Home sweet Rome

A stroll across my experiences in Rome for spring quarter!
So my dear tumblrees, I’m sorry that it has been so long! There is tons to catch you up on and this will truly be a testament of my memory, let’s begin :D Monday, May 2nd - we embarked on our journey, destination Assisi proper. Our train left super early in the morning, we all passed out, briefly woke up to take a quiz, scribbled something down, and returned to peaceful slumber. We actually figured out quite a cozy fix for the uncomfortable sleeping situation, which consisted of a criss cross leg pyramid between Russel, Sabrina and me - it was wonderful, though I’m pretty sure my next investment is a giraffe pattern airplane pillow, which shall be a train pillow and ferry pilow when we go to Greece! but more on that to come ;) We arrive in Assisi after about 2.5 hours, as I hopped off the train the first thing I saw when I looked up was the city, high up in the hills, beautiful. I will never forget walking through that main arch, into the center of town, surrounded by buildings frozen in the medieval period with the pink and white striped church of St. Claire at the end of the piazza to our left and to our right, uncharted territory, adventure! We arrive at our hotel and meet RODNEY (yes I wrote that with a British slash Australian accent) our tour guide for the next four days. We dropped our bags off and started our first day in the lovely Assisi. We walked out of the city walls and down a stepped hill (which I vowed I would never climb, a vow I was soon forced to break, twice) down to the monastery of St. Claire. The view was breathtaking - there were olive trees growing in the field to our right, the people of the town claim that they have the finest olive oil, but then again so does every city in Italy. We walked down an earth path along the hill’s edge and stopped by a statue of St. Francis sitting cross legged and there we received our first bits of Franciscan church history. I was asked to read part of The Canticle of St. Francis aloud in Italian and was actually quite proud of the pronunciation I’ve been able to develop. We talked in that spot for a bit, then walked back to the monastery, took a quick peek inside at their courtyard, then all us starved college students demanded to be fed, well, in a growing baritone of mumbles and grumbles hahah - we ate some pizza at a little pizzeria at the bottom of the hill. We then went on to visit the cathedral dedicated to St. Francis which contained the original chapel that Francis worshipped in. Assisi is a pretty important stop for people on pilgrimage and nuns! loads. I quite enjoy seeing them. All this must be such a different experience for them, people who have dedicated their entire lives to a cause and are now seeing where it all began, rather than an American Brazilian girl ooing and ahhing at all the pretty paintings, it’s fascinating how the same experience can be so different when you factor in people. We took the bus back up the hill, and then some hidden escalators! HAH escalators can never hide from me, I live for rolly stairs J After we reached the top we said our goodbyes to Rodney for the day and since we had been walking from 9am until 5pm some of the girls and I thought it would be a great idea to explore the town (needless to say I melted into my bed that night) We walked from the main piazza down the street where I finally found a red vespa! Beautifully parked, just begging for me to hop on it and take a picture. As I was about to do so a man came out of the store and looked at us, I asked if it was his scooter and he said no but urged me to hop on it anyway, showing me that it was sturdy and wouldn’t tip over hahah. So we took a few pictures as the random stranger, non- owner of the scooter stared with a dumb smile. We continued down a bit further and then made our way back since our tummies were already thinking DINNER. As we walked out of our hotel we ran into none other than Rodney! Who was meeting up with our teacher for dinner, and after turning bright red and suffering through our ooh la la’s, he recommended a little restaurant in the piazza that was good and cheap. Dinner was wonderful, the wine was great as was the so claimed best olive oil. We then returned to our hotel rooms to take a little nap, it was only 9pm and we wanted to get a feel for the night life, maybe find an Irish pub J When we woke up at 9am! We decided our nap had been a fail but it was the best night of sleep I’d gotten in weeks so it evened out. Our second day in Assisi was even more beautiful, we started out the day with breakfast at our professor’s hotel, and walked to the church of St. Claire. It is made of white and pink stone, which can only be found in Assisi (I found two little pieces of it by the side of the road and was super excited!) The church, like all other churches we have been to, was beautiful inside and out and it was great to have a tour guide who knew what everything meant and could explain to us the intricacies of the history depicted on its walls. We then walked over to St. Francis’ basilica and explored it in depth. The really cool thing about this place was the fact that you could make relics, secondary relics, BUT relics nonetheless, just by touching something to St. Francis’ tomb. I purchased his canticle from the cathedral, made it into a relic by touching it to the tomb, and also had it blessed by a Franciscan priest J It is probably one of my most treasured possessions right now. After the basilica, we took a bus to the highest point in Assisi, to the house of St. Francis, or one of the places in which he had lived and preached. His house was so tiny! Then again most people at that time were much shorter than they are now, though people in Italy do tend to be smaller than people from the U.S., that is one of the main differences that I’ve noticed while being here. Not only just thinner but also just smaller built, I’m not sure why. BUT we hiked around the park for a bit, and ended up resting in an area with a tiny little chapel, a few wooden benches, and nothing around us but nature and the soft chatter of birds. It was great to be able to enjoy Assisi in the way that Francis likely had. As we began our descent down the hill, I was constantly struck by how beautiful this place was, I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. Looking down on the valley and the town, the sky that perfect sapphire blue, the sun shining and surrounded by great company – the walk down the hill actually turned out to be one of my favorite things J About two thirds of the way down, a tourist bus filled with jolly old Italians stopped for us to see if we wanted a ride to the bottom – I was stoked! It was like they hadn’t ever seen young foreigners before because they were so happy to have us aboard! We waved them goodbye at the bottom and hung out there for a bit while we waited for the rest of the group who walked down to catch up. While waiting, I took a few steps away from the group and saw a double rainbow! Two arches surrounding the sun, making it look like a beautiful gigantic eye, as if God were literally looking down on me, or at least that’s what I told myself J When as the rest of the group started catching up we split yet again into those who wanted to rest and those still looking for adventure, you can probably guess which one I belonged to – I mean it was either sleep or getting to climb inside a castle! So we climbed yet again, up another hill, inching closer and closer to the huge stone structure I had caught a glimpse of that first day from the train station. It was just as awesome as it sounds – A CASTLE! Looking out over the entire town and valley below, with its huge stone walls piercing the sky, and there I was right on top of it. Due to my lovely fear of heights however, I only stayed on the tower for a little while then had to climb back down and appreciate the view from below. After exploring every nook and cranny, we headed back down, singing and giggling as American tourists do. Sabrina, Susie and I then finished up our trip in the most perfect way I thought possible. We walked around town in search of a restaurant for a quiet dinner looking out over the twinkling valley. We sat down and gave our order to the waiter, a few minutes later an older woman from a nearby table came over to us with a great big smile on her face and began speaking to us in English, super excited because she had originally thought we were Italian and was happy to find people to talk to. We invited her to have dinner with us and spent the rest of the night talking, sharing food and drinking wine until the restaurant closed. Her name was Elizabeth and she was traveling through Italy as a gift from her kids for her 65th birthday; this was her first time out of the country and I was so proud of her courage to come alone. We said good bye to Assisi the next morning as we continued our journey North to Florence. (I know it’s taking me forever to recount all my adventures - I’m in Europe, there are distractions, give me a break MOM! <3)

So my dear tumblrees, I’m sorry that it has been so long! There is tons to catch you up on and this will truly be a testament of my memory, let’s begin :D

Monday, May 2nd - we embarked on our journey, destination Assisi proper. Our train left super early in the morning, we all passed out, briefly woke up to take a quiz, scribbled something down, and returned to peaceful slumber. We actually figured out quite a cozy fix for the uncomfortable sleeping situation, which consisted of a criss cross leg pyramid between Russel, Sabrina and me - it was wonderful, though I’m pretty sure my next investment is a giraffe pattern airplane pillow, which shall be a train pillow and ferry pilow when we go to Greece! but more on that to come ;) We arrive in Assisi after about 2.5 hours, as I hopped off the train the first thing I saw when I looked up was the city, high up in the hills, beautiful. I will never forget walking through that main arch, into the center of town, surrounded by buildings frozen in the medieval period with the pink and white striped church of St. Claire at the end of the piazza to our left and to our right, uncharted territory, adventure!

We arrive at our hotel and meet RODNEY (yes I wrote that with a British slash Australian accent) our tour guide for the next four days. We dropped our bags off and started our first day in the lovely Assisi. We walked out of the city walls and down a stepped hill (which I vowed I would never climb, a vow I was soon forced to break, twice) down to the monastery of St. Claire. The view was breathtaking - there were olive trees growing in the field to our right, the people of the town claim that they have the finest olive oil, but then again so does every city in Italy. We walked down an earth path along the hill’s edge and stopped by a statue of St. Francis sitting cross legged and there we received our first bits of Franciscan church history. I was asked to read part of The Canticle of St. Francis aloud in Italian and was actually quite proud of the pronunciation I’ve been able to develop. We talked in that spot for a bit, then walked back to the monastery, took a quick peek inside at their courtyard, then all us starved college students demanded to be fed, well, in a growing baritone of mumbles and grumbles hahah - we ate some pizza at a little pizzeria at the bottom of the hill. We then went on to visit the cathedral dedicated to St. Francis which contained the original chapel that Francis worshipped in. Assisi is a pretty important stop for people on pilgrimage and nuns! loads. I quite enjoy seeing them. All this must be such a different experience for them, people who have dedicated their entire lives to a cause and are now seeing where it all began, rather than an American Brazilian girl ooing and ahhing at all the pretty paintings, it’s fascinating how the same experience can be so different when you factor in people. We took the bus back up the hill, and then some hidden escalators! HAH escalators can never hide from me, I live for rolly stairs J After we reached the top we said our goodbyes to Rodney for the day and since we had been walking from 9am until 5pm some of the girls and I thought it would be a great idea to explore the town (needless to say I melted into my bed that night) We walked from the main piazza down the street where I finally found a red vespa! Beautifully parked, just begging for me to hop on it and take a picture. As I was about to do so a man came out of the store and looked at us, I asked if it was his scooter and he said no but urged me to hop on it anyway, showing me that it was sturdy and wouldn’t tip over hahah. So we took a few pictures as the random stranger, non- owner of the scooter stared with a dumb smile. We continued down a bit further and then made our way back since our tummies were already thinking DINNER. As we walked out of our hotel we ran into none other than Rodney! Who was meeting up with our teacher for dinner, and after turning bright red and suffering through our ooh la la’s, he recommended a little restaurant in the piazza that was good and cheap. Dinner was wonderful, the wine was great as was the so claimed best olive oil. We then returned to our hotel rooms to take a little nap, it was only 9pm and we wanted to get a feel for the night life, maybe find an Irish pub J When we woke up at 9am! We decided our nap had been a fail but it was the best night of sleep I’d gotten in weeks so it evened out.

Our second day in Assisi was even more beautiful, we started out the day with breakfast at our professor’s hotel, and walked to the church of St. Claire. It is made of white and pink stone, which can only be found in Assisi (I found two little pieces of it by the side of the road and was super excited!) The church, like all other churches we have been to, was beautiful inside and out and it was great to have a tour guide who knew what everything meant and could explain to us the intricacies of the history depicted on its walls. We then walked over to St. Francis’ basilica and explored it in depth. The really cool thing about this place was the fact that you could make relics, secondary relics, BUT relics nonetheless, just by touching something to St. Francis’ tomb. I purchased his canticle from the cathedral, made it into a relic by touching it to the tomb, and also had it blessed by a Franciscan priest J It is probably one of my most treasured possessions right now. After the basilica, we took a bus to the highest point in Assisi, to the house of St. Francis, or one of the places in which he had lived and preached. His house was so tiny! Then again most people at that time were much shorter than they are now, though people in Italy do tend to be smaller than people from the U.S., that is one of the main differences that I’ve noticed while being here. Not only just thinner but also just smaller built, I’m not sure why. BUT we hiked around the park for a bit, and ended up resting in an area with a tiny little chapel, a few wooden benches, and nothing around us but nature and the soft chatter of birds. It was great to be able to enjoy Assisi in the way that Francis likely had. As we began our descent down the hill, I was constantly struck by how beautiful this place was, I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. Looking down on the valley and the town, the sky that perfect sapphire blue, the sun shining and surrounded by great company – the walk down the hill actually turned out to be one of my favorite things J About two thirds of the way down, a tourist bus filled with jolly old Italians stopped for us to see if we wanted a ride to the bottom – I was stoked! It was like they hadn’t ever seen young foreigners before because they were so happy to have us aboard! We waved them goodbye at the bottom and hung out there for a bit while we waited for the rest of the group who walked down to catch up. While waiting, I took a few steps away from the group and saw a double rainbow! Two arches surrounding the sun, making it look like a beautiful gigantic eye, as if God were literally looking down on me, or at least that’s what I told myself J When as the rest of the group started catching up we split yet again into those who wanted to rest and those still looking for adventure, you can probably guess which one I belonged to – I mean it was either sleep or getting to climb inside a castle! So we climbed yet again, up another hill, inching closer and closer to the huge stone structure I had caught a glimpse of that first day from the train station. It was just as awesome as it sounds – A CASTLE! Looking out over the entire town and valley below, with its huge stone walls piercing the sky, and there I was right on top of it. Due to my lovely fear of heights however, I only stayed on the tower for a little while then had to climb back down and appreciate the view from below. After exploring every nook and cranny, we headed back down, singing and giggling as American tourists do. Sabrina, Susie and I then finished up our trip in the most perfect way I thought possible. We walked around town in search of a restaurant for a quiet dinner looking out over the twinkling valley. We sat down and gave our order to the waiter, a few minutes later an older woman from a nearby table came over to us with a great big smile on her face and began speaking to us in English, super excited because she had originally thought we were Italian and was happy to find people to talk to. We invited her to have dinner with us and spent the rest of the night talking, sharing food and drinking wine until the restaurant closed. Her name was Elizabeth and she was traveling through Italy as a gift from her kids for her 65th birthday; this was her first time out of the country and I was so proud of her courage to come alone. We said good bye to Assisi the next morning as we continued our journey North to Florence.

(I know it’s taking me forever to recount all my adventures - I’m in Europe, there are distractions, give me a break MOM! <3)

Just had a wonderful day :D

Today was such a perfect day -I decided not to go with the girls to Pisa in order to just have a me day :) and it so worked out. Today I understand why people fall in love with Rome and never want to leave - this city is beyond words! what a day. I woke up and chatted with my roommate Hien for awhile, it was so great to talk to her for so long and realize how similar we are in so many ways. I truly lucked out in the people that have come with me in this trip, I wouldn’t give any of them up. Then I decided to take advantage of my first groupon!! wahoo - I have 15 classes of Bikram Hot yoga. My first attempt to get there on foot was a FAIL. I gave myself 40 minutes and I wasn’t even to the Vatican in 30, I have no idea what I was doing, there are so many stupid bridges that I never know which one I’m crossing! WELL I called the studio and told them where I was and the girl simply said, “you’re not gonna make it” hahah OKKK so I decided to go to the next class at 3:30 or 15:30 as Italians would say ;) but this class wasn’t in English as the one before but it turned out to be AWESOME! I met some of the girls from the UW’s Italian program who were just leaving from the previous class and then also got to know two women, Flavia and Maria, who were BOMB at yoga. I got to this class about 45 minutes early hahahah so had plenty of time to whisperchat with them in my broken Italian, though they did say they were impressed at how well I was speaking for only having studied it for two months.

Yoga went super well, even though I haven’t done any in over 2 years I remembered all the positions and all the little tricks to get them right. The teacher thought it was my first time in general and thought I was a yoga genius… I didn’t necessarily correct her… hahahh I mean it has been a long time so it kind of counts! But I didn’t eat enough before going, only breakfast and so I started getting super dizzy by the end of the class and had to sit down and she went and got me some coconut water :D which apparently is full of electrolytes! It was delicious :) All the people in there were so caring and happy and ahhhhh I adored the experience. I can’t wait to use up my other 14 times.

It was great to people watch from the bus (which I took to the class my second time instead of going through a tunnel and up a hill and turning right as she instructed hhahah) the best one was this couple on a BRIGHT pink moped with the guy riding shotgun hahahhaha now THAT is true love and confidence right there, it takes a true man to do that, though I wouldn’t have gotten any different of an impression had he been driving, that doesn’t exact scream “I’m a macho macho man” either, though I reaaalllyy wish that song was playing when I saw that!!! One of those ‘I wish my life had a soundtrack’ moments :)

Then after yoga I decided to venture and went way down this road only to get to the end and hit a frackin wall! hahah so I hiked back up and just stopped at the bus stop :) Which was a WIN! because there was this older couple there with a white, fluffy sheltie! I almost died, his name is Tommy, and I love him. and apparently one of the Italian police vehicles is a Range Rover?? hahah that was interesting, I felt so fancy to have a range rover roaming for my protection :p

When the bus finally came my mood was already through the roof, and it was actually quite a pleasant bus ride. I think that when not traveling in groups of tourists, Italians actually care about you instead of being annoyed that you’re a dumb tourist clogging up their city; I think they maybe appreciate the courage of going around alone. I talked to this happy old man who was telling me how one of his knees was old and the other one new? hahah maybe a recent knee surgery was implied there. and he had a hat exactly like Humphery Bogart’s! and I only know that name because it was mentioned in The Proposal, which along with Miss Congeniality is my all-time comfort movie, hats off to you Sandy B.

Now I sit in the living room, in my spot, eating an interesting concoction of foods – I have a bowl of spinach leaves topped by slightly overcooked steak and very undercooked potatoes, with some hard boiled eggs on the side :D yay to cooking with basic ingredients when you’re extremely hungry, it’s pretty darn delicious though, but then again, it’s steak YUMMMM! I really feel like I’m finally getting a real college experience :)

Anyways Jcarpe diem – my day was seized - But the night is just beginning!!! Here’s to life!!

 

Just went out for a little gelato nightcap in Trastevere with some of my roomates - I got a delicious trio of hazelnut, coconut, and nutella. SOOOO Yummy :) On our way back to the campo we stopped to watch one of the street artists who makes amazing art with spray paint cans. I could watch him for hours but I really have no idea how he doesn&#8217;t get sick off those fumes every night, maybe it has a more positive effect :p Today turned out to be a great day, now off to do some research for my paper!!

Just went out for a little gelato nightcap in Trastevere with some of my roomates - I got a delicious trio of hazelnut, coconut, and nutella. SOOOO Yummy :) On our way back to the campo we stopped to watch one of the street artists who makes amazing art with spray paint cans. I could watch him for hours but I really have no idea how he doesn’t get sick off those fumes every night, maybe it has a more positive effect :p

Today turned out to be a great day, now off to do some research for my paper!!

SO HAPPY!

Today has been such an amazing great awesome stupendous lazy dayyyyyy! All I’ve really done is go to the bank - which is super sweet. The ATM is inside this room and you have to slide your card on the outside of the door for it to let you inside. I felt super VIP :D I almost wanted to just sit in there and watch the non VIPers outside hehehh plus it was raining a bit. But Rome rain is nothing like Seattle rain, here it drizzles for a little bit, and it’s pretty warm! and then stops. It’s beautiful - and now I’m sitting in our apartment, listening to Jack’s Mannequin with the sun shining on my face and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm my mood is just AWESOME. If I were a Sims person, the diamond floating above my head would be super bright green :D

Saturday a group of walked over to the Colosseum - it was such a pretty walk :) I do love walking down Roman streets, there are random ruins and monuments everywhere, each with so much history. I truly wish that I had that power to touch something and see the things that have happened around it, the people that have walked past it before me. So many of these things have been standing for thousands of years.. it’s just such an amazing feeling to know that you are where history happened. We got to the colosseum and some of the girls took a picture with the gladiator guys standing out front, but I’m past my disney character phase where I can just get into their character and look past the fact that they still are just creepy Italian guys :D So I took a pass on that experience, but the Colosseum was amazing. It was free for us to go in because this week for some reason they were doing that, so we just walked right in.

We first took the stairs to the very top floor and looked down onto the arena - which you have to really imagine because since the floor was originally made of wood, it hasn’t survived, so what you actually see are the tunnels and holding cells underneath for the gladiators and lions and tigers. The Roman colosseum was one of the most elaborate, they were really into putting on a good show and had all sorts of intricate systems for getting the animals onto the arena by having them just appear from the ground. The stands are also hard to picture because they’re not really there anymore. It was great - all I kept imagining was the show spartacus :D

I loved the Colosseum - and I love the fact that I can just walk there whenever I feel like it :)

After our colosseum trip, we had a Italian cooking class and we had a very delicious dinner to follow up. It was great to cook the courses and eat them as we went along. Which was good because everyone in there was starving and sneaking tastes of the food :p

I’m loving my trip so far - it’s been simply incredible but I am also looking forward to being able to see my family and friends again and hug my boyfriend hahah :) I miss them all alot, it’s been interesting being here on my own and for such a long period of time. With other students yes, but still, this is definitely one of those life altering experiences.

On Friday we went to the Catacombs of San Callisto - it was truly one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had so far. We walked through but a very small section of the full catacombs which span over 300 miles beneath Rome. Christians built this in the early centuries in order to bury their death instead of having them cremated as was the Roman tradition at the time. Christians believed that Jesus was soon returning to judge the dead and the living and so they thought that the dead would need their bodies when this happened. They thought it would happen so soon however that they didn’t take any measures to preserve the bodies and they decomposed very quickly. These catacombs served as a place that they could bury their loved ones without suffering further persecution, it was a secret place only known to the members of the religion. When the barbarians invaded however, they found the tombs and desecrated tombs in search of treasure, but Christians here weren’t buried with anything of value. Many of the bones were moved to churches in order to escape the barbarians, and many basilicas still hold these relics. There aren’t any bones or bodies left in the catacombs today - there were two bodies left for display in glass boxes… that was really interesting and kind of freaky. They were so decomposed that only some pieces of bone were left and the rest looked like a decomposed cocoon, that’s really the only way I know how to describe it. My friend and I stayed behind for a bit after our tour group left and did some exploring of our own, there are some spaces that seem to go on forever into the darkness, it really sparks the curiosity but they shut all the lights of at 5pm hahah and being in there in the dark held absolutely zero interest to me, especially because I can barely sleep in my own bed in the dark when there’s no one home, let alone an underground ancient cemetery that is basically a maze of tombs and tunnels.

It was an amazing experience to see the tombs, see the tunnels, touch the stone - it’s a beautiful piece of human history.

Day 8 of the sickness - the darn little virus powers on, but ALAS! I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and I am gonna ask to be pumped so full of drugs that I float! This past week has been so lame feeling this way and I am very ready to go back to exploring. I did get out for a little bit today - my goal: find the Brazilian Embassy in Rome. It wasn’t terribly hard, Google was a doll and showed me that it’s actually two blocks from where I’m staying :) Which is awesome! just in case I ever need to flee from the police into diplomatic amnesty, I have plotted out the quickest route.

The embassy is in Piazza Navona which is a gorgeous place with two large fountains and an obelisk. There are also various street artists selling original watercolor and oil paintings - I shall definitely be returning often. Also because they have Brazilian movie night at the embassy on thursdays and fridays :D hahah I have a tour of the palace scheduled for this thursday and I’m pretty excited to get to go in further.

All in all today was very relaxed. My roomates are slowly trickling back home from their trips and it’s fun to hear about the things that they’ve done and start thinking of the things I want to do myself :)

Our trip to Naples was also really fun! We stayed at a hostel - which I used to have many preconceptions about but this one was really cute and nice. There were people there from all over, there was a guy from Brazil, one from the Netherlands, one from England and a girl from California. There were some other people there as well but I didn’t really get the chance to talk to them or introduce myself, especially because I sounded like a mangoat going through puberty and still have not recovered all my vocal cords. Nonetheless, it was a great experience to get to meet these people that I would’ve otherwise never have known existed. That really makes me think of how big this world really is, no matter how much I explore, even if I dedicate the rest of my life to the sole purpose of getting to know new people, I would only reach a tiny fraction of the world. It’s hard to think of the world as such a huge place, I always allow mine to shrink to my immediate vicinity and am pretty happy with that; it’s a bit overwhelming to me to think of it in any other way. I find that very interesting though, the people that you meet or see in your life, the chances of you seeing that one specific person is one in billions! There must be a reason that we encounter these very specific people, in very specific places - I don’t know, to me that’s just more than coincidence.

There was this couple on the train to Naples, actually I’m pretty sure they were mother and son, though I didn’t feel like making that potentially dangerous question when I would be sitting next them for another hour. But once we arrived in Naples, I saw them three more times - once in Pompeii, once at the pizzeria that I went to for dinner, and the last time in the Piazza Dante in Naples. I’m not sure if they ever saw me but the whole thing was starting to freak me out. But it’s things like that - a random pair of people from Philadelphia, who happen to be traveling at the same time that I am, to the same city, happen to be on the same train… why were they, out of the millions of other options, chosen to be there with me. I don’t know, I love thinking about fate and destiny and things like that - I don’t think that we are puppets being controlled by a predetermined life, but I do believe that we have a path, that some things are meant to happen to us, and people are put into our lives for a reason. As for the random Naples couple, I have no idea where you fit into the grand scheme of my life, but it was a pleasure meeting you :)

Naples as a city was interesting, much different from Rome - our tour guide said that it was the least European city in Europe, having not travelled much around this continent I really couldn’t make many comparisons. It wasn’t as well kept as the historical district (where I’m living) is and there was quite a bit more trash on and throughout the streets. We walked through many non-touristy areas and maybe that’s why it wasn’t as well kept. Even their historical monuments - some had had their heads stolen or had been grafitteed all over. It is a much poorer city than Rome but it was amazing to walk through its cobbled streets and take in a new atmosphere. There were much less tourists, which is nice because then you’re not constantly bombarded by vendors but the ones that did come up to you were a bit more audacious. When we were gathered listening to the tour guide, guys would just come up behind us and set up their little sun glasses stands and try to put them on us while we weren’t quite paying attention. We went to the highest point in the city, to this fort/castle which allowed you to see for miles. It was beautiful!

All in all I quite enjoyed our trip but was also glad to get back to Rome and have the apartment to myself the next couple days while my roomates extended their travels :p

Trip to Pompeii!

This weekend we took the train down to Pompeii and then Naples. The historical center of Pompeii is one of the most amazing things that I have seen so far on the trip. Being able to walk through the streets of an ancient Roman city and imagine what life was like for the people who populated it is an incredible feeling.

The city’s history is very sad, its entire population wiped out due to multiple volcanic blasts. Apparently, the volcano had been building up pressure for hundreds of years and when it finally erupted, the blast was so strong that the top of the volcano collapsed, blocking the passage of the poisonous gases that usually go into the atmosphere, and forcing the gas to instead float down the mountain and into the surrounding areas. It was this poisonous gas that killed the people of Pompeii. There were 7 of these bursts followed by lava which began to cover up the entire town along with volcanic ash. There were some bodies displayed in glass boxes - it was a very weird feeling looking down on them and realizing that these had once been real people, walking and living in the town we were now exploring. Some of their bones and teeth showed through the volcanic cement, which made the experience ever more real.

The city is huge, with many streets, homes and storefronts. Some of the doors were preserved and some wall paintings as well - it is said to have been a very bright and beautifully decorated city. We walked through many villas and large houses - each one beautifully constructed with the same basic principle in mind - social standing. People’s homes weren’t what they are to us now, they represented your social and political aspirations. There was a family who owned a tiny plot on the bad end of town who clearly held themselves in very high esteem and had high hopes for gaining social standing - their home is called the miniature villa. They constructed on their small plot, a perfect replica of the villas you find high in the mountains that cover acres and acres of land. It was beautiful, they had done an Egyptian theme and created a river type structure to represent the Nile, lines by various temples to Egyptian gods. It was crazy to keep imagining the people that had lived there, to imagine these places busy and buzzing with people going about their daily lives. It’s so sad to think how a town like that came to such an unexpected halt, it really does remind you of the fragility of human life.

SO - apologies! I have been blessed with the Roman Flu the past week :) and haven’t had the umpf to do much of anything. Though, before the flu had quite taken a hold of me, last Sunday I attended my first catholic mass at St. Peter’s cathedral. It was beautiful - it’s by far the most elaborate church that I have seen so far and it’s hard to describe in words. The sculpture La Pieta was also there, off to the right after the entrance - people are drawn to it and large crowds stood to get a long look. Photos weren’t allowed during mass, only before and after, which makes complete and utter sense - I mean who does that? EVERYBODY. There were guards walking up and down the isles constantly, asking people to put away their cameras.

I feel bad that their religious rituals here have become somewhat of a tourist spectacle, but it does aid the church financially so I guess things even out.

The entire mass was in Latin, and due to Vatican II, the priest did face the people when he spoke. I have no idea what their religious rankings were, but there were a great variety of hats, which I assume is what distinguishes one from the other. The main priest had a giant poof ball on top of his head :) If I was of an important rank that’s probably what I’d do as well.

The pope doesn’t lead mass, but he does make an appearance everyday at noon and addresses the people in the square, in literally every language imaginable. Mass got out just before he delivered his blessing and prayer and the whole crowd started cheering when he appeared at the window. I found it so interestingto witness such a wide variety of people, likely from equally varying religious backgrounds, be brought together by a religious leader like this.

I’m excited for Easter - well, kind of, Rome is gonna filled with tourists to the brim! And it’s pretty tight already! It’ll be fun to people watch from the balcony :) I’m starting a journal of interesting people that I see below, describing them and giving them a story, I like the idea of remembering random strangers that I will never meet or see again hahah but I want to acknowledge their existence.. I’m becoming very concerned with the whole idea of people being remembered or forgotten. Concerned isn’t the right word, I’m not worrying about it, but it’s something that I want to strive to overcome. I was very affected by Dante Alighieri’s Pergatorio, and how souls on the mountain of purgatory can only continue their climb if people pray for them and their well being, but how can a soul reach heaven if it has been forgotten, its life lost to ancient memories that belong to no one… it’s just an interesting idea that I find myself thinking about often :)