Calcio

Soccer

This week just flew by. The mere thought of my weeks going by this fast has made me realize how quickly the rest of my time here is going to go. It's been a month already! I feel 100 times more comfortable here than I did the day I arrived trying to figure my way around the airport and completely overwhelmed with my Italian (or lack there of). My Italian class, although still incredibly difficult for me, is becoming more bearable and I'm understanding more and more each class.

Monday's theology class was on-sight. We went to San Giovanni's, the first catholic church in Rome. I really liked the inside. There were statues of all 12 apostles. The sculptures of the apostles were huge, just like the ones on top of Saint Peter's. I found it really interesting that they chose to decorate the church in such away. Each statue was equipped with the symbol connected to the Apostle. These statues weren't added to the nave of the church until renovations were made, but nonetheless they are pretty neat.

Again, for some reason my internet/computer is deciding not to work how I want it too, so I cannot write captions. The above picture is of Thomas, the Apostle.

I'll just add some pictures to show you. The outside looks like a political building. Interesting fact though, this is where the Popes lived for awhile.

above: San Giovanni's

After learning about the history and taking it all in, we went to Santa Maria Maggiore, the second church of Rome, but because it had undergone less renovations than San Giovanni's it looks much older. Inside Santa maria Maggiore is a relic. Enclosed in fancy art, but visible, is a piece of wood from the Manger.

We went to a third church, much smaller, that use to be the baths of diocletian. It is called Santa Maria degli Angeli. It looks so old from the outside, but again the inside is really "done up". The church has some astronomical points. There is a bronze line that supposedly tells you what the day is depending on where it fell. I may be a bit off with my description of that, but I think that's the gist of it.
We ran out of time, which meant we weren't able to go to the Jesus stairs...the stairs that Jesus walked on when he was condemned to death by Pontius Pilat. You are suppose to walk up them on your knees. We all plan on going back sometime next weekend.

Tuesday's tutoring went really well. I decided that just using the books is boring. What girl really wants to do worksheets to learn English. Of course, we have to do these too, but we were able to practice conversation for part of the time, and I found out some of the things she liked. This really is good practice for what I will have to do for Speech Pathology. And guess what? Yep, she likes Harry Potter; it was definitely a bonding moment. And she plays sports. I feel like next week I can come up with something to make the tutoring more fun. She also likes the Simpsons, I'm pretty sure when I was 13 I wasn't allowed to watch that...

Art in Rome was also on-sight and we went to the Pantheon and Ara Pace. The Pantheon amazes me. The dome weighs over 5000 tons and the building is still standing. The Dome wasn't added until later, but it such an impressive piece of architecture. Raphael is buried there. The only downside was how freezing it was inside. Although, I'm sure any of you reading this are probably thinking you'd rather be inside the Pantheon than in the negative degree weather you're stuck with at home.

The Altar of Peace was pretty neat too. I think I appreciated it more so than others because of my Latin Days. It is located in a modern building. To me, this takes the importance and significance of it away. It probably would have overwhelmed me more had it been in it's original spot, not surrounded by modern walls.

Wednesday night was my first soccer game. Indeed, I did sign myself up for soccer. I thought it would be fun, and a good way to meet even more people. I hate not being good at a sport, but I think I'll catch on quickly. My team's pretty good though. We're the black the team and call ourselves The Blackout. We didn't win our first game, but it was close (we weren't losing until the very end). Too bad you have to excel at soccer to play in college, because there are definitely a lot of pros to the sport. Soccer is more fun than erging, although erging would have helped me keep my abs from all the carbs here. Soccer is also cheaper than crew. There are no weigh ins for soccer...big stress reliever. You get to run while playing soccer. I forgot how much I liked contact sports. We play at night, not at 5am. Too bad I don't have the skills to continue this at MU. Soccer:6 Crew:1. I'm looking forward to our next game.

Some Interesting Thoughts

1. When you enter San Giovanni or Santa Maria Maggiore you are no longer in Italy, because the Property still belongs to the Vatican...even though it's not near Vatican City.

2. John Felice Rome Center use to be a convent. I bet NONE of you thought I would ever live in a convent. Goes to show anything's possible.

3. Rome has more of the Egyptian Obelisks than Egypt does.

Cielo Azzurro, Ma Niente di Cielo Azzuro

Blue Skies, Nothing But Blue Skies

I will eventually get around to putting the pictures up, but my computer hasn't been working very well so it makes this task very time consuming and drives me to insanity.

On Top of The World
For starters, I love that every weekend for me is a three day weekend.  Second, this weekend I had the luxury of 60 degree weather....I'm sorry for all of you back home (I take back what I previously said about wanting to play in the snow). Third, You can never run out of things to do in and around Roma.

Friday morning I set out for a day in Rome with my friends Rachel, Crissy, and Alyssa. Our first stop was St. Peter's again, but this time we went to the cupola.  The Cupola is the view from top...we were able to go all the way to the top of the dome.  There are 551 stairs; it is worth every one of them.  There really are no words to explain the view.  The pictures don't even capture a fraction of the beauty.  It was such a clear day that you could see so much of Rome: the snow covered mountains in the distance, the Colosseum, the Victor Emmanuel building, the Roman Forum, etc.  You really felt like you were on top of the world.

view from the top of St. Peter's.  We were luck to have such a clear day!

This is also from St. Peter's, but shows more of the Vatican Gardens.

This is actually from the lookout at Villa Borghese, but I can't get the picture to move.  I'm with my friends Rachel, Alyssa, and Crissy.

We ended up spending over 2 hours there.  The middle balcony allowed you to be so close to the statues of the saints.  Although I was behind them, I was still very excited to be so close to St. Matthew.  They are enormous when you are so close up to them.

These are some of the statues on top of St. Peter's.  It's so neat how close you are to them!

This isn't the very top of St. Peter's, but we were getting close!

Inside, you really get a good view of the details in the mosaics. You don't realize how ginormous everything is when you are standing on the ground. It's like looking at cars from a plane.

Next we wandered over to Villa Borghese...a famous park in Rome.  You could literally spend days just wondering aimlessly around the park.  We had our picnic lunch around a fountain before wandering further into the park.  

Fountain in Villa Borghese that we ate our lunch by. 

Here we saw many people running, biking, taking a nice little stroll (fare passeggiata) and just enjoying the beautiful day that it was.  There is also a zoo in Villa Borghese, but it cost 12 euro, so we opted to avoid it for today.  However, I did see an armadillo! We stayed in the park for four hours just enjoying the weather and basking in the sun.

My Pilgrimage
For my theology of pilgrimage class, I must complete 2 pilgrimages, one within Italy.  I did that one this weekend.  Saturday I went to Assisi with the same friends I spent Friday with.  The train to Assisi is just over 2 hours from Rome's Termini station.  Our train was at 7:45am, but we decided we would leave at 6am just to be on the safe side.  We'd need to take a bus, metro, and then get our tickets.  Well good thing we left early, because we decided to walk to the metro stop....maybe a little over one mile, maybe two...since we didn't see a bus coming. Once we got to Termini and got our tickets we had maybe 8 minutes to find our track.  Sounds simple enough, but what no one tells you is that the track number and train number are not on the ticket.  Luckily we were able to talk to someone who pointed us in the right direction and we ran, no sprinted, to reach our train just in time.  I don't mean sprinted across the street; we were running for quite a while. This was a bit stressful due to the time that we had, and the next train wasn't for another two hours.   Once we were on the train the conductor made us move our seats twice.  I'm still not quite sure what that was about.

Anyway, our first stop was before heading up the hill to Assisi.  We went to Santa Maria dell Angeli.  It was a gorgeous church.  Absolutely huge, there was a chapel inside, the Porziuncola, this reminded me of a more elegant Joan of Arc chapel (for those of you who don't know, I am referencing the chapel at Marquette).

San Francesco has three levels: the Lower level church was my favorite, although the upper level church was beautiful also.  The churches are so beautiful, and they are full of color and decoration.  However, it's different than most of the other churches I've seen.  All the decoration is frescoes, rather than mosaics and huge statues.  Not that the other churches are flashy or gaudy, but I guess they could be described as show-offy (which was what they were aiming to do at the time they were built); San Francesco was simple and humbling.
We weren't allowed to take pictures when we went down to his tomb, but this part is going to be hard to describe with words.  His tomb is surrounded by four other tombs of his fellow Franciscans that helped found the order.  His tomb is huge in the middle, but again simple.  Some people were sticking pictures and notes into the tombs, but what I found most fascinating was the people who were brought to tears.  Old women, middle aged men, college students, people of all ages...were just staring and their eyes were glistening or their tears were free falling.  It's inspiring to see people that have faith that strong. In the chapel by his tomb there were the most beautiful chandelier lamp lighting things. Sounds strange to mention, but they were absolutely the prettiest decoration I have seen.

San Francesco with the sunset!

We wandered for a bit, and saw some great views.

We hiked to the the top of Assisi to Rocca Maggiore, the Castle.  Crissy and Alyssa went in for a tour, but Rachel and I decided that we would explore the grounds and just eat our picnic lunch while having the greatest view we could never have imagined.  How great is that?  Not many people can say they ate lunch while looking out onto the town of Assisi.  We watched people make their own pilgrimages or just people who were doing the same things we were. We were so close to the peaks of other mountains, that the snow seemed only an arm's reach away.

We also went into a few other churches along the way. All with interesting history and fascinating art. I'll just put in some pictures, but won't drag on about each one, unless you are interested in something particular. The churches I visited included San Rufino, Santa Maria Maggiori, and an old Roman temple that is now a church.
I also saw where both St. Francis and St. Claire were baptized.

Santa Chiara is the other patron saint of Assisi. She founded the order of the poor ladies. The church, again, is absolutely beautiful. Many of the frescoes on the wall have not withheld through the years, but the ones that have are magnificent. The cross that is said to have been the one that St. Francis spoke to is in this church.

Saint Francis had his vision in front of this cross.

Underneath the church is Santa Chiara's tomb (her body visible) and relics.  I am always amazed at the saint's bodies, but the relics were what really intrigued me.  They had the actual robes of both St. Francis and St. Claire, locks of St. Claire's hair, copies of letters they had written, and a few more things.  You always see St. Francis in his brown robe in the pictures, but to see the actual robe and cord in front of you is an eye opening experience.

I also saw the house of St Francis' parents.  They use to live above a tapestry shop, which is now a chapel.  This chapel reminded me so much of the Joan of Arch chapel at Marquette.  It was the closest I've felt to home since being here.

This is where St. Francis and his parents lived.  It is an old tapestry shop.

Fr. Bohr, my theology professor, explained to us the difference between a pilgrim and a tourist.  It wasn't until actually being in Assisi that I was able to put myself in the first category.  Visiting the different churches and seeing the relics also allowed me to be more aware of my surroundings.  It was so interesting to people watch while others were experiencing the same things I was.  I saw pilgrims and I saw tourists; the tourists were the ones running from church to church, snapping photographs, and moving right along.  The pilgims weren't necessarily only the ones that were moved to tears by being in the mere presence of these places and relics, but the ones that you could tell were taking it all in.  Sure, the pilgrims took photographs too, but for example, when we were visiting St. Chiara's tomb there were pictures and stories (in multiple languages) depicting her life.  Some people would rush right past, not even pause to look at their surroundings.  They probably didn't even look at the ceiling which was a wonderful blue with gold stars.  It was more a tourist attraction to them.

I also saw an authentic butcher's shop with the meat hanging from everywhere. It reminded me of what I think of my papa when I think about him being a butcher.

traditional butcher shop

The day could not have ended better.  We watched the sunset over the mountains while sipping some white wine (Umbria is famous for their white wine...I wish I could say it's the best I've had, but it was a 3 euro bottle of wine, and didn't taste much different than the other cheap wines).  Regardless, it was so serene and peaceful, and it was the perfect ending to the day.  The colors were so vibrant, and watching the sun fall behind the mountains was another thing I was lucky to experience. 

sunset over the mountains

Random Facts
1.  I love mindlessly walking around.

2.  Scrambled egg sandwiches or panino con frittata = marvelous

3. Rome really is the top of the world.

JUST GOOGLE IT

I think I've done a fairly good job at not complaining throughout my blog thus far. So naturally I must put one thing in here. I think the most frustrating thing about JFRC is that the SLAs act like they will be helpful. They always say that they are willing to help and to come to them, and when you do 9 out of 10 times there answer is "Just Google It"
Things I have asked or I have heard other people ask:

-I'm confused with these direction, is there a faster way to get there? "Just google map it"

-Upon hearing them talk about watching a tv show someone asked..."What site are you watching the show on; I cannot figure out how to watch American television"...just google it

-What are some cheap things to do around Rome?...........Just google it

-tonight, the question that drove me to this rant....spoken to the SLA who is fluent in Italian, "I know that we aren't suppose to ask you for homework help, but seeing as we don't have a book and I only have 2 other people in my class, I was wondering if you could explain this grammar to me (literally a small thing)"
Response: Look in your book or ask a class mate
Me: I'm in 251, we don't have a book and there are only 3 of us (other 2 didn't know answer...paper due tomorrow evening...)
Response: JUST GOOGLE IT

Thanks for all the help JFRC, really, you've been wonderful to every student...I have heard no complaints about how helpful you are to everyone.

Mi Sento Molto Santo

 I'm Feeling Very Holy

 PICTURES TO COME

As of Monday, I thought I was beginning to form a relatively regular routine, but come Tuesday, my week went in all different directions.

Tuesday started out normal enough:  wake up. workout. sheet exchange (I love that they wash our sheets for us!). class.  Well, I started tutoring Laura (here Laura is always pronounced Lowra...although it sounds much prettier than it looks).  She is 13 years old, and she needs to take an English exam in June.  I'm working on conversation, vocabulary, and the different tenses with her.  Her mom came to JFRC to show me the way to their house, so that in the future I would be able to get back and forth.  (good thing because we all know how terrible I am with directions)  Anyway, when she picked me up she spoke no English.  This really frightened me, because I was told that the family already knew a little English.  As I said before, my Italian is slowly improving, but it is still not to where I am comfortable speaking it all the time.  Back to the story: so, we are able to make a little talk on the way, I see where the different bus stops are, (although it's only about a  20 min walk) and also how to get into their building and to their apt.  Laura and her two  younger siblings were at the door to meet me, along with who I am assuming to be their Nonna (grandma in Italian).  Again, very little English...actually none...was spoken.  But once I sat down in Laura's room with her to work on English things went much better.  She's very good at reading it, and I was able to explain, in Italian, the words that she did not know.  We also worked on past tense verbs.

I had to basically run back to JFRC to be there in time for speaking partners.  Speaking partners is a program with the English school here at JFRC that allows us to practice our Italian and Italians to practice their English.  I met a nice girl, probably a few years older than me, and a nice woman about the age of my mom/aunts.  It was enjoyable.

Wednesday morning classes were canceled because we had tickets for a Papal Audience.  Holy cow.  I guess that saying might be sac-religious in this case, but wowza it was crazy!  I was four rows away from the Pope.  No big deal or anything.  I've gotten pretty lucky in this aspect of my life, because when I was in Rome 12 years ago with my parents and sister we were only 12 rows away from Pope John Paul II.  But back to present day:  We left at 7:30am, but the Papal Audience didn't start until 10:30 (which is why we got such good seats).  Pope Benedict XVI speaks 7 languages and read in all of them.  All the large groups there were presented to him...some sang to him (and he even clapped), while others (like JFRC) just cheered when their name was called.  This sounds tacky, and it was, but everyone was going nuts....some people were even waving flags and banners...it was more like a concert than a holy event.  The Pope extended his blessing to all of us, our religious belongings, and to our families and friends.  So you were all apparently blessed by the Pope yesterday.  (unless you're a stranger, thus being a stalker by reading this blog...but in a sense you now know my life, so perhaps the Pope would consider you a friend of mine also)  He also extended his blessing to all of our children.  I was going to entitle this blog : My womb is blessed, but I felt that that might offend some people, and was probably not the holiest of holy things to do.

For those of you who don't know, this is the Pope.

This Picture was taken by my friend, Kaitlyn...my camera made the pope come out as a white blob even though we were so close.
Also during the Papal Audience, a  little kid ran up onto the altar and knelt before the Pope.  The Pope blessed him, and I'm sure you're all thinking awwww how cute.  1.  The guards didn't catch him...doesn't make the Pope's security look too promising.   2.  How does a 4 year old know to kneel before the Pope.  Maybe 'cause his dad was there ready with his camera to take a picture of it. If I had run past the guards I would have been tackled or shot down. 
http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/pope-security-is-breached-by-young-brazilian-boy-who-wanted-a-private-/4932/

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/02/5975803-boy-gives-vatican-security-guards-the-slip-to-greet-pope-benedict


After the Papal Audience we bought tickets for a AS Roma Calcio game.  Going to a soccer game was on my list of "must dos" and it was really fun.  There was a big group of us that went.  We got to the game after it had already started (due to walking in several wrong directions, a usual for me) and let's just say it was quite the experience.  For starters, I  thought I was going to miserable, because upon entering the stadium I was patted down.  And they have no idea of personal space.  They patted everywhere....very uncomfortable.  More security than for the Pope...this seems a bit backwards.  All the carabinieri and police had huge machine guns...which for some reason made me a little more uncomfortable last night.  But after the initial entering of the stadium, I enjoyed myself.  Don't expect to have a seat at the game...even if your ticket has one on it.  Everyone piles into a few sections and is crammed together.  We stood among all these Roma fans and it was unlike any other sporting event I have been to.  The crowd is so focused on the game, and everyone...literally the whole stadium...is singing the same cheers (and they have many). It was definitely  a great time.

The AS Roma fans wave their flags like crazy and sing and chant with each other.  A crazy experience!

Today, although only 10:30 has been great.  I went for a run outside with my friend, Crissy.  We attempted to run to the Vatican, but didn't turn and ended up going much farther out of the way.  It was a great work out though.  I love running outside; it is so much more challenging than a treadmill, and in Rome there is so much to see while you run.  Unless you are looking at the ground to avoid the dog poop.  So, Mom and Dad, I know you were worried about me running by myself and getting abducted by an Albanian, but you do not have to worry anymore.  Actually, you might, because we almost had a few fatal accidents by dogs, cracks in the really terrible sidewalks, buses, and vespas that do not stop.  Oh yeah, and Italians look at you like you have 5 heads when they see you running.  No one here runs.  They don't mind blocking your way, breathing smoke into your face, or pointing and laughing at you.

Random Facts
1.  I'm becoming an expert at avoiding dog poop.

2. Apparently pot isn't illegal in a soccer stadium...I mean it is, but looking around everyone was smoking it, and the smell was very strong.

3. Churches are not the place to stop on a run if you are looking for a bathroom.

4.  As  much as I love Rome, and don't take this the wrong way, because I do not want to come home right now, but I wish I was sledding in 2+ feet of snow....although having it be 45ish degrees last night was really nice. But a week of snowdays would have been swell too.

Bisogno il latte

I need Milk.

Saturday

Yes, I went to the Vatican again.  But, bare with me, I only have a few more things I’ll share with you.  (unless [BERN]you are completely curious to what else I’ve learned about it, then you can just ask me…such as the smoke for a pope, where exactly St. Peter was martyred, what material something was made of, or my personal favorite: why the nativities are still up in all the churches.  Today’s tour was given by one of the Jesuits that teaches at JFRC and is in charge of the Campus Ministry program, Fr. Al.  It was a completely different tour than my class on Monday for two reasons.  1. Fr. Bohr’s was more art oriented, while Fr. Al’s was more history. 2. Fr. Al works at the Vatican (he’s the one who was able to get us tickets to Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and the Papal Audience).

Top 5 things I think will interest you from my morning/afternoon at the Vatican.

1.       Pope John Paul II declared Pope John XXIII “blessed” and had his body brought from the grotto to the basilica. Before Pope John Paul II died, he asked to be buried where Pope John XXIII had been.  He is, but now that he is being beatified he will also be brought up from the Grotto.  (They are building an altar for him to be buried under right now…pretty interesting to see it all going down)

2.       If any of you have seen Angels and Demons, (if not…YOU MUST) you know that there is a path that leads from the Vatican to Castel S. Angelo.  It actually does still exist.

3.       Beneath the grotto is the scavi.  We did not go, (1. There were about 20-25 of us and 2. You have to pay and preschedule a tour….looks like another visit will be in my future.)  Anyway, they only let about 12 people down there at once, because of lack of oxygen….they actually pump oxygen down there.  Probably not best to visit if you are an ultra claustrophobic. 

4.       St. Peter’s remains are not actually in the box in his tomb.  Some tour guides will tell you this, though.

5.       In the Vatican square, beneath the basilica, there use to be a pagan cemetery.  As people were being martyred for their faith, they would also be buried there.  Eventually the pagans were basically pushed out of the cemetery, thus creating a catholic cemetery.  This is where the Mausoleum that contained St. Peter’s bones were found.  They were carbon tested and dated back to the first century, from the area where he would have lived with Jesus.  To confirm even further, there were symbols around his grave, such as the key, and purple cloth (in which he was most likely buried in).  Oh yeah, and one of the things or facts or whatever you want to call it that gives even more confirmation is that there were no bones of the feet or hands found.  St. Peter did not want to be crucified in the same way as Jesus, so he was nailed upside down.  They either had a really strong stomach, or no regard for the dead, but rather than taking them nicely off the cross, they would usually just chop them off at the hands and feet where they had been nailed. This explains why St. Peter’s hands and feet are missing.

I explored with some people…had a great eggplant and zucchini panino, bought some gifts….some of you lucky ones will be getting one, and went back to relax, caught up on reading, and ran before meeting up with Fr. Al and more JFRC students for dinner.  I also ventured to the grocery store in a hunt for milk.  I’ve been craving milk since pretty much the day I got to Rome.  I found some, and it was the happiest moment of my day.  Which might seem sad, but I really like milk J and want strong bones.  I’m on a mission to beat the osteoporosis that runs in the family.  

Random things:

1.       I think Italians cheat their bus system also.

2.       The Swiss Guards make up about ten percent of the Vatican’s population.  There are a little over 100 that reside and work in the Vatican.  I feel like I write way too much in this blog, but I have another interesting fact about the Swiss Guards.  When the Spaniards attacked Rome and Pope Clement, it was the Swiss Guards, who after the rest of the Roman army was down, fought to their death to protect the pope.  This is why it is the Swiss Guards that still protect the Pope today.

3.       To be a Swiss Guard you must be single.  They all are younger guys, so maybe I’ll find myself a nice Swiss Guard if my hunt for an Irishman doesn’t work out. 

4.       Why is it that 99.9 percent of the young guys in the seminary are the good looking guys?  I mean, they are devoting their life to God, and He doesn’t care what they look like, so shouldn’t the good looking people be left for those who are available?  I think so. 

Also, there are, as one would think (so if this surprises you, please do not admit that it does) many nuns around the Vatican.  They are all cute and all, but none are like my nuns

Nella terra di Caròte

In the Land of Carrots

Viterbo is a city in the Lazio region of Italy (the same region as Roma).  It’s the fifth largest city in the region and also was part of the papal states.  It has a very Tuscan feel, however, because is very close to the Tuscan border.  (Actually, part of the University of Tuscany is in the walls of Viterbo.)  Notice how I said “walls of Viterbo”.  Viterbo is a medieval town, but dates back even farther to the times of the Etruscans.

Viterbo has two patron saints: Santa Rossa and San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence).

It took about 1hr 45mins to get to Viterbo from Roma (but only cost 1euro!).  We passed through many cute towns that I hope to get the chance to explore.  The first thing I saw when I got off the train (outside the city walls) was a McDonalds.  I was a little bummed, because I had heard that this was such an old town and we were out of the city.  Good news: Once you walked through the city walls, the outside world was exactly that.  Being inside the walls was like being in a completely foreign place.  (I realize it is a foreign place to me, but I mean foreign from my new home in Rome.)

walls leading into the city

Having gotten up quite early to catch the train, everyone was feeling a bit drained and needed a burst of energy…..first stop was in a café for a cappuccino (something that you can only order in the morning, if you try to order a cappuccino after noon, you will be looked at like you are crazy).  I have yet to try a cappuccino.  Once the caffeine was running through people’s bodies we set out on a mission to conquer the city.  

Ironically, I entitled this blog, “In the Land of Carrots”, but I did not actually eat a carrot here, nor did I see anything indicating the production of them.  So where did that come from?  In my food and wine class, my teacher briefly mentioned that Viterbo is known for their carrots, so I thought, since I had been there, that this was a very interesting piece of information. 

Santa Rosa was a gorgeous church on top of a hill.  Her body was on display inside, and it is only slightly decayed.  Her body has been in the church since the 1200s.  An interesting fact about Saint Rose is that she wanted to join a convent, but with each attempt to enter one, she was turned away.

Viterbo was filled with fountains.  One was in the middle of a Piazza that we thought was very cute and looked like it was the typical Italian piazzas you see in movies.  Then we saw the name; it was called Piazza della morte, or place of the dead. 

My favorite place in Viterbo was the duomo, San Lorenzo.  I may be biased because St. Lawrence is my name saint, but stepping inside the church gave me the chills. Although it was very chilly inside,  so that can be attributed to either a feeling of awe or simply the weather, but maybe a combination of both.  San Lorenzo was an amazing saint.  His story is magnificent.  San Lorenzo is said to have had a great sense of humor, and always joking around.  (Maybe that’s why I’m so funny) When he was martyred, he died, in my opinion, the most brutal death.  He was grilled to death.  Legend has it that while being grilled, San Lorenzo said something along the lines of, “this side's done, turn me over and have a bite”. 

Anyway, back to the church.  The ceiling was made of wood, and the inside was very beautiful.  It wasn't like any of the other churches I've been in.  It didn't have as many elaborate details, but something about the simplicity made it even more beautiful. 

There was a really beautiful prayer that I’d like to share.  My translation of it might be a little rough, but I think I was able to get the idea of it.

“SIGNORE,Loes,

Ti chiedo che questo cero che ho acceso

SIA LUCE

Perchè Tu bruci in me

Ogni egoismo, orgoglio, impurita

SIA FIAMMA

Perche Tu riscldi il mio cuore

Ora non posso restare a lungo

Nella Tua Chiesa

Lasciando bruciare questo cero,

è un po’ di me che voglio lasciarTi,

Aiutmi aprolungaarela mia preghiera

Nelle attivitta di questa giornata,

Grazie!”

I ask you that this truth that I have lit

is light

Because you burn in me

Every selfishness, pride, impurity

is flame

Because you live in my heart
I am not able to remain in your churceh
leaving this candle burning

I am leaving to burn this certainly

And a little of me that wants to leave you

Help me to prolong my prayers

In the activities of this day

Thank you.

Like I said, I don't actually know if that's the correct translation.  I'll have to ask my teacher to help me with some of it, but you can get the idea of it

The city was very medieval, like I mentioned, and the cobblestone streets were very narrow and quaint.  Here’s an idea of some of the look of the town.

Italians have this great way of life.  They take siestas around 1 or 2 in the afternoon until 4ish.  Everything closes down, and they can have lunch with their families, take a nap, etc.  This was not a wonderful way of life during our day in Viterbo.  It's a bit frustrating when even the churches lock up for those few hours.

Random Facts

1.       Italians start smoking at way too young of an age.

2.       I do not like nutella. 

3.       I have heard very little Italian music.  Everything they play here is American.  It is nice to hear Lady Gaga…..question though…would you listen to a bunch of music you don’t understand the words to?  Also, their music videos are terrible. 

4.  Dogs are EVERYWHERE.  trains. grocery stores. buses.  literally everywhere.

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