Questa Settimana

This Week

This week was filled mostly with classes, but I'd like to share some of the interesting things I've learned...

Monday I returned to the Vatican, this time for class.  How cool is that?  I got to have theology class in the Vatican!  I'll try not to bore you with too much info, but these were some of my favorite highlights:
~When they built the New St. Peter's, some of the old St Peter's made it into the architecture.  There is a fairly large circular red stone on the floor that was in Old St. Peter's.  This stone is where Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the 800s.  You can still stand on it.
~There are only 2 original paintings left in the Vatican...all the others are mosaic replicas that have been made throughout the centuries to preserve the paintings.  Originals can be found in various museums throughout Europe.
~The letters that read "You are Peter, on this Rock I will build my  Church...I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven"  I believe this was taken from Matthew.  When you look up seem very small, but they are actually close to 7 feet high.
~Bernini created the shrine of St. Peter's tomb.  During his time working on this, his niece was pregnant.  On each column There is a face of a girl.  This woman represents his niece during different stages of her pregnancy.....Also on the shrine, Bernini used spiral columns because this is how in the bible describes temples.
~On Bernini's statue of Pope Gregory ...there is a large bronze skeleton and an hour glass. This represents that we do not know how long or little our time on earth will be.
~I was able to find out the answer to my question about the coins in front of the Nativity....they are simply an offering.

The rest of Monday was spent doing homework and chatting with friends from home.  There wasn't too much out of the ordinary going on on Tuesday. Wednesday....Well I woke up early to make it to the Roman Forum and Colosseum on time for my History of Art class.  I experienced my first bus strike.  Sadly, class was moved to a classroom.

I start my job next Tuesday.  I'm very excited.  At first I was suppose to be tutoring 4 year old twins and teaching them English, but they canceled so I got reassigned to a thirteen year old girl (also named Laura).  She's studying for an English test she has to take/pass in June.  I'm really excited because I'll be teaching her pronunciation, vocab, and tenses (present, past, future, etc).  I was suppose to start my clinicals for speech pathology this semester, had I stayed in Milwaukee, so I will sort of have a similar opportunity here!  I go to her house for 1-2 hours a week.

Random Facts:
watch this.  It's molto vero (true).  Italians showed us...so it's not offensive. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWNGLv8w74