My internet hasn’t been working the past week, so my apologies for this blogpost being a week overdue.
As I sit here indulging upon a fine DOCG (cheers for those who recognize this name), I’ve been contemplating for a while how to incorporate a riveting introduction into my blog; one that has both style and class. I guess the sentence prior technically is a valid opening but talking about an opening and using that for one’s opening is plain silly. I have come to the realization that with each new blog post it is much easier to write, but I have had less and less time to write one with all my weekend travels, planning for the upcoming weekend travel, and having to attend something called a class. Nonetheless, my past weekend was incredibly fantastic, adventurous, tiresome, weird, and legen….dary. This perhaps could be my shortest blog as this weekend felt as if it lasted a month and everything simply blended together, or a typical length one if my writing develops into a solid rhythm and I recollect everything. I personally am quite excited to see how this shall unfold.
Another realization that I have come to is that in comparison to the extremely rigorous and intellectually strenuous past semester I had, this semester is absolutely pointless in terms of learning a vast amount of knowledge. The classes are extremely easy and slightly pointless as most of our teacher’s talk in broken English and the concepts are very elementary. As is such, the only time I’ll actually reference my classes are the field trips I go on for my art history class and what I make in my culinary class. For this week’s art adventure, we toured the highly coveted baptistery that sits adjacent to the Duomo. The outside represents a very Romanesque architecture as it is very plain and not incredibly welcoming, but as you walk inside, your jaw immediately drops. Only a 4euro charge, this was an absolutely marvelous journey as the ceilings are all covered in mosaics with a gold background. There are roughly five different layers of the ceiling, where each layer tells a different story from the Bible: genesis, stories of Joseph, stories of Mary and Jesus, and because Firenze’s patron saint is John the Baptist, the murder of Saint John. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but there is always the chance I might stop by again, or just borrow a few pictures from Google of course. My cooking class this week was absolutely phenomenal and one of my favorite meals I have ever made. For dessert the three girls in my group made a chocolate soufflé, which was absolutely life changing, and although I didn’t make it, the recipe is so simple it amazes me how more people don’t make it more often. While they made the soufflé, my roommate Ryan and I took on the task of making a spinach and also a pumpkin risotto from scratch. Initially we made the vegetable stock and then worked our way to the risotto which was one of the more intensive recipes I’ve had. The taste was incredible, and every bite kept changing mine and my housemate’s opinion of which flavor yielded the most rewarding sensation to our taste buds.
Skipping to Wednesday late afternoon, I bolted out of my class, swung by the local wine store to purchase a giant jug of bianco wine (5 liters to be exact) for only 8euro (more on this story to come), went home to pack, and booked it to the corner café to grab a panini. The panini was excellent but I had given 15minutes to make my train figuring that the café stop would take a max of three minutes. Well by the time I finally placed my order I already burned three minutes, and then the barista took a little over 5min heating the panini up, which still wasn’t finished but through my broken Italian and my superb charades skills, I was able to tell her I needed it right now for the train. Luckily I managed to snag my train right as the doors were closing considering that was the last intercity train for the night so I would then have to spend 20euro more for the Eurostar. The train ride was quite enjoyable as I was able to snack on my prized panini, which had brie, salami and lettuce, listen to my favorite indie rock music, and then start on my newest Kurt Vonnegut novel: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewalter; and exceptionally good novel, but not nearly as good as his other novel Slaughterhouse-Five (fun fact of the day: my favorite book of all time). I eventually landed in Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome, and then met Courtney who led me back to her apartment. I must say, her apartment was exceptionally lovely and quaint, not to mention she was only a few minutes away from the colosseum. The view from her place overlooks San Giovanni from merely laying on her couch while the warm breeze comforts you is unbelievable, not to mention her apartment is very small which adds a nice amount of character and warmth to the place. As we waited for Brittney to arrive from her place, I presented the jug of bianco as a gift to Jess as she requested it when she laid her eyes upon it when she visited Firenze. The impressiveness of the size and the low cost was not enough to mask the incredibly disgusting taste of the actual wine. This would probably be a valid explanation for why the shop owner lowered the price of the jug a few euros without me even saying a word to him. Maybe it’s because she’s from California, but she did not actually mind it opposed to everyone else dousing their taste buds with the nearest liquid in site. Upon Brit’s arrival, we ventured off to a local Irish Pub called Scholars where Court and I caught up while Britt and Jess schmoozed it up with a couple of French guys by the names of Pierre and Timothy (pronounced Timotay). Unfortunately, Rome’s public transportation closes before midnight so we were forced to walk about 45minute home. This is part of the reason for the reason I believe I lost over 7pounds alone just walking around Rome.
The following day I was awoken by the marvelous breeze, the pleasant warmth of the sun and the incredible view of San Giovanni, if only every morning yielded this amount of luxury. Unfortunately for Britt, she was awoken at 9am by a friend informing her of the art field trip she was supposed to be on, which was extremely unfortunate considering we stayed awake until about 4:30 just chit-chatting. Upon her return I embarked upon my first tour of Roma where we toured San Giovanni, the Church by their apartment that was incredibly marvelous. According to Britt, one of the pillars in the Church produces condensation and drips down the pillar to form a puddle a few weeks before the Pope’s death. In addition to the tomb of the head of both martyrs Saint John and Saint Peter and the incredible architecture, San Giovanni is well worth a visit if one ever stops by Roma. Our next venture brought us to Courtney’s school as we had a few minutes to kill before we met Jess for lunch. It’s incredible how different my school and her school are considering we are both a part of the same program, but her school consists of one lonely floor in an office building opposed to the five or so buildings that consist of my school. After this quick visit we then departed to a local café where we devoured a suppli (a local dish consisting of rice, mozzarella, eggs, wrapped in breadcrumbs and deep-fried). Next we swung by the President’s house which was not all that impressive in comparison to the White House as it did not stick out much from the other buildings surrounding it. After several snapshots of the changing of the guard, we ventured a block down the road to the highly coveted Trevi Fountain. I must say, the fountain is not exactly what you would anticipate seeing as it is oh so much more marvelous then pictures or words can describe. After tossing my coins into the fountain like a true tourist, I dabbled upon a very delicious nutella gelato that Courtney had been raving about for weeks. Although the gelato was incredibly fabulous as I can still recall the exact taste of it, Firenze’s gelato still surpasses any gelato I had in Roma. Our last stop was the Spanish Steps, a very pretty sight indeed but I felt it was no where near as marvelous as it tends to be made out to be. A few quick photos, a stop by the local grocery store, and we were once again back at Court’s apartment where her and I whipped up a quick gnocchi and pesto dish with a side of her famous and extremely delectable chickpeas, peas, garlic, olive oil and a dash of water (a recipe that I have now incorporated into my daily dinners). Of course, our night would result in the same events that took part the night before, minus the French boys but plus a few Marist students who are studying with me in Firenze. It’s truly remarkable how it appeared that the majority of Firenze students from LDM decided to all go to Roma this weekend, and even more remarkable how in this relatively small pub I managed to bump into a few classmates.
The following morning Court and I went tourist hunting for the initial part of the day, venturing to the Santa Maria Basilica for our first destination. Although it lacks a majestic façade, the interior to this Church was once again absolutely breathtaking. This Church not only encompasses an impressive architectural design, but also houses the Meridian Line that runs right through the center of the Church. That day it was so warm and pleasant out so Court and I chose to go to this massive park where we just walked around and enjoyed the nature. I do enjoy cities, but after a month of walking on cobblestones and cement, the feel of grass beneath one’s feet is extremely heartwarming. After enjoying the crisp breeze and watching as couples leisurely rowed across a small pond in the heart of the park, we trekked back to Court’s place where she awaited the arrival of her cousin and cousin’s boyfriend. From there, I met up with Britt who would become my new tour guide for the rest of the weekend as I didn’t want to intrude on Court’s time with her cousin. With our eyes set on touring the Colosseum and Roman Forum, we got entirely sidetracked as we passed by the Sacred Steps (the marble steps from Pontius Pilot’s palace that Jesus climbed with the cross on his back) and as we are both practicing Catholics, paid a visit to this monument. It’s surprising to me how such a vital aspect of the Catholic religion has gone unnoticed by so many people as neither myself, Brittney, or several others I have talked to have ever heard of these until we stepped foot into Rome. Although we had our eyes set on the Colosseum, we decided to climb the steps (one must climb solely on one’s knees as Jesus had done) which was an absolutely incredible experience. Perhaps some of the greatest pain I have ever felt as even today, six days after the climb, my knees are still extremely sensitive and sore. The first four steps were merely uncomfortable, but after that (there are a total of 28 steps) it was absolute searing pain with every movement you took. This experience wasn’t incredible because of this unbearable pain, but because amidst all the pain it really opened and cleared your mind, allowed you to think deeply about absolutely anything and everything, and was an amazing religious experience. Apart from the actual climbing of the stairs, the house that encases these stairs is marvelous, from the artwork, to the chapel, and to the preserved parts of the stairway where Jesus’ own blood fell made this an absolutely remarkable stop on my journey through Rome.
Unfortunately, the climb took around an hour so we missed the Colosseum, but as I felt about the events that unfolded for this entire trip, everything happened for a reason. I was able to take some great photos of the Colosseum at night and wasn’t forced to rush through the tour as we saved it for the following day. Britt then went back for dinner to her host mom’s apartment while I fended for myself for supper. This was one major aspect of Rome that I was not entirely pleased about: after roaming the streets for over 45min, I passed by fifty pizzerias and then only two trattorias that were overly priced. I eventually settled on a pizzeria where I miscommunicated with the server by trying to say I wanted it to go, while come to think of it I believe he was asking if I wanted it caldo (hot in Italian). The pizza was still good nonetheless, but other then that, the food selection in Rome was atrocious to the vast amounts of quality restaurants on every corner in Firenze. I then met back up with Britt where after much convincing we decided to go see the Vatican at night (actually that was only to please Britt if she is to read this, as it actually didn’t take any convincing since I was up to do whatever but we finally settled on the Vatican even though she insists to this day that she told me numerous times that she wanted to be in bed by 20:30). As this was the first time I had ever been to Rome, this was also the first time I have ever stepped foot into the Vatican, which aside from the incredibly relaxing sensation from the walk in the park, this yielded an astonishing amount of warmth over me. After a few quality snapshots of the outside of St. Peter’s Square, we started our trek back to Court’s place with stops by the Tiber River, Castle Sant’Angelo (a castle commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, as a mausoleum for himself and his family that was later used as a fortress and castle by a number of Popes), and finally arrived back home after a delightful run in with a snazzy black Lamborghini.
My hopes of starting the following day’s adventures at an early hour failed miserably as I was not able to meet up with Britt until about 12:00. The reason for Britt’s tardiness was not due to her typical miscalculation of time (similar to my sister Kristen who always claims everything is merely a 15min walk from no matter where your starting point is, even if it takes over an hour; a very traumatic experience for a 13yr old me while venturing through Paris), but because she was pulled aside by the police at the train station for questioning. Aside from her terrible misrepresentation of arrival time, another thing I learned about Britt is that she has some of the worst possible luck in the world, and something like this would obviously happen to her. The reasoning behind her run-in with the cops was because her host mom had her buy a red metro pass which was a bit cheaper then the blue pass that Court/Jess had, but apparently she was not eligible to have a red pass and so this once in a blue moon day that the cops actually checked everyone’s passes, she just so happened to be one of those unfortunate victims. The cop apparently was a complete jerk as he refused to speak any English to her, so through her broken Italian she managed to escape a 100euro fine and other repercussions, but still managed to have a very traumatic experience where the cop ripped her pass very aggressively right in front of her. Fortunately for her, the rest of our day was very pleasant as we paid a few extra euro (about 10 I believe) for a guided tour of both the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, mostly due in part to the fact the line was wicked long and the guided tour allowed us to skip it. As these are perhaps the most toured places in all of Italy, and actually probably all of Europe, there is no reason to discuss how amazing both landmarks were. The only misfortune we ended up running into was at the end of our tour at the Roman Forum where our tour guide went off on a little spiel about how you could use the same tour company for a tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel but would have to wait until Monday as its closed Sundays and closes at 4 on Saturdays. Now if my foreshadowing merely a sentence prior did not give it away, then I am about to reveal some of the most disappointing news of my study abroad experience thus far. As it was almost nearing 3 o’clock when our tour ended, I realized that the Vatican was slightly far away and we had to leg it (a British slang word for run as fast as possible to one location) to get there in time. Of course I had an incredible amount of adrenaline flowing through my system and was extremely more motivated than Britt in reaching our final destination of the Sistine; so looking back on that, my apologies for that Britt but way to be a good sport about it! Once Britt navigated me through the Metro and we arrived at our stop in Vatican City, she pointed in the direction of it and I went on an all out sprint and arrived about 15 or so minutes before 4. My heart essentially dropped when I arrived there and found myself faced with a line comparable to the line for Splash Mountain in Disney World. Nevertheless, I sucked it up and hopped into line and reached the end with about 5min to spare and with high hopes that they would be late with closing it. Now I can’t recall if I mentioned this prior, but one of my favorite lines from my all time favorite movie in the world, Good Will Hunting, was the scene where Robin Williams is talking to Matt Damon in the park and asks him if he has “ever smelled the inside of the Sistine Chapel,” in order to convey to him that he has not truly experienced life as he hasn’t stepped foot outside the south of Boston. As Court/Jess/Britt can all vouch for me, the amount of times I quoted that line while in Rome was astronomical, but it depicts the extreme amount of excitement I held for finally stepping foot into the most famous Chapel on Earth. This is why I was extremely disappointed and saddened when I found out that at 4:05 there was no possible way I was going to make it to the Chapel, and even more saddened when I learned from a worker that the Sistine Chapel was not in fact in St. Peter’s Square, that I had actually stood in line for that long for the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica, and that the Chapel was about a kilometer down the road. Although I have had so many lessons in both art, history, and CCD classes about both St. Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel, no one had ever mentioned to me (an apparently to Britt/Jess/Court) that the Chapel was not a part of St. Peter’s Square but it’s own separate entity. After feeling like a complete buffoon and tourist in front of that worker, I cheered myself up by completing a full tour of St. Peters, the tombs of the Popes (which was very remarkable as I was able to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II and Saint Peter), and finally was cheered up by the presentation of a chilled bottle of water from Court/Jess/Britt (another aggravating feature of Italy is the fact that I don’t stay nearly as hydrated as I do back in the States as I have yet to find a place that sells reusable water bottles). As I mentioned prior, all these events occurred for a reason as I was able to get a full tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum, but even though I missed the Sistine Chapel, I was able to plan to arrive in Rome a day before I fly out for Easter break with Court and spend all day Wednesday touring the Sistine Chapel, and the catcombs/Vatican Museum which I would not have had the opportunity/motivation to see if I had seen the Sistine Chapel that day; not to mention seeing the entire Chapel in only 10 or 15minutes would not have been as rewarding and worthwhile.
After walking by the Tiber, this time in daylight, and the Circus Maximus (essentially just a large oval of sand with a strip of hilly grass in the middle), we went to a local restaurant where I indulged upon a very pleasant plate of tortellini with prosciutto and a fine glass of their house wine. Afterwards, my last night in Rome incorporated a walk to the Trevi Fountain at night, and surprise surprise, another trip back to the pub Scholars, which I know feel as if I’m truly a regular there and the waiters all know who I am. Our night did not end there where drama began to unfold back at Courtney’s place as earlier that day they discovered their water no longer worked because the water company had turned it off, due perhaps to the fact that there were so many guests residing in their tiny apartment: there were the three residents, myself, Jess had four friends, and Claire had five friends visiting. When I left Sunday afternoon their water was still not turned back on (they ended up getting it fixed by Monday) even though the landlord had shown up several times with a plumber. Another thing about Italy I have learned is that they are very slow about doing everything, and their technology is not nearly as advanced as ours is back in the States.
The following morning I was absolutely thrilled to wake up at 8am (a very rare occurrence) as Britt and I were about to step forth onto my favorite journey of this weekend: Sunday Morning Mass, in Latin with the full choir and hymnal, at none other then St. Peter’s Basilica. After my poor luck with the Sistine, I made sure we arrived over an hour early to the service (you really only need to get to the square an hour ahead of time, 30min in the security line, and 30min before mass in order to get a good seat), but we were able to get incredible seats right in the middle aisle and four rows back from the altar. The mass was breathtaking, with what appeared to be over 50 clergymen, an incredibly beautiful choir, a mass that I did not understand one word of but was incredible nonetheless, and the fact that I was standing amidst some of the most phenomenal architecture in the world all contributed to this glorious experience. What added to this fantastic experience was that as we were leaving the mass, Britt and I realized that the square was filled with thousands of people, which didn’t take us very long to realize that Pope Benedict was about to make his weekly appearance/speech from his apartment. Words would only deter from the greatness of this experience, so I will not try to lament on this event. It did amaze me though how the Pope was able to convey his message in six different languages, and even though I could only understand the English and bits of the Spanish, his speech was incredibly fluent in all six languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and I believe Latin?).
Another enjoyable moment for the day was my proud purchase of roasted chestnuts, which were very tasty and now I can finally relate to that popular Christmas jingle. Afterwards, I returned back to Court’s to find them filling up pots and pans (they were only able to use a minimal amount of water) in order to bath from, and from there I packed my things to my return journey home. I was planning on taking the Regional line, twice as long as the Eurostar but over half the price off for the ticket, but unfortunately the one incident I ran into with the lack of English speaking people in Rome (opposed to Firenze where essentially everyone speaks a bit of English) was at the Train Station where I could not figure out where track 2 PE was. I had assumed it was merely on track 2, which it wasn’t, and when I had came to that realization I only had 6min to spare and could not for the life of me find one person who spoke English. I ended up missing my train, switched my ticket for a Eurostar ticket (a 2hr ride opposed to a 4hr one) as the next Regional Line was not for a few more hours and I would not get home until 9pm, and finally got home around 4pm. I must say, my body has not been nearly that sore for years, the amount of walking we did was incredible, so much so that I ended up running places and bolting it up stairs as my body was so numb I figured I might as well get in the extra workout since I couldn’t even feel legs. Even though I had an amazing time in Roma, I was incredibly happy to be back in Firenze (one of the main reasons I succumbed to buying the Eurostar ticket) as it felt like home in comparison. Roma was nice, but I felt that aside from the extremely old ruins and the Vatican, making it an archeological paradise and essential pilgrimage to all practicing Catholics, it was very modern, expensive, lacking a vast amount of incredible food and character/warmth that Firenze has to offer, and in some ways very similar to New York City. It is completely different from Firenze, but I am going to have to side with the majority of travelers and say that Roma is a very nice place to visit, but I’m glad I chose Firenze as a place to live and study.
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