Of Ruins and Romans – Italia, Weeks 4-7

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–Yes, this is late and very overdue. This blog update begins on Sunday, February 7th, my first full day in Rome, and concludes with this past weekend. Va bene, enjoy. –

Ah, Rome at last. Early our first morning there, the entire group met down at a ristrotheatre near our school for yet another orientation meeting. Sitting in the theater section was very cool, but everything we went over was purely bureaucratic and academic.

Afterwards, that afternoon, I turned to the map of Rome we’d been given the day before to see what was in walking distance. To my great pleasure, I found that to be just about everything. So I hit the streets in search of the Circus Maximus and the Coliseum. The former was not all that, just a long grassy field where joggers, soccer players, lovers and poets all shared space.

The Coliseum, however, was all that. As so with so many other things I’ve seen thus far, words cannot do this feat of empirical engineering justice. It looks just as picturesque as a postcard yet so striking against the modern backdrop that you might think it’s leftover from the set of Gladiator.

However, turning northwest up a main street brings you to walk straight through the ruins of the Roman Forum. I made my way through this and on to the Pantheon, which is very close to our school. What a feat of architecture! A perfectly round dome inside of which a 43 foot diameter ball could rest. I will definitely be visiting this site often. Perhaps the most amazing part is that this ancient pagan temple is now, oddly enough, a Catholic church.

My first day of “real” classes: the school weeks will all fly by quickly on the wings of boredom, as I could see on this day. I had a Big Mac for lunch, which was very tasty and reminded me greatly of home. After class, I went home and fixed dinner and then went out to hang at the Coliseum with my friends Maria and Tamara. It was so much fun just enjoying the fact that this behemoth was our backyard for the next three months.

We also visited the Spanish Steps and the Trebi Fountain. Maria and I tossed our respective coins into the fountain, ensuring our return to the Eternal City. Overheard by the fountain… Me: “I can die now.” Maria: “Me too.” Tamara: “Wait, what?!”

My first full weekend in Rome was somewhat uneventful. On Friday, I went to get dinner at a small mom-and-pop restaurant with some friends. Afterwards we walked to the church of the souls in purgatory, and saw their fascinating display of items held to be evidence of deceased souls leaving marks to prove their residence in purgatory. Most were books, aprons, and pictures with burned on handprints from where an apparition had touched an item as seen by a living person. On our way to this church, we stopped and rode a carousel. I don’t think the operator was amused as he should have been at four college students riding a kid’s ride, but he didn’t refuse our money either.

Sunday the 14th, I made my way down the magnificent St. Peter’s Basilica for Mass that afternoon. The beauty of St. Peter’s was absolutely breathtaking. From the towering columns and the ornate golden ceiling, to the multitude of statues and frescos, the entire nave was a microcosm of Christendom. The main altar was equally impressive, dominating the center of the church with its four high pillars supporting the canopy. I walked around the basilica four times before I sat down at the side altar of St. Joseph.

Vespers began at 5, and to my great pleasure, they were all chanted in Latin. Mass was celebrated by a number of deacons, priests, and bishops, with a cardinal presiding. While I could follow the Mass propers easily enough, I could only grasp singular words here and there of the Italian homily. An all-boys school choir was singing at this Mass as guests, and since they were American, all the hymns sung were familiar English ones.

The week went by quickly with classes the way it always does. On Friday, I spent the morning researching flights for spring break, putting together an itinerary. Saturday, I walked around Rome a lot and enjoyed the sights, the crowds, and lovely weather.

The next school week flew by, and Friday was upon me. I booked my flights for Palermo and Milan in the morning and bought my school books that afternoon. The rain kept me indoors for the rest of the day, but Saturday was extremely beautiful and my wanderings led me up to Villa Borghese for the afternoon. A huge, sprawling park in the north section of Rome, Villa Borghese lays host to picnickers, joggers, and poets alike. I came back home and enjoyed the company of some of my flatmates over dinner and drinks. Sunday was my usual lazy day, heading over to St. Peter’s mid-afternoon to take pictures and attend at Mass.

The following week saw too many quizzes in my classes, but, as usual, raced by due to my high anticipation of my trip to Interlaken, Switzerland, on the coming weekend.

Thursday night finally arrived and I boarded a bus for the night. We caught as much sleep as the ride allowed, but morning still came before we wanted it to. Our hostel was extremely chill, but the accommodations were cramped, as six of us were fit into a room barely made for two.

Friday was a beautiful day for hitting the slopes and the backdrop of the Alps had me stopping just to take a picture. In my wanderings over the mountain, I found a trail that let me ski right into and through a small Swiss town, right up to the train station.

After I returned to the hostel, I met up with a girl from Florence who came up on our bus with two of my roommates and we built a snowman in the courtyard, occasionally broken up by a snowball fight. After dinner, we headed back down to the Metro, where we stayed up until nearly 3 a.m.

Sunday morning saw us slowly shuffling to life at various hours of the morning. I played pool and table tennis, while some of my friends went to play curling at a nearby rink. We headed home that afternoon, enjoying the sights of Switzerland and northern Italy from the road.