the actual floor and we saw the cells that they would keep the large animals in( lions, tigers etc.) Next to the cells were lifts that they would use to bring the animals and sometimes gladiators to bring them up to the floor level. It took 16 slaves to lift one animal. There were at one time 20-60 lifts that were usable.

But the most interesting thing that I learned was that basically the Coliseum was almost a theater. There main goal was to entertain people, so they had tons of props(trees, bushes, random small animals that the bigger animals could eat.) The gladiators were usually slaves or prisoners of war, but they were prized objects and were treated like celebrities. They were actually very skilled fighters though, because they had to be, they never knew what they were fighting, and the stakes were either fight or die. They would have gladiator vs. gladiator, gladiator vs. lion, or both going on at once. There would also, be up to 80, 000 people in the stadium watching these scenes. It wasn't much different than our baseball or football stadiums today actually, except that only children over 12 years old were allowed in and oh yea, the entertainment was people trying to kill eachother.

It was so cool learning this because it filled my mind with images and I stood there imagining what it might have been like. Who knew it was all a big show?! I thought it was just a dirt floor with a gladiator and a lion, but a lot more went into it. After going underground we went to the top level. It was an amazing view of the whole stadium from above(it was a closed off area that we could only get into because of our tour guide.)

After seeing the coliseum, we walked over the pantheon, which is an ancient temple that was turned into a church. It is also the oldest reinforced dome, there is a big hole in the top of the dome and when it rains water comes down, so there are little holes in the ground for the water to drain out. It would have been so cool to be able to see this happen, but it was another sunny, hot day in Rome, so of course we went to get gelato! I got chocolate, banana and strawberry, or in other words the best mixture of gelato ever.

Sesto Giorno - Holy Devotion

Today we went to the Vatican and I am almost speechless. Simply put, it was amazing. We have seen some beautiful things so far, but there was something about being at the very top of St. Peter's Basillica to the cupola and going to Mass in St. Peter's(at the very front) that just gave me chills.

We started off the day walking over to the vatican and getting in line to go up to the cupola. The cupola is a large dome at the very top of St. Peter's Basilica. We had to walk up about 500 steps in all to reach the top. You walk up through the church to the roof then there are another 320 steps to reach the very top. These last 320 steps get steeper, smaller and windier as you go(at one point you have to walk very slanted in order to fit through the stairwell. It is also extremely hot in this small space, so we were all sweating a ton and getting more and more tired from the steep walk. Once at the top, it was such a relief and then I looked up and it was all worth it. The view is simply amazing. As you walk around you get different views of every thing in the city. The best was standing right in the front and haveing a perfect view of St. Peter's Square looking all the way down to the river and Castel de San Angelo.

After we had our fill of awesome views of Rome, we went down to the actual Basilica. I learned that nearly all of the columns in St. Peter's were taken from other temples, both pagan and christian, from all over the world(as far as turkey.) It started being built in the 12th century and lasted hundreds of years, 1200-1700 years. There is also all different layers of churches underneath St. Peter's. After walking around for a while, we ended up being able to go to mass in St. Peter's at the very front! Though this sounds cliche', I can't really think of any other word to describe this experience except to say that I felt very holy. I felt connected to god in a way I never have before. At different points in the mass I definitely got chills just thinking about how I was literally sitting at mass in the biggest, most imporant church in the world, the church that the pope says mass in, the church that st. peter's bones are built on top of, I could go on, but I will finish by saying that I simply felt wonderful being able to have that experience and it was a lovely Rome Sunday.

Quinto Giorno - Introspection

It is now my fifth day in Rome and I think it has been the first day that I have actually slowed down enough to really take in the fact that I am here. I am actually in Italy. It is a crazy concept, but it has sunken in. Today we got up bright and early and walked to the Trastevere. But, instead of walking straight into the windy streets of Trastevere we took a right down a small street that led to a big set of stairs. We climbed the stairs and continued up hill. We climbed up more stairs, until we reached a park that overlooked the whole city. You could see almost everything in the city from the vantage point and it was beautiful. Then we continued to explore that upper part of Trastevere. So we got our morning workout out of the way(haha.)

After this we went on a search to find three churches in Trastevere.

• Basilica de San Cecilia


• Basilica de San Cristogono


• Basilica de San Maria a Trastevere

We went to San Cristogono first. It is a 3rd century constantinople church which was originally dye works/factory/house. After a little persuasion of a cute old italian man, we got to go underneath this church as well and we saw our first real sarcophogus which is a tomb where they would put the dead, kind of like a coffin. They were made out of marble and had intrincate carvings on the outside. The dead person was always depicted in the middle and all around them were pagan gods and goddesses. We also came upon a sarcophogus that had real bones in it! People in ancient times would keep their loved ones bones in a box to remember them. It wasn't creepy or strange to them, it was sacred and a way of honoring the dead.

Then we went to San Cecilia and a wedding was going on! We thought about crashing the wedding but instead we went underneath the church to the crypt of San Cecilia. There was an extremely ornate chapel in this that had depictions of many different animals. The christians would have different animal depictions in their churchs as a way to sneak in left over reminants of Roman pagan beliefs. To an normal onlooker it seems that there are just animal paintings on the walls but they mean more than that. We saw peacocks which represent the goddess Juno, deer which represent the god Artemis and Rams which represent the god Bacchus. Peacocks symbolize eternal life as well. We also saw larareium's which were niches in a domus where the God of the house was kept. Snakes and serpents were depicted as guardians of the larareium's. The statue of St. Ceclia in the exact position she is supposed to have died in is at the front of the church, so we climbed the steps back up to the ground level and went to see it(the wedding was over by this time, SHUCKS.) It was a beautiful statue in white marble, yet slightly gruesome. To think she died with her head cut that way and her hands tied together in such a painful manner! Once you get past that though and if you look close you can see her three fingers are up. This is supposed to symbolize the trinity.

After this we were all famished and tired. I walked straight back to St. Johns with Domenica our translater and got to talk to her all about Italy. It was so interesting, she told me about her experiences and how much she did here and it really made me want to look into living and working in Italy after college. Once I got back I had a quick lunch of prociutto and mozzarella and then headed out to find a nice place to right in my personal journal. I wandered towards the river and found a park that surrounds Castel de San Angelo and I sat there for about two hours just writing. It was so relaxing and just what I needed to give me a boost to keep going. I will definitely be returning.

Cuarto Giorno - The Never-Ending Walking Tour

Today was a very very long day. It also happened to be the first real day of classes for us, so it started out pretty standard. We woke up bright and early and walked over to Piazza del Popolo to go into Santa Maria del Popolo Church. We sat on the steps and proceeded to take out or bibles and journals and read some scripture (learning in the enviroment instead of in a dull classroom.) It set a great tone for what is to come the rest of this month. After that we tried to get into the church, but we couldn't because mass was going on, so we decided to go over to the center of Piazza del Popolo and learn a little bit about the landmark.

The tall piece in the center is an egyptian obelisk(the second oldest in all of Rome)and on either end are fountains. To the east is a fountain with a statue of Dea Roma and the she-wolf feeding the founders of Rome, Remus and Romulus. To the west is a fountain of neptune with his trident and two dolphins on either side of him. Also, when you look at the obelisk looking north you can see the twin churchs flanking either side of it and the "tridente" or the three big streets of the city, via del corso, via del babuino and via del ripetta.

Before I go on I must address an absurd incident that happened while we were standing in the piazza trying to learn these facts. Well, a woman came walking up to the fountain on one side of the obelisk. Normally this would be pretty standard, but here's the kicker, she wasn't wearing any pants or undergarments and she proceeded to throw her pants into the fountain and stand there for about 10 minutes with her hands on her hips watching her pants float around the fountain. Needless to say, we all were extremely shocked by this and yet we couldn't take our eyes off of her. She then took her pants out of the fountain and walked away, still wearing nothing on the bottom half. A few minutes later we saw some carabineri or policia (police), running around the piazza carrying a plastic bag with pants in it obviously trying to find her.

But, by this point we were already on our way back over to the church, where we were planning on looking at my expertise, Caravaggio paintings! I got to give my presentation on the man, the myth the legend aka Caravaggio and we then walked inside to actually see his paintings. This was my first time seeing a real life Caravaggio and it was an awesome experience to actually be able to see first hand, you know in real life, right before my eyes, something that I had just learned about and seen in textbooks and online. This is definitely the best way to learn.

That was just the beginning of our never-ending tour. We walked down Via del Corso to Basilica de SS Ambrogio Carlo where I got to see my first relic! Before this I had heard of relics, but never really knew what they were. Well basically they are holy items from different saints. There are two different types, a direct relic and a secondary relic. A direct relic is a body part or actual piece of a saint's body. A secondary relic is something that a saint touched, wore, used etc. We saw a direct relic in this church, St. Charles' heart! Yes, I did just say his heart, his real heart. It was in a very ornate golden box and there was a small glass opening so you could see it. If you were wondering it was black and shriveled, so slightly repulsive, but still awesome, because it came from a saint and it has been preserved since 1614, when it was first placed in the basilica de st. ambrose and st. charles.

We also saw our first tomb of a dead saint in one of the side chapels. This is a glass tomb so you can see the body. Now you must think that this is disgusting, a dead body sitting in a church! But, the body looked like a wax figure or a doll. It wasn't decomposed or digusting. Apparently, it is common for saints bodies to be kept this way and because they are holy they do not age or decompose. It is fasciniating, but when you see it for the first time it is slightly chilling.

After this we continued on to Basilica San Lorenzo in Lucina where we went to our first excavations! We got to go underneath the church and see all the old reminants of the old church that the current one was built on top of. We got to see what a domus looked like, domus were the rooms or houses of the ancient people and the type of place that Jesus and other apostles probably preached in! They were very small and I can't imagine living in one with one other person, let alone being in one with 10-20 other people listening to someone talk for hours on end I also, found out that almost everywhere in Rome is built on top of something else! So, when you are walking around you are walking on top of the ancient city, or at least an older version of the city you see today.

Later on, we walked all the way from school to an ancient market place right near the coliseum. It was like a 6 mile walk, (after we had already walked around that in the morning) Then we walked all the way to the actual coliseum just in time to see the sun set right behind the coliseum. It was a very long day and we were all extremely delirious, but it was a great way to end it by seeing a beautiful sunset infront of one of the oldest and most well known structures in the world.

Everything is Alright

So I have to start off by saying...
I know.

• I know that I have been slacking on my blogging responsibilities.


• I know that people are waiting to hear about what has been going on over here in Italia.


• I know I need to do it everyday.

I don't want to make excuses for myself, because that is not very responsible or mature, but I would like to try and explain the reasons behind my silent blog.

Despite all these things that I know, I simply haven't been able to sit myself down everyday and just "blog". Being a writer, my mind just doesn't really work that way. I need to first jot down ideas, then write a draft, then go over the draft and revise, revise, revise, (obviously some writing I can just jam out in a short period of time, but it usually isn't very good or interesting.) I need this process in order to transform my writing into something I am proud of and something worth reading.

But, just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been writing. I have two journals with me on this trip. One is an educational journal/notebook for class. One is a personal journal. I write in both almost everyday. The educational one I bring with me everywhere and write notes about the places I have been visiting. I also just write down things I notice, or things that fascinate me, or things that are peculiar. In other words, it is chock- filled with notes, quotes, questions, facts, sketches etc. The personal journal is my introspective writing. It is where I have been writing my thoughts, reactions and feelings about everything that has happened.

But continueing with my original statement, I need time to process everything that happens, especially on a trip like this, where I have been seeing and doing things that are completely new, outrageous, magnificent, breath-taking and mind-boggling all at the same time.

Additionally, it has been hard because this trip has been completely off the charts. When I say, "off the charts", I mean that everyday is different. I never know what to expect when I wake up in the morning. The first week was a whirlwind of walking, seeing the most important sites in the city, (4-5 sites per day it seemed like, but that might be an exaggeration,) getting over jetlag, and getting situated/comfortable with a new country and city. Needless to say, it was absoultely overwhelming. When I tried to sit down those nights and write about my day, I didn't even know where to start! With everything we were doing, I would come back and it would seem like I had just had two or three days of experiences all in one. Looking back, I also think I was still in overdrive mode. I didn't want to stop and write things down, I wanted to go experience and explore and soak up everything I possibly could.

The second week slowed down a little bit, and at the same time we all became more comfortable with the city so we started doing more things at night and during our free afternoons. Instead of blogging, I chose to go experience the city and explore, something I love to do and something I came here to do, because I think the best way to learn is through experience, and supplementing it with reading and discussions and writing. Going and seeing something firsthand is much more educational and meaningful for me, then simply sitting and reading a book about something.

Anyway, the third week was an eventful one, we were finally let go and were allowed to/ expected to go do our own "excursions," which at first was odd for us because we had spent so much time going and going and going the two weeks before it. Halfway through this week we went on our, much anticipated, first trip out of Rome, which turned out to be a, "Beauty and the Beast" experience. Part of it was spectacular and heavenly, and part of it was extremely harrowing.

Now we are back in Rome, with only 9 days left on this crazy ride. Things have calmed down and I am starting to have a little time to make sense of everything that has gone on. I'm starting to get a little sad about leaving, so I'm trying to make the most of the last few days I have here. On top of everything else, without even realizing it, I have become at home here, in Rome. Though my dreams of grandeur, (becoming completely assimilated into the Italian culture and being a "real italian,") were abandoned long ago, I have found a happy medium. I am completely comfortable in the city, partly because it reminds me a lot like New York, and partly because I have gone out there and seen almost all of it. I have found my favorite places to go, the park around Castel San' Angelo, Trastevere, Campo di Fiori, the little caffe down the street where I get cappuccino, the gelateria around the corner and of course "The Billa"(local supermarket.) I go out in the morning to different places, (if theres time I stop in for a cappuccino before leaving) , then I come back and have a nice lunch of prosciutto and mozzarella on crostini or yogurt(all things I've gotten from the billa). In the afternoon, I go out again for another excursion or go to the park and write, or shop. We have "class" at 6, and dinner following it. Some nights we have been making it ourselves in the kitchen of the dorm, sometimes we go out to a cute ristorante. At some point there is a gelato run and probably some walking around different areas of the city following that. Obviously everyday is different like I said earliar, but since being back in Rome this is the way things have been playing out. I also need to point out something I have noticed, simply put, my body loves Italy. I have taken very well to all of the fresh food, excessive amounts of walking and sun. I don't know what I'm going to do when I can't walk everywhere, eat fresh food everyday and get a nice golden tan without even trying. Thinking about it, I don't know what it is going to be like coming home, or in what ways this trip will have changed or affected me, (all I do know at this point is that I am going to go through some serious, walking, pasta, cappuccino and gelato withdrawls.)

On a final note I want to reference one of my favorite writers of all time. In his book a Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway says that you can't write about a place until you have left. You need time to process everything, internalize it, and then, once you have removed yourself from the place you can actually think clearly and write about it. This is an idea that I believe very adamantly.

I think that you can't fully make sense of a place or appreciate it fully, until you leave it. I know this from personal experience. It took me going all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana for college to find my true appreciation and love for New York City, my hometown. I think that Rome ,and Italy in general, will be the same way. Once I get home I will be processing this trip for a very long time. I truly believe I will benefit from everything that has happened to me here in someway or another.

This all being said, I will be blogging about everyday I have spent here and every experience that has touched me from this trip, (it's very likely that I will be blogging about this trip long after it has ended as well.) So, I am asking all of you to simply be patient. Some of the things I have seen and done here have been so amazing, I cannot wait to share them with the world! Just hang in there, because there is definitely a lot more to come. Ciao Ciao!

Terzo Giorno - Celebration of the Festa della Republica and the Today Show!

Today was a national holiday in Italy, so natrually Sister Bednarz, who is trying really hard to acclamate us to the city(she must love it here because she is very passionate about it), decided it would be best to start class on friday and allow us to join in with the rest of Italy in celebrating the Anniversary of the Italian Republic (it was the 65th Anniversary, which is weird to think, because there was so much life in Rome before that. I mean 65 years is nothing to compared to how long the colliseum has been standing!)

Anyway, we got up early and walked to Piazza del Popolo and then straight down Via del Corso, one the bigger main streets, which ends at the Vittorio Emmanuele Monument. Because it was a national holiday a lot of stores were closed and there was a flood of people all walking on the street. It was so cute to see all the Italians walking together to try and reach the parade because there were young kids and their families, as well as little old italian ladies hobbling along with her friends. Everyone was wearing red, green or blue (blue is the color of the italians soccer team's jersey's.) Once we got to the Monument we just waited for the parade to start. While waiting I people watched and saw some interesting stuff. First there was an old man selling italian memorablia, (flags, etc.), he was on a bicycle with huge wheels that were painted red and green and he was wearing an unbrella hat that was in italian flag coloring (red, green and white.) It was so funny! He was not your typical, run of the mill street vendor. Then I saw this woman with an old-fashnioned type baby carriage the kind that that little babies can lay down in, and it was reppin' the italian flag as well, with three big stripes of red, green and white! Lastly I saw a lot of men in uniform (who knew that they were cute, no matter the country?) We ended up giving up on the parade because it was getting way to hot to stand in the sun for that long and all we saw pass by were some very fancily dressed men on horses.

From there we started walking towards the vatican, because we were going to be on the today show at 1:00pm. On the way we took a little detour through Capo di Fuori and got big panini's to go. Then we continued on and reached the Tevere, thinking we were closer to the vatican than we really were...we walked along the Tevere for a while, but eventually reached the Vatican and the area where the Today Show was setting up.

After waiting for awhile we got to go up to the little filming area they set up right in middle of the Piazza de San Pietro. Even though, I thought it was really touristy and silly to be standing in the hot sun waiting to possibly get on an american morning talk show, I did it anyway and it was kinda cool to say that I got on T.V. while in Rome, on my third day in Rome non the less.

Primo Giorno - Finding My Way

I am now writing this from the safety and comfort of my bed in my room in the collegio, but earliar I would not have been so inclined to use the words "safety" and "comfort" to explain my situation. It would suffice to say that today I completed one of the biggest feats of my life by travelling to Rome by myself. And by travelling to Rome I simply mean travelling from the Leonardo DaVinci Airport to Via Marcantonio Colonna 21A, otherwise known as St. John's University's Campus in Rome or Collegio Leoniano.

Last night I embarked on my first overseas flight alone. I have traveled alone before, but only within the U.S. never to a foreign country. Luckily, it went fine. I sat next to a nice Irish woman who gave me candy. When I had my lay over in Ireland, my wifi worked so I was able to update my facebook status in the Dublin Airport to let my family know I was okay, (and to sound worldly.) I even got a bag of my favorite Irish potato chips (possibly the best in the world because Irish potatoes are so good) salt and vinegar TAYTO chips. Everything was going smoothly, but little did I know what was in store.

On my flight from Dublin to Rome I was on the plane with what looked like an Italian pop group who all had gelled hair with red, yellow and orange highlights on the tips. Needless to say, they were entertaining. But the real entertainment came when I got off the plane in Leonardo Da Vinci. At this point my mind went into overdrive. I was so excited to be in Italy, but on the other hand I was very anxious about how I was going to get from the Airport to the college on public transportation with my 49.5 lb suitcase, a carryon bag that was weighing heavily on my shoulder and a small purse. I know about public transportation because I'm from New York City and take it all the time, but it isn't easy when you have one small backpack let alone two heavy bags, but I tried not to psych myself out. I repeated "You can do it" over and over again in my head and started my journey.

First I had to go through immigration and customs. Normally they make you take out your passport, they look at it for a few seconds, stamp it and hand it back to you. But in true Italian fashion, all I had to do was show the outside of my passport (I guess to just show I had a passport?) and walked right through. Welcome to Italy!

Once I got my bags I made my way through the maze of an airport and then started looking for a sign that would lead me to the train. I followed the escalator down then up again and finally came to the first train. Supposedly an express train that takes you to the Termini Station in Rome, which is where the transfer to the Metro is. I walked into the area and after a few moments of internal confusion, I reluctantly asked someone in English (I had told myself beforehand that I would try to use only italian,) if I was in the right place to get to Termini Station. I got my ticket and pulled my bags all the way down the track. Then I promptly plopped down on them to wait. By then my body was already tired from pulling them, but I proceeded to pull out my large copy of Dante's Inferno and started reading. I felt kind of trendy.

When the train got there it wasn't what I had expected. It was a real train, making the Long Island Railroad look like a joke. It had three steps to get up into to the cars and little compartments to sit in. I took a big gulp and tried to find a door that wasn't that crowded, so that I wouldn't draw attention to myself when I couldn't pull my large bag up the stairs. Before I even reached the steps, a nice middle aged italian man helped me pull it up and into one of the compartments. The first catastrophe avoided. WHEW

The whole ride to the Termini I was hyper on the inside, but I tried to stay calm. I just sat quietly looking out at the countryside with a contemplative expression on. Once at the Termini, I got off and thought it looked pretty easy...until I started walking. I walked, and walked, and walked on dozens of those annoying moving sidewalks and then was sent on another maze through the underground mall of the station.

When I got to the subway entrance I was relieved. Until I saw the stairs. There were about four flights of marble staircases for me to go down. I dragged my bag and continued on to the subway level, only to find out I needed to go down more marble stairs, and more. Then I had to go up all of those marble stairs. I trudged along looking like a complete tourist that was definitely on struggle street. Somehow I made it up and down the endless marble stairs despite the fact that my arms should have fallen off or turned to jello by this point.

Right as I get to the top of the stairs and think I am at the right place, I see a sign for a detour I need to take to get to the platform that has the metro going in my direction. I have to go up and down even more stairs and through a big crowd of commuters. Right as the little amount of hope I still had was scrivling up I saw an escalator. It took me to the platform and I was absolutely relieved.

I wait for the metro and when it finally comes (of course just my luck) it is filled with people. I am left to stand with two bulky bags in the middle of a crowd. Once I get off and relief is beginning to shine through, I see the last set of stairs leading to the street. Using the last bit of energy and adrenaline left in me I begin pulling my bag up. Within seconds, a good samaritan asks if I need help and picks up the handle of my bag. Carrying it with me all the way to the top.

We put the bag down, I say grazie, over and over, and then begin walking. After a block I look up to see a red flag flying outside of a building on the next block with the St. John's logo on it. Relief floods in as I finish off the last stretch and pull up in front of a set of sliding-glass doors. They open and I walk inside.

Where to start....

Today will be my second full day in Italy and it still seems unreal. I know this is cliche, but ever since I was little I have dreamed of coming to Italy. In my head it just always seemed like the perfect place to be, so romantic, so beautiful, so much delicious food to eat!

Since childhood I have played up my italian heritage whenever I could. Always being fiercely proud of being Italian. When I saw the opportunity to come here for study abroad, I immediately jumped at it. Ever since last fall, I have been planning this adventure and I still can't believe it is finally happening.

Before I go on, I have a little bit of a confession to make. I have been to Europe numerous times before. Why did you not go to Italy, you may ask? The simple answer is, the opportunity had never presented itself, until now. I have a hunch that it may have been worth the wait though, because this trip is a lot different from all my other trips to Europe.

When I was 10 I traveled to England, Scotland and Wales with my mom, a family friend and her daughter on vacation. It was my first trip overseas so natrually it was amazing but, I think I was too young to fully apprectiate it because I didn't care about shopping or nightlife or culture as a child and there was a lot that just went over my head.

 Then at age 16, I traveled to Ireland with my entire family, there were 15 of us piled into a little bus traveling around the Irish countryside. Let me tell you, we were quite a site to see. We focused mainly on seeing where our family was from (meeting a long lost cousin of my grandfather's along the way) not the touristy things. It was amazing, but I was still surrounded by my family so it was still familiar and secure.

My junior and senior years of high school I went on two trips with my school. Junior year we went on a ten day Eastern European adventure. Passing through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. It exposed me to a part of the world I had never seen before and it was beautiful. The only downside was that it was a scheduled tour and we were kept on a very tight leash by our teachers. Senior year we went to Greece and yet again I was blown away by the beauty and the culture. It was a totally different experience from the year before, but again we were kept on a short leash and had everything planned out for us.

Now I am in Rome, Italy and for the most part, I am on my own, completely independent. It is the first time in my life where I am traveling in Europe on my own. I am so excited and open to seeing and doing new things. Everything fastinates me, the history, the architecture, the food, the languege, the people, the culture and customs. I am a brand new sponge ready to soak everything in. Italy is unlike anywhere else I have every been and I can't wait to explore more. La cita e la tutta campagna e magnfico! Sono eccitato per davanti mese! Io sono felice per avere questa experienza! Molto grazie Mama e Nonna e Papa e tutta la famiglia!