Last Day Reflections

Everyone else's last day isn't really mine, but I planned on getting the most out of Rome today so I can spend time with everyone and recover tomorrow. Mostly, I just visited sites I loved. Like the Disney Store.



Of course, I visited Populo and walked up and down Corso for a bit. Today wasn't about seeing sites. Today was about reflection. And there's a lot that I learned in Rome--the majority of it has gone into this blog, and I'm very glad I made it so that I can come back to look at it every once in a while.

Coming to Italy has really reawakened my love of culture and also a confidence in myself that I hadn't really seen a lot of this first year in college. It was hard for me to be myself this year because I guess I was just trying to figure out who I was when I wasn't around familiar things. I like the person I see though, and that's good. I really want to put more of different cultures and different people into my studies, and that probably wouldn't have happened without this trip, so I'm very thankful for that.

I've gotten to know so many awesome people on this trip and have heard so many stories. It's only been a month! But I almost wish I was in this kind of situation more often because when people face things that are challenging, they seem to be more open, and you learn more things about people. I have experienced pretty much every emotion under the sun in this country, and I'm not really an emotional person. But I definitely got the experience i wanted, and I feel like I've grown a lot. :)

Tuscany

Tuscany is beautiful. It's glorious.

As long as you keep that in your head for the rest of this post, we're good. :)

Assisi blew my mind. It was such a nice and small town. We walked inside San Francesco and just...I don't know. We were all down by his tomb and people just started to kneel and...pray? Meditate? I don't know what they were doing, but it was clear that a sense of peace had come over us in Assisi. We saw the relics of his life and learned about how he started the Franciscans. He really was trying to get back to old school and live the way Jesus did, a very poverty-laden life, doing good works and adhering very strictly to this poor life.

Antonia and I climbed a mountain at night and looked at a castle and at the stars. It was quite peaceful, and I loved climbing by sunset. We hung out by Santa Chiara (where there was a party in the street).

Something that I noticed while I was in the church there was that there were a lot of portrayals of Jesus and God holding the ball. The ball, held by the Roman goddess Fortuna, is a symbol of fate and its instability (the ball rolls) as well as its everlasting qualities (fate always exists because there's a circle). I talked to some people in our class about it, and Jacob suggested that it just signified the universe. Which I suppose has the same kind of universal quality as fate. It gave me something to think about.

In Siena, we learned about the horse race and how that's actually the first scene of Quantum of Solace. We visited the Museo di Civico and the town square equivalent (it's a lot like the Forum in Rome). There was a map of the world on the wall that replaced frescos that had been there before. We also saw Mary in Majesty, Christ holding a scroll made of actual parchment because artists back then were awesome. IN the Citizen Center in Museo Civico, we found St. Catherine of Siena on the wall holding a lily. The picture also featured two faces, representing the Old and New Testament.

The most mind-blowing thing about the picture was that it was made out of fresh plaster, meaning that it had to be done in a very short time. Several people worked on the incredibly detailed picture, and a head per person was considered a day's work.

After that, we headed into Sala del Pace, which portrayed the Allegory of Good and Bad Government. I looked out the window while I was there and saw boys flag twirling in the street! That appears to be a Siena thing. :) Back to the picture though. The picture's main idea was that a city built on justice is peaceful. You walked in under the figure representing Justice and sat under it. The good government contained temperance, providence, prudence, fortitude, magnanimity, and then justice again. Ropes came down from Justice's hands to Concord to the people and finally the string ended at the ruler. The government kept in peace had a peaceful city and countryside. People were happy and trading and working and it was all good.

The bad government side had figures that all had like, demon ears or something. The government was led by a tyrant surrounded by avarice, vain glory, and pride. The city was full of war.

Also, there was a picture on the wall of Nero, showing that Nero was a tyrant.

Well, it implied it.

Anyway, we also found some pointy hats in the pictures referring to the Chinese that may have been in Siena at the time.

We had a party for Jeff that night, because it was his birthday. Also, in Assisi and Siena, I had bathtubs and took the first two baths I'd taken in a long time.

I didn't take too many notes in Florence just because I recognized that it was time to sit down and just enjoy life. Good sites I saw were a tour guide carrying a mop (awesome!)

We saw the Vasari picture of the six Tuscan poets. And then we went to the Uffizi and saw so many things that I can't even put them here. I did, however, see my buddy Jean-Marc Nattier and some of his pictures as well as more female deities holding balls, just like Fortuna that I identified as Fortuna. Also, I was absolutely in love with Spring. I just sat there and stared at it.

Beautiful Views!

INSANE IN ASSISI 2011!

"Empty bottles? Well, that's a waste." - Carlyn

Katie: And here we are, shootin' the shit about New Orleans Catholic schools.
"We don't have a St. Cletus! You have a St. Cletus!"
"You're from Maryland. God, you're weird."
"ALICE HAS GOT THE KEY!"
"They're laughing out found on the inside!" - Kristin
"Chris is starting to remind me of my cat. IT'S A COMPLIMENT." - Heather
"Is that pole wood?" - Jeff
"That taxi across the street is lovin' it." - Heather
"I'll see you in heaven!" - the adorable tour group staying in Assisi
"You sat in the train today and did iPod shuffle with your voice!" - Michelle Rau

"What sorority are you in?"
"Alpha Chi Omega." - Kristin
"What does that mean?"

"I'm so sorry--it was just your face!" - TerTer
"It's on Wikipedia!" - Michelle Rau
"FLABBY THIGH BOLO."

"JK LUPD BOLO LOL NBD CIAO." - Lauren

TerTer and Othello...

"ADHD thing going on."

"She put something in my coffee." - Michelle

"OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS." - Jeff

"They had to eventually dynamite me to put an end to my reign of terror!" - Sebass, on playing Hungry Shark on Kathryn's iPad

"That kid is trying to offer his mother's breast to that dead guy!" - Sebass
"THAT GUY. WHY IS HE NAKED?" - Sebass
"THE BABY OF JUSTICE WILL PISS ON YOU!" - Sebass

"I do a dance when I pull up my pants." - Kristin

"Jeff, do you have a question about shit?" - Sebass

Sensual washing soap...

"Alpha Chi Omega? Looks like a bladder and ovaries."

"IT'S THE NUN SLAP."

"Lay that **** in there good." - Lauren
"He's going to be prom king of Italy!" - Katie
"BRICKS BRICK BRICK AND MORE ******* BRICKS." - Lauren
"I drank nothing but wine for the last twelve hours."
"Reel it in. It ain't yo birthday no more."

"It's like a gingerbread cathedral!" - Antonia
"That's why I became a ninja." - Sebass
"I'm so bad at eating!" - Antonia
"Holy ****!" - TerTer

"Are you trying to get us drunk?" - Antonia
"No, I'm trying to get me sober!" - Heather

Papal Audience Day!!!

We had a papal audience today! I wasn't feeling that well but I really wanted to have the audience, so we all got up and headed to the Vatican. It was really cool because there were these little kids who sang and they did the readings in so many languages! I looooooove languages.

Pictures!







After that and the heat, I went back to my room and slept for the rest of the day.

In a rather hilarious turn of events, while I was packing in my room for our Tuscany adventure, this girl came up to my door.

Girl: Hey, we're all going out tonight. Want to come? *pause while she looks at my t-shirt and shorts* Is that what you're wearing? That's cute.
Me: *blank stare conveying I have never met you before in my life*
Girl: Oh wait. You're not Lisa. *walks away*

WHAT?

The June 21 Blog

I only went to one place, and it made me feel kind of not adequate, but I really wanted to see Maria Trastevere before i left Rome, so I trekked there today. It took me a while to find, and my directions that I typed into my iPhone were kind of hilarious.

Left fork
Third left, left fork
Bird
Cross river, straight

^ :D

The church was beautiful. There was a statue of St. Anthony of Padua, and everyone had left intentions there. They'd also left them in the chapel up front. I'm not sure if I can describe why I like the church so much. It just felt like a good place to be, and I really like Trastevere.



This class really taught me a lot of stuff about the Bible that I didn't know. Granted, I don't really read the Bible, and I never really thought about it as literature before because the though never crossed my mind. But of course it is. The patron-client relationship and the slave-master relationships are really relevant. And the manager as the go-between. Relationships that seem cruel, like beating the slave and such--that was just business. And the patron trusted the manager to manage his affairs and with the slaves. There was a very rigid hierarchy of trust that you didn't mess with. I didn't realize how...rigid that was until now, I guess. And freed slaves immediately became their master's clients. It was cool.

Tomorrow--papal audience!

The June 20 Blog

This day was another adventure-filled day as I headed out again, ready to take on Rome for another day.

But first, pictures of trash in Napoli! Because I forgot to post those before.







I started walking and got a bit lost by the Colosseum, so I hung out on the street waiting for some touristy-looking people to come by with a map. I then got directions to Teatro di Marcello (also known as Tempio di Apollo). It has the remains of what used to be a temple for Apollo. And by remains, I mean REMAINS. There's like three columns left.



It was a theater, linked to an area that contained a lot of fish markets and was pretty cool. I then stumbled upon a church right next to it--St. Nichola in Carcere, or St. Nicholas in Prison. It was a nice church that had a back door going into a courtyard. They also had very modern Stations of the Cross hung in the church. I hopped the fence and found out that it led right to the entrance of the theater I couldn't get into--but it was locked. I rehopped the fence and continued walking. At one point, I accidentally walked into an office building.

I wandered around a little more before I ran into the Jewish Museum that I'd heard Ali and Katie had gone. I got in after having an interesting conversation with the guards:

First Guard: ItalianItalianItalian.
Me: Um...I'm trying to go to the museum? Um...museo?
First Guard: *points*
Me: Grazie.

I approached a second gate that looked very complicated.

Me: *pokes at gate*
Second Guard: Italian.
Me: Um...can I come in?
Second Guard: You want to come inside?
Me: Yes.
Second Guard: Okay. *presses button that open gate*
Me: *walks in*
Second Guard: Do you have a knife?
Me: No.
Second Guard: Okay. But I will check. *checks bag* Okay! You can go in. No photo. Grazie.
Me: Grazie.

The museum was amazing. They had all the fabrics that the Jews in Rome made in the ghetto when they were only allowed to work as textile workers. They took us into the Spanish Synagogue and the big synagogue, and security was tight, as someone had come in in the 80's and blown up the synagogue. A child had died and others were wounded. There was a lot of discrimination against the Jewish community. They showed a video of Pope John Paul II's acts of peace toward the Jewish community, and it was interesting. Because you hear about Catholic persecution and they persecuted Jews, and Jews were persecuted...

It was pretty cool, though, because last year, I went to a Jewish Friday service...I know what it's called but not how it's spelled. Anyway, so many of the Catholic mass parts come from that, and the two religions are really linked.

Here's my notes:

Quadriportivo is a four-sided porch. The Jews lived in the Ghetto of Rome. In the synagogue, the organ is only used for weddings. And there are a lot of symbols! The rooster represents the choice of good over evil. The palm represents a righteous person. The sun, waxing crescent, and stars represent divine law. Wheat symbolizes good and fruitful works. The tree of life represents life. The crown represents divine presence. The flowering branch represents the staff of Aaron, Moses's brother.

Rabbi David Prato contributed a lot to the Jewish community rerising in Rome. Also, there were ritual baths.

The June 19 Blog

Did I mention that when we came back to St. John's after our trip, we found that SERIOUS SHENANIGANS had gone on in our absence?

Today, I stayed in and worked on my Weebly. The night before, Antonia and I had stayed out in the courtyard for SIX HOURS after class. This may have been the day that Dr. Sebastian took us out for gelato. :)



GROUP PIC!!!

However, I do need to talk about something I learned, so I will talk about some things I've learned outside of class or things that have just come up without me going somewhere specific.

First, remember how I talked about how people wanted themselves portrayed as gods and goddesses in art? I found a movement like that while researching my Weebly. Jean-Marc Nattier (and we saw some of his paintings in the Uffizi, which happened after I was technically posting this but OKAY) painting a lot of pictures of royalty and nobility portrayed as Vestal Virgins. Now, as the clothing fit with the times, it's very interesting to see what his perception of "Vestal Virgin" was, but I think that it says a lot about how in his time, women were obviously supposed to strive for being virginal and loyal, all those things.

Second, I don't think I've posted on here about how it has really struck me that so many different people live on this world. As actress Gina Bellman says, "I have a bit of an anthropologist in me." And that's very true for me, though I'd never major in it (I appreciate the way it affects my life, but it's not what I'd want to do for the rest of my life). And yet, though people are so different, they're the same.

This involves a story.

I filled out my application to come to Italy in the free hour I had between my Chinese class in choir. It was cold that day, and I sat in the music building against a window that had some sun coming through it so I could keep warm. I knew I had wanted to go somewhere during the summer, that I wanted to be a writer and that I needed a second major to support my writing major, and that I would probably need to get a jump start on ACC courses to give myself some leeway to figure out what I wanted. In the end, I picked Italy for several reasons. I have a desire to not just visit places but to really get to know them, to understand a bit about how it works. I didn't get that the last time I was in Italy because I spent most of my time on a bus and really desired to know more.

Also, I'd been questioning my faith. Not really questioning whether or not I wanted to be Catholic but just wanting to know some more about it. So I signed up, hoping that I could go on this trip as a sort of pilgrimage and figure out some things that had been going on.

The moments stand out to me: having mass at St. Peter's and hearing the Our Father in four different languages; sitting in the Sistine Chapel and looking out over the crowd to find that nearly everyone at that moment had a hand extended toward the ceiling, pointing; the mountains of intentions I saw piling up in Maria Trastevere that people had left from all over the world, in every language imaginable.

The word "catholic" means "universal." But that statement is different when you look at things like that.