Vatican Museums

Ciao, tutti!

Yesterday, we visited the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel: wow.  It is full of beauty worthy of the great acclaim that it has garnered over the years!*

No picture taking is allowed in the Sistine Chapel (so every 30 seconds or so, over the loudspeaker: "Silence, please! Silenzio, per favore! No picture! No foto!"), so there's nothing from me; however, it is completely worth googling.  My favorite parts are the first few scenes of creation, through the fall.  It's all amazing, though. :)  Also, Raphael's Theology/Philosophy -- not only beautiful, but I have seen them in so many places that it was fantastic to be there with them!

After the Chapel, we were free to wander, and I did get a couple pictures.  Here's a painting from what I can only assume was an early Borromeo weekend procession:

Davey: this one is called "Rinaldo abandons Armida."  Same story as Lully's opera, perhaps???

And to make it a truly momentous day, I bartered for my first scarf on the way back from evening class (God and the Poets -- still continues to be amazing):

Comparatively, today was not particularly memorable.  Though - in Italian we learned about food and ordering and then went to a bar for coffee.  So that was pretty cool!  The place we went had a St. Paul hipster vibe, and they don't charge extra for sitting down (which, yes, is a real thing), so I will do my best to return with some books.

Have a wonderful night!
 - Emily

P.S.  Finally looked at this blog live and realized how hideous the post title color was.  Mi dispiace!  Hopefully this darker purple will be easier on the eyes.

*Trying to avoid sentences such as "So fantastic!" when possible.  Might still happen on occasion, though. :)

Longer than a Tourist

That is to say, Bekah pointed out yesterday that two weeks is about the longest that we would be here for a vacation, so we're hoping that the reality that we are still going to be in Rome for another 3.5 months kicks in at some point!  I think that having another week of a regular schedule will start solidifying that idea, though.

Since I last posted, we:

 - did outreach to the homeless with members of the Sant'Egidio community.  This was quite the cultural experience, from splitting the group up into cars with no organization whatsoever to being surrounded more fully by the language than ever before (only a couple people really spoke English), being driven by an Italian to walking through sketchy Italian neighborhoods, chatting with them (that is, the guy who spoke English) in a parking lot of trailers where many homeless live.  It was a humbling experience on many levels, as we got to feel what it is like to be the stranger and the one for whom they need to accommodate.  Their mission of befriending the poor was also very cool to see in action, especially since it seemed very unorganized and chaotic at first, but gradually came to make sense -- they got everyone to where they all needed to be; then they just sat and chatted in the parking lot, and that was okay. :)

 - took a day trip to Subiaco and Monte Casino.  This was both a prayerful experience (we had Mass at Subiaco -- so powerful to be praying in the very place that St. Benedict lived and prayed!) and a good community building time, what with all the time spent on the bus, eating lunch, walking around.

Here's the view from Monte Casino (the ride up was rather terrifying, but worth it at the top!):

Original statue of St. Benedict (much of the monastery has been destroyed and rebuilt many times):

(Just to clarify -- St. Benedict is the guy on the pedestal, not the guy on the ground.)

Saturday morning, Thanos and an Italian friend - Claudia - showed us around a nearby food market.  It's basically a glorified farmer's market, and so cool!  Can you spot the boars' heads in this picture?

(No, I did not bear them in hand, nor were they bedecked with rosemary - at least not to my knowledge.)

I hope that you have all had a wonderful weekend and will have a lovely week ahead!

 - Emily

A Week Later

Ciao, tutti!

Wow.  The past week and a half has been one of the most packed of my life.  Mostly in a good way, thankfully!  Here's a highlight/summary from each day so far:

Tues., Feb. 7:  Scavi tours (no pictures allowed inside - but after all, one of my favorite parts was all the Latin inscriptions, so you probably would have just ended up with a lot of those. ;))
So, instead of tombs and bones, here's Katie and I beforehand:

Wed., Feb. 8:  Papal Audience!

Thurs., Feb. 9:  first class with Dr. Naughton.  It's CATH 401: Church and Culture, and we've already had readings from Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, and St. JPII, so it promises to be a pretty great class.  Also, we had a telling experience of Italian time: we needed to get books for another class, but the Angelicum bookstore was closed with this sign, which a passing seminarian translated as "Will I return soon?"  (Basically, things here are often late and unpredictable.  This is my natural tendency, so I've totally been appreciating it! :))

Fri., Feb. 10: Catacombs of Priscilla.  Felt such a connection to the community of the early Church!  (Also, played my first game of ultimate frisbee in the afternoon: pretty fun; pretty sore.)

Sat., Feb. 11:  Lunch at the Irish College w/some of the SJV seminarians.  It's such a lovely building and location!  (Sorry - should have taken a picture.... :/)  Then we walked around, got gelato, and went to St. John Lateran.  Wow!  It's enormous, and the statues of the apostles inside have so much energy to them.

Here are Grace, Emily Monson, Bekah, Margaret B. and I, trying to get a selfie way too close:

And a more successful one for scale:

Sun., Feb. 12:  Back to the Irish college, this time for Mass, after which I simply enjoyed a leisurely afternoon.  (Okay, leisurely with a ton of reading for Dr. Lev's class...)

Mon., Feb. 13:  First day of classes!  I mean, we had had 401 already, but now that they've all started  it feels real.  Art history with Dr. Lev is going to be intense but also super interesting.  God and the Poets is beautiful and inspiring, and probably a good breather in the midst of the rest of them.

Tues., Feb. 14:  More classes - including Italian!  It was fun. :)  We also had our first class of Fundamental Moral Theology with Fr. Giertych: my brain has never had to work so hard.  He simply reads his super deep notes and we all take notes breathlessly, hoping that it will be more clear if we simply write enough down.  Fascinating material, so I think it will be good overall.

Wed., Feb. 15 (today):  First official / fancy community dinner; Msgr. Schlag, a soon-to-be Catholic Studies' professor (currently teaching at Santa Croce) was the guest.  He is both down-to-earth and impressive at the same time, and we're excited to have him at UST!

To finish up, some pictures from Chiesa del Gesu:

One of the prettiest churches so far.  The ceiling is fantastic; this doesn't come close to doing it justice.  (But it proves that I was there, and I'm sure you can google a better picture if you so desire. ;))

Okay, this is the end for real: pistachio ice cream!

Arrivederci!

Buonasera from Roma!

Buonasera, amici --

After about 11 hrs split over two plane rides (with a partially successful attempt at sleep on the second flight), I am in the Eternal City!  Our time here has already been exciting; we've had gelato (my first!), espresso (also a first, and something that, if I continue, may make it difficult to return to American coffee), orientation, Mass, and finally some down time.  We've got an organ in the chapel!  Bernardi (where we are staying) is beautiful.  Here's my room and lovely roommate, pre-unpacking:

Can you see the molding around the ceiling?

We also took a walk along the Tiber.  The water is green and kind of disgusting, but the buildings along it are lovely.

These trees are all over:

 Well, I think that's all I've got for now.  Or maybe there's more, but it's a lot to take in, so that's all that I've absorbed to this point. :)  So, arrivederci!