My Day Around Rome

Sorry it took me so long to write you guys, it has been hectic around here for the past week. I stayed in town over the weekend, and thought that might mean a chill weekend, but then i remembered "in town" was the Eternal City. My philosophy teacher, a really awesome guy, had a party for his two classes here at the JFRC and then some kids from John Cabbot. It was in the basement of a really swanky bar/club down in Trastevere (the premier nightlife section of Rome, if you afford it). There were a ton of people who didn't even have Stefano's (as our teacher likes to be called, because he says hates the way Americans pronounce his last name) class that came which made it this awesome group of kids, who like i said before, have really come together over the last week.

Then Friday we stayed in and Saturday went out to a bar, much lower class then the party, but the whole weekend it was just like, "go go go." then monday, my worst day because i take 4 classes, one of which is 3 hours long, i didn't even get a chance to catch my breath, and the whole time i took every 3 min opportunity to check milwaukeebrewers.com

There has also been some problems with the whole class coming together, because that means that guys and girls are becoming closer and it has lead to some tense situations when things don't work out the way people want them too. Also, people that came in couples have had their relationships tested pretty strongly, because it takes a pretty big step in a relationship to go abroad together, and now they are in a completely foreign environment which adds strain. So there have been some pretty intense H2Hs going around and it has lent an air of stress to the proceedings here at the TWRC.

Tuesday was one of the best days of my life. I felt like i needed to get away a little bit from the every day routine that has kind of built itself up around here, and i don't have any classes Tuesday, so i got my shift covered at the Library and set off to re-see Roma. I left the compound at around 8, and walked down to the Vatican Museum. I forgot how beautiful it is there, so much amazing art work and history in one building. Also, i feel like i could go there every day for the next 3 weeks and get an entirely new experience every time. I really loved the Fresco stuff of Raphael (especially the School of Athens) and Michaelangelo when i was there with my family, and i really loved that stuff this time too, but i spent a lot of time in the contemporary religious art section and it was unbelievable. I will post some links to the paintings i loved the most later, but i left my journal up in my room.

I didn't end up going into st peters because i was not in the mood to wait in line after how great of an experience i had, so i just started walking around Roma. I walked past the Castello d'San Angelo and then around that neighborhood until i stopped for lunch. Then i grabbed a quick cab up to the Spanish Steps.

The Steps were probably the biggest surprise of the day, because i remember not thinking too highly of them when i went with my family. But to see it just full on a random Tuesday afternoon was great. There were people around the 'Sunken Ship' a fountain at the bottom of the steps, as well as sitting on the famous steps themselves. I went up to the Shelly and Keats museum (located on the steps) that is housed in the apartment where Keats died and it was just a random piece of england in the middle of Rome. The guy who worked there looked, acted and talked exactly like you would expect a young, English, museum worker to. The shops were all really really nice, and designed so well with all of the coolest, most expensive things the stores produced on display that they were almost like museums themselves.

I then went to the Trevi Fountain, which is cool, but not in my top 10 favorite things in the city, so after spending some time there, i went to the greatest building in the entire world, the dome that inspired all domes, and the building that speaks to me more than any other, the Pantheon.

I just sat outside of it for half an hour looking up, then walked around it and then finally inside. I jotted some stuff in my journal and then prayed about everything that had been going on this week (in a building created to house all of the gods of the Roman relgion, there is now an alter and some pews set up, its an interesting place to pray to say the least) and left. I asked when they held services there, but i'm not sure if i am going to be able to go back to that place this semester, because it cannot even begin to ever hold the same significance for me now as it did at that moment in my life.

I got dinner and wandered around some more, walking mostly. I stopped by St. Peters, even though it was closed, and just looked around inside the square. By the time i got back to the center it was after 8:30 and i was in such a good mood and my head had cleared nicely. It was more than i could have ever expected out of the experience. It was just such a wonderful day and everything, i am so glad i got the opportunity to do something like that in the place that i live. Thinking about it now, that is really the main point of studying abroad, the weekend trips around Europe are nice, but to be able to have that kind of experience in the place that i live really made it much more special.

Then i had to deal with three unearned runs and players i love chasing changeups for 8 innings, but it still bolstered my confidence for the rest of the series that we could play that poorly and have a chance to win. As always, i would love to hear from any of you just leave a comment or send me an email (jwarmuth@slu.edu) or a fb message. Hope you are all having great weeks and have cought october madness. sorry again for the giant blog post, but i guess you guys are just gonna have to start learning to live with it. Ciao.