Papa Francesco

In Rome, everyone simply loves Pope Francis. The JFRC arranged for us to attend a papal audience last Wednesday, so all classes were cancelled and we instead got up early to make our way to the Vatican and contribute our own enthusiasm for the pope. The actual audience started at 10:30; we got there at around 8:30 and it was already mobbed with people. Luckily, we were still early enough to get a good seat near the front - we just had to kill two hours of time waiting for everyone else to file in.


Pope Francis is hugely popular. According to one of the priests here at JFRC,it was estimated that 50,000 people were in attendance for this audience alone. Which I could actually believe because the crowd was just enormous. If anyone hasn't seen this yet, there's an interesting interview with the pope which you can find here.

Before the audience began, the names of particular groups were read, and the JFRC got a special mention, which was pretty cool. We cheered loudly like boisterous Americans when it happened.
While more names were being read in different languages, the pope came out and the crowd went wild! I think perhaps a better name for the papal audience would be papal fan club or something. The pope walked around the crowd for a while waving to everyone, shaking hands, kissing babies (you know, the typical pope duties) and then returned to the front of the square where a short gospel was read in several languages. Pope Francis then said a homily in Italian (which I actually understood the gist of without translation, so that was encouraging). The Our Father was sung in Latin and then the pope gave a blessing to everyone in attendance, which also extends to families (so family, you were all blessed by the pope this past week).

Look! There he is!!

Overall, I was really glad that the Rome Center arranged for us to go - I don't think I'd have been able to skip classes otherwise, and it was definitely an experience to have in Rome! Father Albert, the priest in charge of the campus ministry at JFRC, is also arranging to get tickets for a few papal masses at St. Peter's, so if I get to go to one of those, maybe I'll get another chance to see the pope, albeit in a similar mob of people.

I've been busy busy this past week; I've got a couple tests coming up before the fall break, but I'm hoping to update more on the happenings of these past few days soon. I have some interesting stories to tell, including finding a secret bakery in Rome, getting evacuated from a metro train, and doing my first school visit for my research! Stay tuned...

Towers, Wells, and Underground Cities

"So what even is in Orvieto?" one of my friends asked during the hour train ride from Rome. We had decided to embark on a daytrip to the city of Orvieto upon a reccomendation from a professor backed up with the assurances of our trusted tour guide, Rick Steves, that it would be an exciting, and relatively inexpensive trip. But besides knowing that there were some Etruscan ruins there, and a really fancy cathedral, I wasn't too sure what else we would see. Quite a lot, it turns out.

Orvieto is situated on a cliff, so once we got off the train we had to take this funicular to get up to the city.

 Once we got off, we made our way to the main part of town and saw this:

Orvieto's Duomo

The duomo was apparently built in honor of the Miracle of Bolsena. We only got to peak inside the church, because there was a wedding about to take place (can you imagine getting married here?) but this certainly has to be one of the hugest, most dramatic churches I have ever seen in my life.

After the duomo, we got tickets to see the underground of Orvieto. The city is apparently honeycombed with hundreds of caves built by the Etruscans for defense of the city. We climbed through passageways and up narrow stairs carved into the caves to see the caves open to the public (apparently the rest are privately owned and used as wine cellars). The whole idea of an elaborate underground city seemed like something out of fiction to me.

Underground Etruscan olive mill

You'll never guess what these holes are for: pigeons! (Apparently the Etruscans bred them for food and pigeon is still a local specialty dish here)

 After emerging from the caves back into the light, we got lunch (we did not eat pigeons, though!) and then headed to St. Patrick's Well. Earlier when we had been waiting to get tickets for the underground, two of my friends saw their tour guide from the school's Umbria trip a few weekends back, and he recognized us from Loyola and was extremely friendly. Before he had to run off to guide his tour, he told us we had to go see the Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick's Well) while we were there. So off we went.

St. Patrick's Well

The well was created in the 16th century when the pope fled to Orvieto after the sacking of Rome in 1527. The pope was afraid that Orvieto would be besieged and have no water, so he commissioned the well, which took 10 years to build. The actual construction of the well is really cool though - there are two spiral staircases in a double-helix pattern, one going up and the other going down - apparently very efficient when people (and donkeys!) were going up and down to fetch water. So we traversed the 496 steps up and down.

First we looked down...

...then we looked up!

After the well, we decided to wander the town above ground for awhile. And by above ground, I mean way above it - we climbed to the top of the 13th century Torre del Moro, which is, at 154 feet high, the highest point in the city. And we saw more incredible views:

Until the clock rang the hour really loudly and scared us!

Back on the ground, we did some more exploring. We ran into a huge flea market while we were wandering, as well as a street full of people selling jewelry and shoes and other things from outdoor booths, while they were making their goods at the same time, so I watched a man actually hand-making shoes from scratch; I felt like I was in the medieval times.

Especially when I saw these banners hanging around town!

There were also a lot of cats running around town and acting like they owned the place.

After all the walking we did our feet were really, really tired so we relaxed in a lovely park along the cliff (with more incredible views) while we waited for our train and just chatted and enjoyed the evening. It was around 11pm when we got back to town, so we went to the cheapest local restaurant open late for dinner, which happens to be an Italian Chinese restaurant (I know, weird...). But it was particularly handy because my friend taught me how to eat with chopsticks, and I ate my whole meal that way - good preparation for when I go to China next semester!

All in all I would deem it another successful daytrip in Italy.

In Which Jenny Does Not Get Lost (okay, maybe just a little)

It's been a goal of mine to actually get to know my way around the city while I'm here, but I've realized that every time I've gone out so far, it's been with groups of people in which I always end up relying on someone else to navigate the streets. This Friday provided me with the perfect opportunity to explore the streets of Rome for myself; On Wednesday, our art class went to Palazzo Altemps, a branch of the Museo Romano which houses a lot of old sculpture. The ticket we paid for happened to be good for three days to get into the other three museum branches throughout Rome, so I thought it the perfect opportunity to do a little museum-hopping and take advantage of it.

I love, love, love seeing all the art and sculptures and elaborate churches everywhere in Rome. Unfortunately, I had difficulty finding someone who shared my enthusiasm and wanted to spend a Friday going into churches and museums with me... So I took the opportunity to venture out into Rome on my own, and I had a surprisingly good time going solo. (And everyone should be super proud of me for not getting completely lost either!!)

First I went to see the Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi, the church home to the three original Caravaggio paintings: The Calling of St. Matthew, St. Matthew and the Angel, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. I spent awhile staring at those.

You may be starting to notice a pattern that all the churches in Rome are incredibly beautiful.

I love the details.

A picture of a picture. Of course it can never really do it justice.

I then made my way to Crypta Balbi, a block of Rome where the Crypt and Theater of Balbus was in ancient times; The museum housed a lot of relics focusing on the archeology and evolution of the area over time. I got to go on a free tour of the underground area, which allowed me to see some of the very, very old construction and remains of buildings, though unfortunately the guide spoke Italian the whole time, so I only understood about a quarter of what he said.

This was apparently something like an ancient pub. See the pipe system on the left?

Next, I walked a ways on to the Palazzo Massimo. I was stunned by how gorgeous and huge the palazzo was, and I wandered the rooms for a good amount of time just looking at the art. The palazzo had two floors dedicated to sculpture, one for mosaics and frescoed walls, and a basement with a huge display of ancient coins and jewels.

The famous Discus Thrower

I made it to the last museum, the Baths of Diocletian, about forty minutes before closing, so unfortunately I wasn't able to go inside, but I was allowed to wander the gardens, so I still consider it a success. I'll definitely have to make time to go back at some point and see the rest, though.

The gardens. There were ruins and old statuary everywhere.

By the time I started making my way back to campus I was starving so I stopped in the cheapest place near the termini stop, which I am ashamed to admit, was a McDonald's. (I ordered my cheeseburger in Italian though, so that counts for something, right?) An Italian McDonald's is definitely different from an American one - they have things like calzones and cornetti on the menu. And Mark, I can finally dispel the myth for you: a quarter pounder in Europe is still called a quarter pounder, not a one newton burger, so you may tell your physics teacher he is a liar.

Anyway, I made it back to campus without incident. Overall, I'm pretty happy with myself for getting everywhere I intended to today. And now I can brag to my philistine friends about all the cool stuff they missed out on seeing.

You Don't See That Everyday...

I thought I'd dedicate this blog post to describing the everyday things I've come across in Rome that are unusual compared to America. A friend and I had fun compiling this list of things that we've had to get used to since coming here (some of them we're still not used to!)

1. Traffic
Pretty much everyone in Rome drives little cars or mopeds, and there are no apparent rules for navigating the streets of Rome. Cars will go down alleyways that seem like they're only meant for walking, scooters will swerve around pedestrians, and parking is basically a free-for-all. Pedestrians don't have the right of way either, so when crossing a street you basically just have to pick an opportune moment and commit to crossing. I'd be really curious to know what the traffic laws are here...

Scooter gang  (I wish I had one...)

 2. Water

Romans are big on l'acqua frizzante, or carbonated water. If you want regular water, you have to specify that you want l'acqua naturale. (I was a little confused the first time a waiter asked me if I wanted my water "with gas.") I have to say though, I'm kind of starting to like fizzy water.

Another point of interest about water in Rome is that there are basically public fountains everywhere that you can drink from. The water in Rome actually comes from Lake Bracciano, and it's really fresh, so it's super convenient to just go fill up a water bottle or take a drink whenever you're out on the town.

Or, you know, just play in it and get soaked.

 3. Buses
This one is also related to transportation; the bus system in Rome apparently has no schedule, so when you want to take a bus somewhere, it's impossible to know whether you will end up waiting 5 minutes or 45 minutes. You have to leave very early and be very patient when taking the bus. (And of course when you finally give up waiting and begin to walk away, the bus will pull around the corner.)

And sometimes you take buses that are tiny!

4. Grocery Shopping
I've already mentioned before that there are not really any one-stop shops in Italy where you can buy everything you need at once. The closest thing we have to a Jewel here in Monte Mario is a grocery store called Simply. They sell food and some toiletry items, but it can be difficult to find what you're looking for in another language! (It took me awhile to figure out the difference between shampoo, conditioner, and body wash).

5. Breakfast
In Italy, it is a definite giveaway that you are a foreigner if you order a cappuccino after 10:30am. Apparently this is some kind of cardinal sin in Italian culture.
Breakfast isn't a big meal of the day, unfortunately for me, but I do occasionally get a pastry or cornetto (croissant) which is always a treat.

6. This Sign

What does this even mean?!

7. Money
When you're used to the simple quarter, nickel, dime, penny of American currency, it gets really confusing to tell the difference between all your euro change. There are coins for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20,  and 50 cents, as well as 1 and 2 euro dollars. And having the coins instead of bills always makes me feel like I'm spending less money than I actually am, which is tricky!

8. The Paper
This one is kind of random, but the paper size in Europe is a little narrower and a little longer than in America. Not a big deal, but it results in all my papers sticking out of the folders I brought from home!

So those are some little day-to-day oddities I've experienced while in Rome. I haven't had any real culture shock, but I'm definitely constantly reminded that I'm not in America anymore!

It's a small price to pay to live for a little while in such an amazing city!

Lago di Bracciano

I spent the day Saturday staring at this view:

 

A group of friends and I took a day trip to the town of Bracciano, a little town about 40 minutes away from Rome by train. Bracciano has two major attractions: 1. The beautiful Lago di Bracciano, a crater lake formed from volcanic activity, and 2. The medieval Castello Orsini-Odescalchi.

The lovely Lago di Bracciano

We're just walking down the street and suddenly...Castle!

 The weather was beautiful, so we basically hung out at the beach all day and swam in the lake. The area was surprisingly remote, and even on a Saturday afternoon there weren't many tourists or crowds so it was a welcome breather from the chaos of Rome!

There's even signs so we don't get lost!

Black volcanic ash sand (and I would bring a white towel to the beach)

So serene. I loved the mountains in the distance.

 Later in the afternoon, we tried walking up to the castle, but unfortunately it was closed. Apparently it's been converted into a museum and you can pay to go inside, but it was too late by the time we got there.

We got some cool close-up pictures, though!

I spent the rest of the weekend doing homework on Sunday. I had wanted to go down to St. Peter's to see the pope say the Angelus prayer, but unfortunately I slept in too late... Oh well, maybe next weekend. I went to mass in the JFRC chapel and met the priest in charge who says he is arranging a trip/retreat to Assisi in November, so I'm adding that to my list of things to do!

Looking Up

Friday I went to the Vatican museum, and I honestly don't think I have the words to describe what it was like. Imagine walking through a giant palace and every new room you turn into is mind-blowingly beautiful and filled with incredible ancient art and treasure, to the capacity that it's impossible to even take it all in at once. It was amazing and one of my most favorite experiences yet here in Rome. But before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you about the whole day, since it was all quite an experience.

We started off by going to the Pantheon early in the morning, since I had only as of yet seen the outside of the Pantheon, not the inside. The Pantheon was originally built in 126 AD as a temple to the Roman gods, but in the 7th century it was converted to a Catholic church, and is dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs. It is one of the best preserved buildings in Rome and certainly one of the most incredible churches I have yet to be inside.

The Pantheon's dome is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome

My friend took this picture while we were all staring up at aforementioned dome

 After seeing the Pantheon, we got some pizza for lunch and set off for the Vatican. We spent a good part of the day in the museum, but I don't think we saw even half of what there is to see, there's just so much there. What I did see though... an original Caravaggio: The Entombment of Christ, the Raphael Rooms, including The School of Athens, a corridor filled with ancient sculptures, incredible Gothic art from the medieval times, beautiful courtyards, and of course, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.

Just. Look. At. This.

The Sistine Chapel (picture compliments of a friend)

Technically you're not supposed to take photos inside...

The School of Athens in the Raphael Rooms

Imagine every wall painted like this

Me, be-dazed after the Vatican

I'm definitely planning to go back at some point, probably on my own, just to wander the museum all day and stare at everything for as long as I want. Right now, my neck is a little sore from all the craning and staring up at the ceilings!

After walking around the Vatican all day, we had just enough time to take a quick bus up a hill to see one of the most gorgeous views of the city as the sun was setting.

I can see my house from here! (Just kidding...)

Churches and Ancient Ruins

Buonasera a tutti! La settimana è finita e io vi dirà tutto su di esso.

While we are only just finished with our second week of classes, the homework is piling up, and I have certainly been keeping busy! I met for a second time with the Ricci Scholars group on Tuesday and received information to get in contact with my project mentor who is an American professor currently teaching English at a local school. She apparently has an interest in the subject of technology - the focus of my project, so I think she will be a fantastic resource and I can't wait to meet with her and actually get started.

In other news, I had class at the Roman Forum Wednesday (you know, the usual). I went for my art class, and I have to say, going there the second time around and actually knowing what a lot of the ruins were was even cooler than the first time. The public buses were absolutely mobbed this week though since school has just started for the Italians, so it was a bit of a hassle getting to and from the campus.

Getting to know the ancient runes

Basilica Nova also known as the Basilica of Maxentius also known as the Basilica of Constantine (whew!)

Wednesday evening the Rome Center celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which marks the beginning of the school year in Italy. The mass was held at la Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio, the Church of Saint Ignatius in downtown Rome. The school actually reserved the entire church just for us, so we had a really nice, private mass for the Loyola community. And the church was unbelievably beautiful. I wasn't able to take any pictures inside, but just take a look at this. What's really incredible is that there's actually no dome inside the church, it's just painted to make it look like there is. Apparently the Jesuits ran out of money when they were building it and weren't able to build a dome, but years later, artist Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit lay brother, painted the ceiling with these extravagant frescoes to provide the appearance of a dome. It was highly convincing to me!

After the mass, some friends and I got together and did a little restaurant hopping until we found a relatively nice (and cheap!) place to eat. I had a dish called penne all'arrabbiata which I thought was funny since arrabbiata means angry (angry pasta). It was actually pretty spicy since there were chili flakes in the seasoning, but it was yummy. We wandered Rome for a little while before heading back to school.


I don't have any recent pictures from this week, but here are a few flashback pictures from the last week or two that I thought I'd share:

Piazza Navona - they used to have chariot races here

A night at the Spanish Steps!

More Spanish Steps (there's quite a few of them actually)

Flashback of the Colosseum

Maccarese Beach

Lunch last weekend among the olive trees

 I finally have plans to go see the Vatican museums tomorrow, and I am so excited, so stay tuned!