Free food? sign me up

My Tuesday morning did not go quite as well as my Monday morning. Bodies and Burials was on site this morning and we were meeting at a metro stop in Testaccio. I planned on walking, but ran into Sasha, a girl from my class, on the way so I took the bus with her. We chatted on the bus ride, and were surprisingly not accosted by old men. Once we arrived at the metro stop my morning turned sour, I realized I had forgotten my purse, meaning two things: I had no money to buy a metro ticket, and had no key to get back into my apartment. I asked Sasha if she would lend me two euros for my tickets and she kindly obliged. This was my first time on the metro, mostly because you can't get away with not paying, and partly because the metro system is not very effective. It's so difficult to build that the city has stopped trying. Every time they attempt to dig they find artifacts, ruins, all kinds of things that slow the process down by years if not halting it completely. We took the metro to the E.U.R. the 'New Rome' that Mussolini had built to showcase fascist architecture. It never took on, and resulted in an area on the outskirts of the city that looks a lot like a metropolitan area of Florida. Tall office buildings, palm trees, and open multi-laned lend to the Florida feel, and with the exception of the palm trees, are very un-roman. I had been wanting to visit the E.U.R since we discussed in in my tribes of Rome class very early on. It is very difficult to get to, however, if you don't use the metro; so i was quite pleased to learn that we had a class field trip there. We were actually spending the day in a museum, one that studies ancient skeletons. We walked up many flights of stairs to the laboratory and were left with a young woman scientist who showed us how to age and sex skeletons. She also showed us a bunch of neat anomalies in various bones, and even had us try to assemble a skeleton (we were way off, we had the radius as a clavicle). It was a really neat day that delivered on the course descriptions promise of bone handling. After the lecture I had to bust my buns to get back to my apartment in time to talk to Stuart at the beginning of his day. I made it, and then headed off to Italian class, we talked about the low birth rate in Italy and its causes. There are definitely aspects of this culture that I don't understand, especially the value of material objects. Americans are know for materialism, but it certainly doesn't affect our birth rate. One of the many causes is that Italian parents want the best and most expensive things for their children so they can fit in, and they can often only afford this luxury for one child. There are many other reasons that are lowering the birth rate as well, fear of losing freedom, late start, and the churches stance on pregnancy outside of marriage. It was an educational class and it passed quickly. On my walk home I was surprised to see that at the base of the stairs of death a huge tree had fallen across the road. Everyone was standing outside watching the fire department cut it up so it could be hauled away. I took a few pictures and continued on my way. Becca and I had signed up for a cooking lesson with the 'res grads' on campus. We met them just up the street from us and walked about a block to their apartment. Stephen was there as well as several other girls, some of which I knew. We were making spaghetti alla bolognese, which is spaghetti with a red meat sauce. We each took different jobs for the sauce while one of the res grads cooked the meat. No one wanted to chop the onion, so Stephen and I were left doing it. Neither of us had done it before, so it was a learning process. We did a pretty decent job and laughed (and cried) in the process. By the time the sauce had cooked down and the pasta boiled we were all ready to eat, the wine and water on the table hadn't been quite enough of an appetizer. We met a bunch of really nice girls that I had never even seen on campus which is impressive given the size of our school. After the delicious and filling meal everyone was heading down to the pastry shop just below the res grads apartment. Stephen, Becca, and I chose to venture over to the cookies and cream gelato shop and try one more time. We were in luck! it was finally open. When you order gelato in Rome you pick a size and then your flavors, two or three depending on the size, Becca ordered her gelato by saying,"biscotto" (cookies and cream in Italian) upon which the man behind the counter would scoop the biscotto and look at her for the next flavor and she would then say biscotto once again, and the process would repeat. By the time that it was my turn to order the man looked at me and said, "let me guess, biscotto?" We were amused with ourselves. As it was dark our Stephen walked us to our tram stop. We said goodbye as it pulled up, and due to a hug, I missed the tram and Becca didn't. Stephen had given each of us a hug, I went second leaving Becca on the tram and me off. As I banged on the door in shock, I noticed a girl from my class who was traveling alone with a bottle of wine, with a look of horror on her face. She looked more upset over the incident than Becca and I combined. When Becca and I talked later we put together that it was 4/20 pot day. The tram sped away without me on it, and Stephen very graciously offered to wait with me until the next one arrived. I was very glad. Mostly because of the creepy lady standing next to us who was whispering to herself and the rat in her hand. She was frightening. This time I made the tram and luckily scary rat lady did not. Becca was waiting for me at our tram stop and we walked home together with no further incidents.

Gelato Gelato McDonalds

Monday was bit of a rainy day, once again. Class schedules at this university really are a blessing, no class on Mondays until noon is so very nice. Getting to start off the week by sleeping in is how Monday should be everywhere. I had missed my Monday classes last week, and so it had been a full two weeks since I attended my opera class. Class turned out to be great, our papers were handed back to us, and I did considerably better on this one than my last, despite my distractions and lateness. That put me in a great mood, Art Gallery Management was no different, things are coming along quite nicely for our exhibition. We have a space and theme secured, and several artists lined up as well. Plus our professor is asking for money from the school so we don't have to pay for everything out of pocket, which is a huge relief. After class I went back to the apartment ready to relax after my five and a half hours of lecture. Becca and I were not looking forward to cooking for ourselves and we went to McDonalds to hit up the euro menu. This was the second time I had had McDonalds in as many Mondays, and with as many Becca's as well :) After McDonalds we met Stephen at the cookies and cream gelato place, Becca was obsessed. She had tried to stop on the way back from Stephen's on Sunday and like everywhere else in Italy, it was closed. Unluckily this particular shop was closed on Mondays as well, we walked across the street and tried another shop instead. Stephen and I got small cups of rum gelato, and Becca passed, she was quite hung up on the cookies and cream. We decided to try again tomorrow and went home for the night.

Mass and the Market

Sunday Morning I awoke and frantically ironed my clothes as usual, and then walked to mass. I always give myself more time than necessary to make it to mass and end up spending fifteen minutes or so just looking out over the roman skyline, with the mountains looming in the background (on clear mornings). Today was no exception and I visited sat on a bench for awhile before walking the remaining three minutes to the N.A.C. and waiting for Matt. Mass was once again absolutely beautiful, this morning Matt had to help with the mass so I sat with other priests who were nice enough to point out which page we were on throughout the service. The singing was heavenly as always and successfully put me in a wonderful mood. I strolled back through the park afterwards and on my way to the Sunday market I found two Americans leaned over a map. I passed them before I heard them speaking English, but double back to play Becca and I's favorite game. I asked the two what they were looking for, and as it turns out they were looking for the Sunday market. It was there lucky day, I told them they could follow me there as that was my destination as well, but that they were very far away, it was going to be a half an hour walk. They were up for the challenge and we shared stories on the way. I took them to the opening of the market and we parted ways, I had specific shopping in mind, and had no idea what their agenda was. I began my weekly walk through the market as always keeping my eye out for good shoe sales. I noticed that there was an influx of very cute summer dresses and skirts. I eyed some before finally stopping at a stand with an good selection. There were dozens of colors of a one size floral print dress. I picked out a pink dress with red roses for fifteen euros. I moved along pleased with my purchase and eager to try on the dress. I stopped at several shoe vendors, but as usual I either found cute shoes that weren't in my size, or no cute shoes at all. Once I had walked the length of the market I returned to my apartment and immediately tried on my purchase. It fit and I spent the rest of my day in it. Becca had a group project to work on at Stephen's and invited me to accompany her, I chose to stay behind and attempt to catch up on my blogs, with little success.

Yello Cheese!

On Saturday Becca, Stephen and I had planned to attend a day trip put on by the school to Lago Bracciano. The trip didn't leave until eleven or so, so Becca and I slept in and packed lunches for the train ride. We met Stephen on the tramline before walking down the street to the train station, where we met the rest of the students going on the trip. The Grad Students leading the trip insisted we buy tickets even though I never have as I was under the impression that no one ever checks them. As we were waiting in line to buy these tickets I mentioned how I never bothered to buy train tickets. Everyone around me looked at me shocked before each telling stories of having their tickets checked. A few girls had been fined seventy euros for not having a ticket. I couldn't believe it. I quickly calculated in my head the number of times I had personally ridden the train, eleven, and then I thought about all the people I had told not to buy tickets. I could live with myself if I got a ticket, but if Becca, Kelsey, or Jessica and her friends had been ticketed I would have felt awful. I had been, apparently, very lucky. I bought a ticket for our day trip, and sure enough on the train ride they checked it. It was a soothing train ride and after talking with Stephen and Becca for the first half we all split up in different seat/ bench areas and took a quick nap. We woke up in time to take pictures of the castle from afar. Our group leader Mickey, promised they would be great. They were not that great, Becca and I ended up with a lot of pictures of trees, we weren't quick enough to judge the timing of the train. We arrived in Lago Bracciano at the tiny train station, so small that instead of having an underground tunnel system you simply walk across the tracks to get into town. We stopped for a quick photo op over the lake before setting a meeting point and time at the town's piazza. Stephen Becca and I joined with Lindsay, a girl from my opera class that Stephen knew quite well, and a friend of hers whose husband and child were visiting. We aimed for the town's main tourist attraction, the castle. Mickey had warned us that it was only open at very particular and seemingly strange times. She was right, the castle was closed and the sign said it was only open on select sundays and tuesdays for three hours.Strange indeed. The castle was smack dab in the middle of town making it difficult to get pictures of the entire structure. We wandered onward and found a beautiful overlook of the lake. In the meantime Stephen had made friends with the little boy, who was both cute and cumbersome as Becca and I discussed later. We weren't prepared or used to being on a child's time schedule and it was making us restless. We decided to separate and Stephen joined us. We wandered the rest of the town looking for other beautiful parks or photo opportunities. We found no such thing. This town wasn't quite as scenic as the ones we visited with ISA. It had things like grocery stores and houses, and that was it. We didn't even stumble upon any churches in our wanderings. We checked several pastry and gelato stores but ultimately decided there was nothing worthy of our limited funds. We walked down residential streets before finding our way back to the main pizza, probably a half an hour or so before the designated meeting time.We sat in the warm afternoon sun and snacked on cookies that Stephen brought with him, waiting for everyone else. Time passes quickly and we were back at the train station. This train station was so small that it had no attendant, the ticket sales were from a machine. an all Italian machine. that made no change. Becca and I had five euro bills and not enough small change to buy tickets. As we attempted to find an employee to ask for change we met a man who had pockets that were ridiculously full of change. He made change for both of us, and then later for Stephen. As we were waiting for our train Stephen got a call from a few of his friends who were in Paris. This was the weekend of the volcano eruption. His friends were trapped and very worried about how their academics would be affected from missing class. Many professors at the AUR have very strict attendance policies, but with the volcano eruption booking a plane or train within a week was nearly impossible. We later found out that a whole group of our classmates took a taxi from Munich, Germany back to Rome. Stephen passed his phone off to the Grad Students, and we spent the train ride home talking about the volcano, and how it might effect us. Once home Becca and I made burger plans once again with Joey, Berkley, and Stephen. We had some time before meeting, and I needed to shoe shop for my sister so we made a trip down Via del Corso. I love walking down Corso on the weekends because all the street performers are out, tonight however there was more entertainment than we bargained for. There must have been a goth festival of some sort as dark clothed/haired/eyelinered youths swarmed the street. And surprise surprise they scared Becca. I thought this was pretty funny, especially after she shared that all the goth people she knew back home were really nice, but these ones were scary. We made our way to H&M and I took pictures of all the cute shoes that I thought Kelsey might like. I planned to email them to her later so she could give me a better idea of what I should get her. Once our goal was accomplished we headed for Burgers. At this point we were super hungry and ready for a well made burger. We met everyone outside the burger place in Stephen's neighborhood. It was a tiny place, but Becca and I were most excited by the cheddar cheese sitting on the counter. Yellow cheese in general just doesn't exist in Rome. They have lots and lots of mozarrella, swiss, and gouda, which are all great cheeses, but cheddar cheese on a real burger. Our mouths were watering before we even ordered. I got the Bacon Gold, a delicious bacon cheese burger and a cherry coke. I ran me about seven euros, but it was beyond worth it. We chowed down our burgers and laughed and yelled at Joey for not taking us here earlier, and then thanked him for showing it to us. Once we were done eating we headed to the nearest tram stop, and passed a gelato spot on the way. We stopped in and found cookies and cream gelato. Berkeley and Becca both ordered cones of only cookies and cream which amused the Romans behind the counter no end. I had the cookies and cream with a few other flavors. It was very good gelato. With only a few weeks left we had found another gelato shop that needed frequenting. Once back in the apartment I discovered that Deacon Matt had emailed me, and we were set to meet for church in the morning.

T.G.I.Friday

Today brought about a rare early morning for my classless Friday. My bodies and burials class was scheduled for a field trip to the catacombs. I woke up and walked to a bus stop in Testaccio, the meeting point for our class. There wasn't much of a crowd this morning probably a third of the class showed up. Any weekend field trip has poor attendance I imagine, throw in the beautiful weather, and impending end of the semester and it's a miracle anyone came. I was looking forward to visiting the catacombs, they're a notorious attraction, but difficult to get to. Only two buses in the city run down the old dirt road that they're located on. I was happy to have a class trip rather than being left to my own navigational devices. The half hour bus ride was a sleepy one, but once we arrived the yawns were replaced with excitement. The tour was seven euros and we shared with a few tourist couples. No cameras were allowed, the only disappointing part of the tour. The tour guide was almost impossible to hear in the winding tunnels below the earth, but we had studied the catacombs enough in class that I didn't feel like I was missing anything spectacular. I spent most of the time marveling at the honeycomb like structure, thinking that it would indeed be incredibly easy to get lost. We passed hundreds of tunnels and passage ways on our thirty minute tour, certainly not one you would want to fall behind on. We were in the catacombs of St. Sebastian, a soldier for the empire who was secretly christian. When Sebastian's faith was discovered he was tied to a stake and shot full of arrows. Amazingly enough Sebastian survives and is rescued by a good Samaritan. I had previously heard Sebastian's story in my renaissance art history class (he was a favorite subject of the time) In addition to Sebastian's body in the catacombs it is said that in times of peril St. Peter's body would be moved to these catacombs far out of the city and far out of danger. Many believe that the likely hood of his body being identified among the thousands of others and brought back to Vatican is slim. The tour was short and I wished that I could be given a map and a flashlight, and possibly a large male friend so I could explore on my own. Above the catacombs was a chapel filled with beautiful sculptures of St. Sebastian and other religious figures. There was even a Bernini work, a very famous sculptor during the renaissance period. We walked along Via Appia (the old dirt road) for awhile admiring an ancient fortress before waiting and taking the bus back into town. When I arrived back at the apartment Becca was awake and suggested a trip to the beach, I love the ocean and had yet to see the Italian shore, so I was all for it. The beach is only a forty minute train ride away, perfect for an afternoon. Beach plans were shot down by Berkley who dragged her feet long enough that we decided to stay in town instead. Becca and Berkley have been inseparable from their first week in class together, she is a resident student along with Joey whom Becca and I both befriended early in the semester. Becca and Berkley both have class with Stephen, and had also become fast friends. Together, the five of us, Becca, Berkley, Joey, Stephen, and I decided to meet and spend the day in Villa Borghese. We road the mini bus up the crowded streets and planned to visit the Borghese museums which is supposed to have the most prestigious collection for its small size.This was the first time I had walked more that a hundred yards into the park and it was incredible. Acres of well kept lawns, with blooming bushes and trees all surrounding hundreds of fountains. It was incredible, and seen with great company. I hadn't hung out in a group of this size the whole semester, and it was wonderful. Once we arrived at the museum I was first of all, thoroughly lost in the massive park; we also discovered the the museum was sold out of tickets for the day. Instead Stephen lead the way back to a small pond surrounded by benches and open spaces. We sat by the pond and chatted for awhile, and Joey in the meantime became restless. Joey is a New yorker and always on the move. He spotted an Italian family picnicking in the park with a five year old playing soccer. He played soccer with the young boy while the rest of us looked on in amusement. After a while we decided to move one and get gelato. We took a mini bus out of the park again only to realize it wasn't the route we needed. We were now on an extremely crowded tiny bus trying desperately to hold on while the vehicle jerked along the road. We were all laughing so hard from falling over that we attracted the attention of a well traveled American family. We talked to them until the bus took us somewhere familiar, and said our goodbyes when we recognized a quick way to our gelato destination. This time we were headed to Gelato di Roma, the place that was slightly expensive but has the best selection. We made plans to go home for a quick break, Berkley had a skype date with her father, before meeting back up to go to a burger place that Joey knew. After waiting a few hours for Berkley to finish she decided she wasn't in the mood to go out after all, Becca and I were none to pleased, neither of us had had a real genuine hamburger for months, and we were now starving. We re-made plans for the following day and ate out of our meager cupboards instead. All in all it was a wonderful day spent with great friends.

Do you Know Morgan Anderson?

Although I have several events planned for the evening my Thursday morning is completely free. After finally catching up on sleep and taking my time to wake up I coaxed myself into finishing my opera paper. It's technically only day late, but I feel as though it might as well have been a week. It's not my best work and I'm convinced that I'll get a worse grade than my first paper, but it is such a relief to have it finished that I don't even mind. I dress up for my Italian class as I'm going straight to the Abigail Child exhibit afterward. Class is interesting but uneventful as usual, and I'm getting nervous about this exhibition. It's a short walk that includes passing armed guards outside the Irish embassy. The reason I'm nervous is mostly due to the fact that once inside the gated grounds of the academy I don't know where I'm going, and I'm going by myself. My fears turn out to be unnecessary , the gate man is kind and signs point the way to the exhibit. There is a wine and cheese and nut table on the way in. Score. The first film is found footage that the artist has arranged and narrated to form a story. It takes place during WWII and focuses on the viewpoint of a young Jewish girl. (Not like Ann Frank: less hiding) Another shorter film consists of black and white slapstick comedy set to thunderous music. Down a white painted brick hallway are six projections of (modern) roman women and children dressed in togas with olive branches wreathing their heads. The subjects are posing, and the film catches their fidgets and breaks in character. In this hallway I hear a woman talking about moving a few of the films for better flow of the space. It takes me a minute to realize that she is the artist, which I think is very awesome. As I'm realizing this a man approaches her. He looks familiar to me, and I realize that we have studied him in class, he is a very famous contemporary Roman artist. I'm nervous again. I feel as though I have no right to be rubbing elbows with famous artists, and at the same time I know I deserve to at this opening as much as anyone else. I watch the last two videos, one of which very cleverly contrasts a baton twirler practicing in her back yard with an army regiment toting rifles. I walk back to the school for my second engagement of the evening. Tonight is the REMUS opening: the literary journal that I submitted art to was having an opening event. Copies of the journal would be passed out, and select students would be reading their works. I was eager to see what art work of mine they used( I previously received an email saying some of my work had been selected) and there was more free food. At this stage of my experience I was all over anything free, especially food. I took a seat in the auditorium and picked up the journal that as on my chair. It was bound more professionally than BVU's literary journal, but these were completely black and white. I was proud to see that they had used two of my works.: A picture from Florence and a print of Johnathon that I drew monsters on. I was checking out the other work when I heard a woman asking, "Do you know Morgan Anderson?" to random crowd members. I raised my hand and announced that I was Morgan Anderson. The woman said, "You got the cover!" I looked dumbly down at the book in my hands before recognizing Johnathon yet again. They had arranged one of my prints for the cover of the book, and I hadn't even realized it. The woman who turned out to be the creative writing professor continued to tell me how much she loved my work, called several of my pieces by name, and informed me that the editors had to stop themselves from using all my works. I've never felt more flattered in my life. She handed me two more copies with a hand tied red ribbon holding them together. As the ceremony started the projector turned on there was Johnathon big as could be. I was pretty pleased with myself. The readings of the night were good, especially the last one. It was the account of a girl who grew up in a cult. The event was finished with Indian food, which I had never had before. I met the student editor as she spooned food onto my plate. She distracted me so much with blush inducing compliments that I spilled my food all over the table. I'm not used to this kind of attention over my art, and I couldn't help but think about how impressed they'd be if they saw some of my BVU peers work. It was a good feeling all the same be appreciation. When it was time for me to leave it was nearly eleven o'clock and pretty dark out. I walked home anyway and regretted it. The roads i walk during the day had no street lights and I was a bit spooked. I decided next time I would take a bus and risk old roman men. I made it home safely and happily from another amazing day in Rome.

A Walk in the Park

I arrived at my modern tribes of Rome class on campus today as we were not scheduled to be on site. Professor Thommason decided that it is too nice of a day to stay inside and we left for a near by park. As it turns out, it is the biggest park in Rome, a title I thought belonged to villa borghese. I was wrong, this park was beyond massive and more natural than villa borghese: less fountains more forest and field. We walked through the park for twenty minutes before sitting on a slightly damp but vacant soccer field. The lecture of the class shifted to the topic of the park, and we discussed what we observed on our walk. As it turns out the park attracts the foreigners of Rome. Various immigrant groups use the enormous park for weekly get-togethers. Not only is it used by immigrants, but by the homeless population as well. They use the park as a safe place to sleep, as all the entry ways are locked at night. We learn that the park was once the private property of a wealthy family that died out and left the grounds to the city. Much to my surprise we have seen less than half of the park, it continues on for miles. I begin to think that this must be the park that Stu found in one of his wanderings while I was stuck in class. After the lecture a few people give their final presentations. Some were quite interesting including a girl who spoke Russian and reported on the Russian population in Rome. I didn't even know there was a Russian population in Rome. Listening to these presentations was a painful reminder that I had yet to re-find and question Yousef on his life. Becca and I have enough trouble re-finding places we've visited and it has now been two full months since we met Yousef. This made me nervous, but not nervous enough for me to take immediate action. Once in Art Gallery management I apologized to my group for missing our meeting. I felt immediately less guilty when I learned only two people had attended the meeting, and I didn't miss anything big. We were assigned an exhibition review in class to be turned in the following Wednesday. I chose an exhibit up the road from our school at the American Academy in Rome. It was a video presentation, which would give me more to write about in addition to the fact that it's opening was tomorrow, meaning free food and wine. After class I return home and munch on my Easter candy, which I finish. I also work on my opera paper, which I do not finish. I briefly entertain the idea of flying home for the services, and check the price of flights. I know that the insurance I have through the program covers plane tickets home in the case of death. Its not a terribly serious thought; with no idea how the reimbursement process works or what kind of proof the insurance company would need I drop the idea. I figure that my homecoming would be a distraction. I do feel better for looking however. I end my night excited for my busy day tomorrow.

Open the Floodgates

Back into my normal routine i woke up at seven to make my bodies and burials class. It passed relatively uneventfully, and I was eager to be out of it. Before I headed for my apartment during my three hour break I checked my mailbox for a package slip. I had been expecting my Easter package for a good while now, and my curiosity and desire for candy were making me extremely impatient. Today was my lucky day, it had finally arrived. I practically skipped up the stairs to pick it up from the business office. It was big :)waiting to open it in my apartment nearly killed me, but I made it, and it was worth the wait. My mood had significantly improved with the arrival of the package and it only magnified when I opened it. I received a jar of peanut butter (practically my life source) a jar of nutella, which I found funny as the U.S. imports it from Europe, and nutella is in every grocery store. I also had a reeces peanut butter egg, dove truffle egg, four plastic eggs filled with jelly beans and malted milk eggs, blueberry gummies shaped like assorted cute critters, and a hollow chocolate bunny. My Easter package even came with a small Easter basket complete with fake shredded shiny grass. Most excitingly I had a pocket sized wooly willy. I immediately ate most of the jelly beans and malted milk eggs saving the bigger items for later. I amused myself with the wooly willy showing him off to Stu during our afternoon/ early morning chat. He had never even heard of one before. I went back to school for a quick afternoon Italian lesson and was soon back in my apartment with the daunting task of writing my second and final opera paper. I started in and it was slow going. My motivation was lacking and the bad news of the previous day was finally setting in. I spent hours writing only a few pages and finally gave up around page five, about halfway through. I hadn't run out of things to write about, something many of my classmates struggled with. I simply couldn't focus enough to finish. I spent the next hour agitatedly waiting for Stu to finish his day of work so we could talk. I was hoping that he would be able to set my mind at ease. By the time we began webcamming I had started crying. Poor Stu he had never witnessed this (what was once a) rare event. He was stuck trying to console me through the cold confines of technology. he made a valiant attempt to cheer me up that only resulted in my tears turning to sobs. The lack of sleepover the weekend, the stress of completing my paper on time, and the death in the family made for an extreme release of emotions that were too much for my poor boyfriend to deal with on his own. Luckily he knew just what I needed, and called in reinforcements. My brother. Stu called Johnathon and told him I needed to talk to him. I was upset at first because I didn't want Johnathon to see me cry. I quickly dried my tears, before he got online. Stu was right, Johnny had me laughing and cheered up sooner that I could have imagined. Seeing and talking to him did me a world of good. Our relationship showed no weakness even from across the world. After Johnathon had to go I talked with Stu for a short amount of time and thanked him for calling Johnathon. I accepted the fact that my paper was going to be late, and went to bed in hopes of a few hours of rest before my early morning class.

No More Sleeping on the Floor!

Last night was my last night sleeping atop a pile of my clothing. Kelsey was gone, but Becca II had returned with her sister. Due to their enviable figures they shared the tiny twin bed. Becca I slept in my bed while I was on the floor. We still had quite the crowded room. On Mondays I don't have class until noon so Becca and I attempted the Vatican dome climb again.I once again sat in St. Peter's Square. This morning was particularly cold and wet, sitting was a bit of a gamble, one that I took due to the amount of time I expected to wait. I had brought my sole source of reading material, and began to chuckle when I realized the irony/ blasphemy of reading a science magazine in the square of the capital of my religion. I was beginning to turn into a Popsicle, so I put away my magazine and wandered the square. I had enough time to take pictures for a group of young Hispanic girls, and to watch a cute German baby play with her grandparents. Then Becca was walking towards me, pleased with her experience. We were quite hungry at this point so we stopped by pizza boom on our way back to the apartment. At this time I had fifteen minutes to get back to class; i.e not enough time. I made the executive decision to skip a day rather than ravenously eat and run while trying to squeeze in a goodbye with Becca. I knowingly skipped a meeting with my art gallery management group, but this way I would be able to show Becca to her train to the airport. This was the better choice for a clear conscious. I spent the time just hanging out with Becca as she packed up her things (more of a challenge than it sounds) We decided on McDonalds for supper, and stopped by the grocery store to shop for cookies on the way back. Becca wanted them for the plane ride home, and I didn't need an excuse to buy myself cookies. We stopped by the apartment to grab her many bags and headed down the road for the train station. We said our goodbyes as the train pulled up and went our separate ways. As much as I was looking forward to having space in my room again, not to mention my bed back, I found myself missing Becca I's familiar presence. She was a brief piece of home and things were quieter without her. I returned to my room and cleaned up my makeshift bed, and logged onto my computer to find my mother online. We typed back and forth on msn without webcam use. We talked a bout nothing in particular including how my cat of seven years had passed. this was sad news, but not terribly surprising. After talk of Fuzzy's death mom admitted that wasn't the only bad news she had for me. my cousin's husband, Marty, had passed suddenly, unexpectedly, and too soon for his young years. We chatted for awhile longer, and I was left to sort through a long distance family loss. There was a significant age gap between Marty and I and we weren't terribly close, but he was still family. I had never dealt with a death on my own and I feared that lack of the grieving process and acknowledgment would leave me feeling as though it had never happened. Without the services it was much harder for the reality that I would never see Marty again, that Tammy was now a widow before the age of forty, to sink in. I went to bed confused and exhausted from the long weekend and somber, heavy news.

One last day with Kelsey Baye

Three nights on the floor, and nearly forty eight hours without a shower, and I was looking a bit rough around the edges (understatement). Despite my need of cleanliness I couldn't bring myself to get any less sleep than I was already getting. The girls and I were out all day, talking late into the night, and then when they would go to bed I would stay up and talk to Stu for an hour or so. I was a crazy busy weekend, the kind that make you feel like you're really living. Kelsey and I woke up at six fifty so we could get up and to the market before I needed to drop her off at the train station. The market technically opens at six, but many of the vendors aren't completely set up until eight, sometimes later. By eight o five the place is a mad house, and it was nice to experience a calmer version of the market. While not all the vendors were completely finished setting up we did get a chance to see all of the merchandise in it's original organized state, for me this was a new and welcome experience. For Kelsey it was a mediocre experience. I had spent the past two and a half days talking up this market, and the hustle bustle atmosphere hadn't kicked in yet, I think she was rather unimpressed. I felt pretty bad, and I imagine she was exhausted after nearly two weeks of travel. We stopped by the apartment after covering the mile long market in record time, in order to grab her bags and head for the station. We didn't have to wait long for the train, said our goodbyes and I returned to the apartment to take Becca to the market. When I got back she was still getting ready for her day, so I poured myself a bowl of the expensive cereal (very delicious) for some energy. Becca made a gasping noise and informed me that Kelsey's coin purse, which she gave to me for the market, was still in my purse. Becca knew this because luckily Kelsey noticed it was missing, and called her parents in the middle of the night in a panic. Kelsey's mother proceed to log onto facebook under Kelsey's account and facebook chat Becca. I told her I'd meet her at the airport (Kelsey had suggested she meet me back at the station, which makes no sense as she would be backtracking and risking missing her flight) I downed the last two bites of my cereal and ran out the door, I just made the next train, and napped most of the way to the airport. When the train was pulling up to the station I noticed Kelsey was on the same train as I was. In her panic she got off the train at one of the small town stops. In my opinion that was a terrible decision, if a train to a different location had come by on the same tracks she could have ended up anywhere. Luckily she ended up at the airport with her coin purse and made it on her flight on time :) I once again napped on the train ride back to trastevere and this time when I returned to the apartment Becca was ready to take on the market. It was much busier at this point, and Becca had specific purchases in mind, giving our shopping experience a purpose. She was looking for cheap shoes, and we found several good stands, one out shone the rest however, and we both fell in love with cute purple heels with little bows at the heels. They did not have these shoes in either of our sizes however. Becca did find a very cute pair of gray moccasins/loafers. Five euros later they were hers to keep. We explored the rest of the market, with stops at sundress shops, and a price check for an ancient mandolin. I was thinking about purchasing it for Johnathon, but it was two hundred euros, and while I have confidence in my haggling skills I don't think this man was about to cut the price by one hundred and eight. Luckily I found an equally awesome gift for him just around the corner :) After the market Becca and I headed back to the apartment for lunch. I made Becca rice, and after tasting the cheese I added to mine she decided that would be ok too. After lunch we headed over to the Colosseum as Becca wanted a look inside the famous old relic. The audio tour was eleven euros, and as I had already toured the inside I waited on a hill for her to return. Thankfully Stu left me a science magazine to read, so I caught up on all the current science news :)When Becca had finished we set out for the Vatican as she wanted to do the dome climb as well before she left the city. We arrived at five o'clock and I was worried it would be close, the line was still going strong however, so I waited in the piazza (I had already paid for this twice) while she prepared to conquer the five hundred plus steps. She returned to our meeting place half an hour later, as it turned out the elevator was open (more expensive) but the stairs were closed for the day. We planned to return the following morning. We stopped by Old Bridge, supposedly one of the best gelato places in Rome (there are three or four of them). We ordered entirely too much gelato and watched the romans freaked out as the roma soccer team drove by after a victory. We headed back to the apartment and got pizza boom for supper to go along with a quiet indoor t.v. night. It was a nice change of pace from the go go go of the past couple of days.

Let's Make a List

By Saturday Morning Kelsey and Becca had been in Rome for nearly two days and had only seen Vatican City and Piazza Venezia. Kelsey only had a day left. I had my work cut out for me. At dinner the night before we made a list of must see's that Kelsey and Becca had in mind, and I added a few things I thought they might want to see. We started off the morning early, for spring break that is. We immediately began exploring, with our starting point at Piazza Venezia. We walked around the beautiful building and along the roman forum, with plenty of picture stops along the way. I pointed out what I knew, which was very little, and we continued on to the Colosseum. Kelsey wasn't keen on shelling out the eleven euros for a tour, so we walked along the outside and made sure to get a good look at the arch of Constantine, and a not as great look at the arch of Titus, which is in the forum, and off limits for those who don't have tickets. We turned back down the same road we came up on, and this time we walked along the other side, by the imperial forum. There isn't as much to look at on this side, with the major exception being the very impressive Trajean's column. Next, our course took us down Via del Corso towards the Trevi Fountain. We sat and enjoyed the peaceful nature that the fountain manages to exude in blatant disregard of the hordes of tourists that plague it. We moved from the Trevi to Piazza Navona, one of the many roman sets for Angels and Demons. It's a beautiful Piazza with several fountains that I hadn't visited since one of my first weeks in the city. There was a diverse art market in the middle of the Piazza that I wished I could afford. Very pricey but beautiful works. We hung out in Piazza Navona for awhile, and this is the first location we ran into crazy pigeon lady. She was throwing bread to the pigeons and attracted at least fifty of them, it was mildly frightening, but mostly amusing. We also saw a group of Buddhist monks who came through the piazza chanting and playing little instruments, it was pretty sweet. From Piazza Navona we decided to walk across the street to Campo di Fiori, the fresh fruit market and site of past executions, now the location of the french embassy. Kelsey had been looking for fresh strawberries all vacation, and finally found some along with fresh raspberries. Becca and I split a fruit cup with pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. It was a perfect snack to tide us over until lunch. We then worked our way back toward the Pantheon which I had yet to explore. For the size of the building it doesn't take long to see the inside. The monuments and tombs around the inside were attracting a lot of attention, and I almost missed Rafael's tomb. After we had seen and photographed everything inside to our hearts content we finished the short walk to the end of the tram line (with a second spotting of crazy pigeon lady, she had a bike, and beat us to the piazza of the pantheon) We returned stopped by the grocery store to buy supplies for a picnic. Becca and I opted for sandwich bread and turkey with cheap potato chips while Kelsey preferred fresh bread and cheese with pringles. We also bought cookies at my insistence. I just couldn't handle a picnic without them :) We stopped back at the apartment to make our sandwiches and pack away our groceries into our purses. We headed for Tiber Island to sun ourselves and eat our lunch, and overall just take a nice relaxing break in the middle of our arduous day. We shared the Island with students and Italians alike, I'll soaking up the warm roman sun. We sunned ourselves for forty minutes or so, and fed a pigeon our crumbs, which quickly turned into kelsey scaring off the one pigeon turned half a dozen. We eventually parted from our sunny spot and headed back to the apartment as Becca had forgotten her camera. This gave me an opportunity to look us bus routes to St. John in Lateran, the next stop on our list. I knew how to get there on foot, but we had done plenty of walking for the day already. St. John has a side building with a set of steps that Constantine's mother brought back from Jerusalem with her. She claimed they had some association with Jesus, and they are now a popular spot for pilgrims. People come to the stairs to ascend them on their knees, saying a prayer with each step. We decided to pass this up for now, and simply observed the building and stair goers instead. The only person who has ever stood on the stairs is Martin Luther, this site is where he had his epiphany, pretty cool. While we were waiting for our bus back to Piazza Venezia Kelsey purchased some gelato, and Becca bought a few postcards. From Piazza Venezia we walked down Via del Corso towards Piazza del Popolo hoping to get inside Villa Borgese before sunset; we made it, barely. We climbed up to the beautiful park, and after the view of the city skyline I showed them the only part of the enormous park that I know, one of the many pretty fountains. We sat and chatted and giggled at a couple who were aggressively making out (it was pretty intense) We talked about supper options, and decided to eat in again for our budgets sake. We had yet to eat the frozen meal I picked up earlier in the week, and decided that would be a good plan. On our way back to the tram we stopped for gelato at the 'expensive but amazing selection' gelateria on the way home. I don't recall what flavors I got, but I remember they were delicious :) Once back at the apartment we were pretty exhausted from our one day tour of Rome, it was pretty cool to be able to do touristy things, I took a lot of photos of monuments I see once or twice a week, and hadn't bothered to photograph yet. After supper it was time to crash with the promise of an early morning.

The Catholic Church in its Entirety

Kelsey, Becca and I were up early enough to take our cold showers and arrive at the Vatican around nine thirty. The plan was to explore the museum today, and come back for the dome climb and basilica on Saturday. What was not accounted for in the plan was for there to be an hour and a half long line. I'm still not used to it being tourist season in Rome, and as it wasn't free Sunday I wasn't expecting a line at all. Wrong. The line moved quickly, it was just long. We paid our eight euros once inside and set out to tackle this monster. I found that many more rooms were open than when Becca II and I went. We saw so much more in shorter amount of time. The rooms were crowded, but not to the extreme that Becca and I experienced the first time around.We saw the Egyptian rooms as well as the Raphael rooms I thought I had missed the first time around (really Becca and I just failed to turn around and see the School of Athens) The Sistine Chapel was a better experience this time around. People were for the most part respectful of the no pictures rule, and it was decidedly quieter than Free Sunday. After making it through the entire museum in what seemed to me to be record time we were all quite hungry. A conveniently placed Burger King sign was calling Kelsey's name and she kindly ate quickly while becca and I waited to find a less expensive pizzeria. Once we had a little sustenance in our bellies the girls decided they would rather do the entire Vatican in one day than split in over two and trek all over the city. So we passed through security to see the basilica. Kelsey wasn't interested in the dome climb, so once we had seen the all the tombs we were done with state within the city. We made our way over to Castle Sant'Angelo which the Vatican had used as a prison at one point. I had yet to get close to the large circular shaped fortress, and it was nice to sit on the wall overlooking the river on one side and the castle on the other. Becca spotted a skilled artisan, whose trade I won't mention here just in case the work she bought is not for her. We eventually made our way back to the apartment to relax for awhile before heading out to dinner. We came back to the room and looked at Becca's brother's wedding photos for what seemed like hours, there were a lot of photos, and good ones at that. We didn't leave the apartment until eight thirty for dinner, and the first restaurant we tried was full. I took the girls to Buchetto, the only place in the city (that I've found) that has gnocchi all formaggio, which are little pasta/potato balls covered in cheese sauce. The Italian version of mac and cheese basically. I knew that Becca and Kelsey (both picky eaters) would be able to handle this, and it was quite delicious. Having visited the entire Vatican in a day the girls and I were absolutely exhausted, once we had a warm supper in us it was all we could do to stay awake on the tram ride home.

Friends

After the fiasco from picking Jessica up at the airport I made sure I gave myself plenty of time to get to the terminal. I gave myself so much time that I ended up waiting for twenty minutes at the gate before Kelsey Baye found me waiting outside the wrong door. As it turns out there is a door from people coming from EU territories and another door from non EU flights. I was waiting outside the non EU door which is the main one. Kelsey said she hadn't seen Becca as they had taken separate flights. We decided to cover both doors just in case, ten minutes later Kelsey returned with Becca in tow who was carrying a bag, a suitcase, and a painting. We walked down the road to my apartment so the girls could settle in. The previous night my roommates Stephanie's new boyfriend was on the couch. I hadn't counted on his presence as he had spent the previous weekend in our apartment. In addition to the couch not being available, I had originally planned on borrowing a mattress from a girl across the hall, but one of her roommates had guests. So I had nowhere for my two guests to stay. It worked out alright in the end, mostly because Becca II was staying with her family in their hotel. For the first two nights Becca I slept in Becca II's bed, and Kelsey slept in my bed. I piled all my clothes on the floor and slept with the airline blanket I stole. The girls unpacked, and we stopped at pizza boom for lunch. Becca got a pizza and Kelsey and I had suppli. We had a few hours before I had to go to my Italian class, so I showed them the amazing Piazza Venezia, and along the way the cat sanctuary. We had just enough time to explore all the beautiful outlooks, and the free part of the museum exhibit. I had set an alarm on my phone to ensure that I would get to class on time, and the girls came with me. We took the stairs of death, a good work out to burn our suppli calories. Kelsey and Becca sat in the computer lab on campus while I went to class, luckily Italian is only an hour and a half as opposed to my three hour lectures. Once I was done with the only class I had during their visit, we went to Gianicolo hill to see the overlook of the city. It was time to head back to the apartment for supper. We had macaroni and cheese with wine, and spent most of the evening catching up on each others busy adventurous lives. We planned to do the Vatican museum on Friday morning, but not even the prospect of an early morning could get us into bed at a decent time. For as tired as I was after this weekend I don't regret it for a minutes.

So do you like go out and walk on the grass?

Oh dear lord. There is a girl in two of my classes who I talked to once on the tram, and she now finds me in class and talks to me. Which is fine, but she's the type that needs to always be talking, she doesn't like a pause in a conversation. Or to not talk at all. I on the other hand could go a whole class period without having conversations with anyone. So Rosemary in one of the pauses of our conversation asks me where I'm from (for at least the third time) When she discovered I was from Iowa she proceeded to ask me some stellar questions.
For example:
"So do you have like grass and stuff?"
Morgan: "yes...we've got ten acres"
Rosemary: "so do you like go out and walk on the grass?"
Morgan: "........yes...?" (I'm getting confused at this point, like where is she from?)
Rosemary: "oh I'm from long island so we have like no grass."
Morgan: "mmm"
awkward pause.
Rosemary:"So do you have like a tractor?" (Said in the most cutesy condescending way ever)
Morgan: "Yes"
Rosemary:"Ohmigod, that is so funny, that is just so funny"
Morgan:"....." (clearly not amused look on my face)
I was not having her fascination with my small town life, and didn't feel bad showing it, she stopped asking me questions and proceeded to tell me that she and her boyfriend were getting each other snapfish photo albums for their birthdays, this was another conversation we had had at least twice. I was pretty happy when class was over, despite the class being really interesting. It was an onsite in testaccio the neighborhood across the river from mine. We walked all over, and visited the neighborhood square and market, which I already knew my way around.
I went back to my apartment for lunch, a chat with Stu, a nap and a shower. This has become my routine for the afternoons. Art Gallery Management went well, and once class was done I stopped by the grocery store to stock up before Kelsey Baye and Becca I joined me for a few days. I bought expensive honey flavored cereal and a frozen pasta dish as well as bread and jam. Tonight was also opera night. The second and final opera attendance for my class; we saw Tosca. These seats were over twice as expensive and they were well worth the money. It was an incredible show. Better sets, seats, and it was shorter, we didn't even have to take a night bus home. The even better news was that our opera paper wasn't due until the following Wednesday. I was expecting it to be due on Friday, and as I had guests coming my plan was to stay up and crank it out, and just get a few hours of sleep so I wouldn't have to worry about it while entertaining guests. This turned out to be a huge blessing as I'm currently still catching up on sleep.

Momentary Panic

I woke up early on Tuesday morning to shower, and hopefully get lucky with some hot water. After I showered I got to thinking about bodies and burials and how I was pretty sure that we had an outline due. This outline was for our final paper and supposed to be organized by paragraph and two pages long. In other words not something I could throw together for class. I checked my assignment book (which I use religiously this semester)and realized not only was my outline not due, class was canceled. I promptly went back to bed for three hours until ten o clock. It was a great day. I woke up in time to talk to Stu at the beginning of his day, and head to my Italian class. After class I didn't feel like going back to my apartment right away so instead I decided to try the new gelato place that I FINALLY found. This is the place I had spotted on my art gallery tour of Rome and could not find again. On our way back from gelato on Friday night we passed it, and it looked just as amazing as the first time I saw it. I took the tram away from home and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon. The gelato flavors were incredible! They had a huge variety and I got nervous thinking about the limited amount of days I had left and the copious amounts of new flavors to try. I ordered black forest, bounty (which is an Italian candy like almond joy without the almond) and cherry chocolate. The black forest was incredible and I love coconut gelato. It was proving to be an excellent afternoon. I stopped in a few music stores to investigate roman rock bands for Johnathon, I have several prospects to research for vinyls. I went home for supper and made sure that my nine a.m. Wednesday class wasn't canceled before I went to bed.

Buona Pasqua :D

When I said my Easter week only got better from Thursday I wasn't joking, despite poor weather my experience with Easter at the Vatican was wonderful. I had originally planned to wake up and be at the vatican by six in the morning, after my late night I had decided to wake up at six and hopefully be at the st. Peters by seven. In retrospect I'm super glad I didn't wake up at five, when I arrived at St. Peters the line was only thirty people deep, and they hadn't even opened the gate. I waited in line and almost scored a ticket, a nun came around with extras, but the people behind me got to them first. I wasn't entirely sure if I would even be allowed into the square without a ticket, so I snaked by the guards who were checking them taking opportunity of the rushing crowd. The people with tickets were running to get great seats. I was one of four people who didn't have tickets so far, so I got the best standing seat in the place. After standing in the cold morning air for fifteen minutes or so a few ushers came up and handed us (the lady next to me and I) programs; two seconds later they came back with tickets. That's right, I got tickets to the mass, and because we were so early we got great seats. The woman next to me's name was Kate, she was an airline pilot, super cool. Even cooler she shared her umbrella with me when it began to rain. Like I said earlier, the weather was absolutely miserable. The seats began to fill up, and Kate and I were joined by nuns, who shared their Easter candy with us. I told you, this day was awesome, tickets to the mass, an umbrella and candy? Fantastic! The nuns next to us only had two umbrellas for five or six people, and the German people in front of us had three for three. One of the Germans went to the bathroom for forty minutes or so and left her umbrellas behind. After ten minutes or so in the not quite pouring rain the head nun (for lack of a better term) asked if she could borrow the unused umbrella. The German man said no. I think if there's any sure fire way for damnation its not sharing with a nun. Kate and I could not believe it. Mass at the Vatican was an experience it was neat, but decidedly more touristy than spiritual. It was too wet (German mans umbrella drained onto my lap) and cold and crowded to be really enlightening. I did however receive communion. It was pretty cool, priests came down the middle aisle and passed it out, and everyone took turns at the fence line. Mass once again was two and a half hours plus an address by the pope in Italian, that I stayed for anyway. When Kate and I parted ways I thanked her for her lent umbrella and tried to get home as quickly as possible. I was soaked from the waist down, including my shoes. Now that my umbrella was gone my hair was beginning to get wet as well. I made it home within an hour and desperately wanted to take a warm shower, it almost worked. I eventually warmed up in time to talk to Stu who took the time to see me before his family festivities. Later in the day I got to talk to my entire extended family on my mother's side. It was amazing to get to see everyone, and also a little sad. I talked to them for a few minutes and then they were gone, and I was left in my empty apartment with my Easter meal of peanut butter. On Easter monday I once again had the apartment to myself and took advantage of the opportunity to do laundry and not much else, which is why its not getting it's own blog post :)

Easter Week in Rome, Day three

As I'm writing this post fifteen days after Easter vigil mass actually occurred I'm realizing how easy it is to forget the majority of a day. Which is the situation I'm currently in, I can't seem to remember what I did with my Saturday before Easter. This post will most likely be pretty short, bear with me until I'm caught up.
What I do remember is that on this morning Becca's family flew in from the states. Her mother grandmother and sister came to visit for a week. Consequently I saw very little of her for a week. Most of my roommates took advantage of the three day weekend to travel, choosing not to stay in Rome for the festivities...crazies. I had the apartment almost entirely to myself for this weekend, which was really quite nice. Easter vigil mass didn't start until eight thirty, and once again Matt and I met in the gate house. We had more time to chat on the way to mass as it was beginning outside. At the NAC they start the mass outside the church with everyone surrounding a fire, the candles are lit and then there's a procession into the church, it was very cool. For as sad and somber as Good Friday mass is, Easter vigil mass is equally uplifting, after the once again two hour long mass I was practically skipping out of the church. Going to church has always been a great, but being in a room full of people who have dedicated their entire lives to god creates an incredible experience. The singing once again was phenomenal, it gives me chills. I'm so grateful that I get to attend mass there and hear these guys sing. It is absolutely amazing. It was pretty late by the time mass had ended, and very dark. I really dislike taking the buses, so I walked, and about halfway through my walk I became uneasy, and wished I had taken the bus. The streets were poorly lit, and I was walking by myself. I made it just fine, as a slightly faster pace than I would usually take :)Once I was on the tram line I felt entirely secure and promised myself I wouldn't do that again, probably for the best.

Good Friday

My Holy week in Rome only got better from Good Thursday. After staying out late the night before visiting the churches I slept in on Friday having nothing of vital importance to work on. Having no school and no conflicts meant I would be able to attend mass at the North American College: i.e. mass with Matt. He agreed to meet me at the gatehouse of the college ten minutes before mass started at three thirty. I left my apartment super early not wanting to take any chances given the disastrous attempt Stu and I made to find the college. It's a fortyish minute walk from my apartment, and I made it in plenty of time. When getting dressed for this mass I realized that I was going to stick out like a sore thumb in a church full of seminaries dressed in all black, but there was nothing I could do about it. Even if I had an all black outfit I'm still a girl, and that is certainly not helping my case. I ran into my friend Stephen in the gatehouse, who had wisely donned black pants, shirt, and jacket. He blended so well I couldn't pick him out of the crowd during the mass. I was slightly jealous. Matt showed me into the church, and immediately upon walking in my ears were greeted with a truly heavenly song. I honestly think the NAC has the best choir in Rome, it was absolutely amazing. The amazing vocal talents of the deacons and priests were just the beginning of an incredibly spiritual atmosphere that surrounds each NAC mass. I had forgotten how incredibly intense Good Friday mass can be, and it was very long, two and a half hours of mass we had made it through. During the mass I was reminded of just how bad of a singer I really am, not only was the choir amazing, but in this church full of men, not a single one was out of tune/ off pitch. I'm a horrible singer, and it was opening my mouth was difficult, I didn't want to ruin the beautiful sounds that were coming from everyone around me. Not only am I a bad singer, but I don't speak Latin. In church at home it's not a big deal, because no one speaks Latin, and we all mispronounce it together. These guys are fluent, and I didn't realize how poorly I was pronouncing some of these words until everyone around me was doing it correctly. Over all the mass was very moving, the music was incredible, and it was very passionate. The congregation was very somber as it concluded, and Matt and I made plans to meet again for Easter vigil mass the next night. I found Stephen after mass, as we had plans to meet Becca for stations of the cross with the pope at the Colosseum. We had a little time to kill so Stephan showed me this beautiful fountain that is just behind out school, we sat and chatted until it was time to meet Becca. She has spent the day at the Italian mall, and brought our friend Joey along with. We all set out for Termini station where Stephen had to pick up friends from Florence. The bus we took passed the Colosseum and it was already packed at six thirty, the stations didn't start until nine. Joey and I stopped for dinner at the train station, we both got suppli (deep fried mozzarella,rice, and marinara sauce)and iced tea. We missed Stephen's friends getting off the train and had a momentary moment of panic, not sure what we should do. However, they found us in the station (we have no idea how we missed them) and we walked down to the Colosseum. It was nearly eight o'clock now, and it was really packed now. We found a place on a hill just next to the arch of Constantine. The Holy Father was on an elevated ridge technically located in the forum. There was a massive illuminated cross next to the tent he was sitting under. We stood on the hill chatting for the hour before the program started,and then listened in sober silence once it began. The titles of the stations were announced in seven languages, the same as the ones during the papal mass I had been to earlier in the week. The reflections/ readings that followed were only done in Italian, and then there was singing in lain after each one. The time passed incredibly quickly, and though we didn't speak Italian we were each left to our own imaginings of the serious events that happened so many years ago. It was a pretty amazing experience to hear the pope go through the stations of the cross while looking at the Colosseum. While at first it seemed a strange location for a church service, I later realized it was more appropriate than I thought considering the blood that was shed in the first years of the Colosseum's existence. After the service concluded we took Stephen's friends for some roman gelato at gioliti. We met up with even more people from the AUR and shared stories of our various spring breaks, a bunch of the girls had taken ryanair for their flights, and had horror stories that made me missing my flight sound like a walk in the park. We headed home for the night before the trams shut down and turned in after a long and emotionally intense day.

Holy Thursday/ Thank you Deacon Matt!

Thursday was a day for sleeping in, which was much appreciated. I didn't have much on my agenda for the day other than go to class and then Mass at an American Perish that Deacon Matt told me about. I woke up around nine or so, (I'm guessing, my morning was not productive, and as such not very memorable) After my non productive morning of doing nothing, I headed into my Italian class. It was canceled on Tuesday, and this was the first time I was having it this week. Holy Thursday mass was at six, and across town; my class doesn't get out until five. I asked my professor if I could leave early to go to mass, and he told me that had to be the best excuse he had ever heard. About a third of our class showed up today (attendance in all my classes was pretty terrible this week) so 'everyone must be at mass' became the joke of the hour. Professor Maurizio let class out fifteen minutes early (without giving back our midterms) and I waited for the seventy five bus, the same that betrayed me on the way to the airport, to take me to termini station. From termini The church was a ten minute walk. I waited fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive, and it took all of fifty minutes to get to termini station, quite a bit longer than I had anticipated. I only had a few minutes to get to the church I had never actually been to before. I booked it, and arrived a minute before mass began. The church was pretty packed, and I sat in the back next to a very kind homeless man. Mass was good, I wasn't a big fan of the singing, which was pretty disappointing. The songs are one of my favorite parts about worship. The music at this church was complicated, and not difficult to follow along with, and for some of them the crowd was not allowed to sing along with the choir, which was small and difficult to hear. The man I was sitting next to had some kind of leg injury/handicap, and was unable to go up to communion. I asked if he was going, intending to offer him my arm lean on, but he made a gesture for me to go on, and I was afraid I had offended him. I was wrong. At the end of the mass he wished me a blessed Easter, and it was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me all day. It put a huge smile on my face. In addition to giving me information about English speaking parishes, Deacon Matt gave me a ton of additional info about Holy Week in Rome. On Thursday night, he informed me, the churches of Rome remained open until midnight. They had one of their side chapels decorated for the last supper, and people walk around to appreciate the decorations and pray in several churches. The first few I tried were still in mass, and although others were coming and going I couldn't bring myself to intrude. Instead I stopped for gelato (not exactly within the fasting recommendation, but I was very happy, and being happy makes me want gelato...as does being sad, grumpy, tired, cold, hot, hungry...) I made my way towards the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia, planning to walk along Corso (the shopping street) knowing there were several churches in that area. The first church I was able to go in I had visited for class. It's located between the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia, practically inside the roman forum. I went in and began my prayer fest for the evening, focusing on a few specific members of my family and friends in each church, and reciting the few prayers I know by heart. This church also had olive branches (what they pass out on palm Sunday) to take in a box outside. This made me pretty happy as I had missed mass. After ten minutes or so I moved on. The next two churches I tried of off Corso were still in Mass, but then I hit the Jackpot. I went into an absolutely massive church on Corso, and then visited the kind of catholic church I had been attending before meeting Matt. Next I turned off Corso onto Via Tritone towards the Trevi Fountain and found three more churches. These were all extremely intricately decorated on the inside. I enjoyed viewing the entire church as much as the specially decorated chapels. One church even had a full table set as if for a re inaction of the last supper, it was pretty neat. There were many people coming in to show their devotion, it was nice to see that despite the statistics you read, many Romans are practicing Catholics. I even saw some of the same people from church to church, it was a very peaceful reflective evening. After the three churches on Via Tritone I turned back down Corso and tried some of the previously occupied churches. I was successful with a few, one of the main ones, however, was closed. On my way to the top of the cake topper building in Piazza Venezia (there's a church there that Stu and I visited together) I walked by an open door under scaffolding that I had never noticed, and realized it too was a church. This one was small and simple, no crazy intricate adornments or ceilings, no frescoes on the wall. This church had plain white walls, and a crucifix above the alter. It was a nice change from the heavily decorated churches that are typical of Rome. My last stop of the night was the church above Piazza Venezia. I ended up seeing ten churches total, only two of which I had previously been inside let alone knew existed. It was an amazing night of prayer that I will remember for years to come. I really enjoyed this tradition, but I don't think it's one I'll be able to enjoy in the states in years to come. On my way home I took the tram, and entered at the same time as some very loud American girls. They were crazy obnoxious. I couldn't tell if they were intoxicated or just unintelligent. It was painfully obvious that they were American, and all the Italians were staring. I was sitting across from a girl, and we had a moment of eye contact in which we recognized each other as fellow English speakers. We had a mini conversation with our eyes that went something like this:
"Oh my, that's a great representation of our country."
"I know, we should probably keep our mouths shut to keep from being associated"
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this is embarrassing"
"definitely not, it is not that hard to be respectful of another country's customs"
When I left the tram she smiled and said ciao, which I returned complete with a smile of my own. It was a nice encounter, despite the crazy American girls.
I ended up getting home around eleven o'clock and was greeted by Becca's excellent impression of a parent, she was waiting for me in the living room and said, "oh hello, and where have you been?" This made me giggle, and I told her she would make a great mother some day. I'm really going to miss her when we're done in May, she might be my favorite part about Rome. With her living on the east coast it's not likely I will probably see her often, if ever again. That makes me feel like crying ( I don't know what is wrong with me), but at the same time I'm glad I've made such a good friend in the first place.

Benedict, Morgan; Morgan, Benedict

That's right, I met the Pope today, sorta. I did meet up with Jessica and her friends outside of their B&B at eight thirty on Wednesday morning. I had agreed to attend the papal audience with them as my Wednesday nine a.m. was canceled, providing me with a rare opportunity to be blessed by the pope. We walked to the Vatican together and stood awkwardly outside the gates for half an hour trying to figure out if we needed tickets to get into St. Paul's piazza, or if you only needed tickets to sit in the pre set up chairs. Everyone going through security had tickets, but we couldn't be sure. Finally an American woman asked the guards the question on our minds, apparently we were allowed to get in. We went through security with no troubles and found a central position right up against the rail that separated the chairs from the standing room. We were quite early, but that worked out in our favor. Once the audience started we saw a German marching band enter at the beginning, and listened to the pope address the crowd in seven languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese,and a mystery one at the end that sounded like it might have been Russian or polish. My bet at the time was on polish as I was pretty sure that was where JP II was from, and I didn't think there was a large population of Russian Catholics. However, at the Easter service Russians were definitely addressed. It was a really neat thing to be able to witness, and we had a pretty good vantage point for the ceremony. At the very beginning of it The Holy Father rode around the crowd in his popemobile, waving and smiling at the cheering crowd. I do not have pictures of this...sorry. But! Jessica does and she has a much nicer camera than I do, so I will be stealing her pictures off of facebook once she uploads them :)After the mass we parted ways with plans to meet at seven for dinner and one gelato with one last trip to the trevi for the girls. I went back to my apartment and prepared for Art Gallery Management, and then walked up to the school for my last class of the day. Many of us had questions for our professor regarding our frustrating projects, and we got no sympathy, and little feedback to our curiosity. We were assigned groups, and luckily I was put in a group with a guy who knows what he's doing; he's interning for a gallery right now and has a great knowledge of modern art, he also knows a local artist. So hopefully this project wont be as difficult to coordinate as I'm anticipating. We'll see. I fell asleep a lot in this class, it was not good, I couldn't even tell you what the lecture was about, granted I'm writing this almost a week later, but still pretty inexcusable. After my less than satisfactory midterm grade and daunting project assignment I have very little motivation for this class. After class I had a little down time in my apartment before I met Jessica and her friends for supper once again. We went back to old trastevere to a different cheap restaurant. I really like these places, you can get a pizza (like a large thin crust) for three euro, and a huge pasta dish for five euro, it's a sweet deal. After dinner we went for Gelato and I had much better luck with flavours. I can no longer remember what I ordered, but I know I stayed away from all things pink, and it worked out well for me:) We sat at the trevi for awhile before heading home. The girls had an early flight, and my full belly was making me sleepy. I said goodbye to Jessica promising a summer picture exchange/get together.

Typity Type Type

That's how most of my Tuesday was spent. But first I went to my Bodies and Burials class to receive my final and listen to a three hour lecture. This was the final I thought I might have gotten a hundred percent on. Wrong, ninety one. Closish. I got full points for my four page essay, and even a good essay written at the end :) that was pretty cool. I missed points on the short answer section, even though I filled the space, I apparently missed a key point in each of them, oh well. My annotated bibliography for the final paper was returned to me as well. I accidentally put it in alphabetical order when she had apparently asked for order of importance. I think this bibliography made her suspicious of me as well. In her comments she asked where I was finding my sources (google scholar, which is harder to use when fifty percent of your results are in Italian, and the BVU library online databases) She also wrote that you can only use an essay for one class, leading me to believe that she thinks this is an essay I've previously written and am recycling for her class. This made me giggle as the thought of having an archaeology class in Iowa is quite hysterical (although to her credit I am writing about the civil war) Paying attention in class has been proving difficult this week, my transition from spring break to class is not going as well as it did the other way around. Imagine that. After class I headed back to my apartment and talked to Stu at the start of his day. I procrastinated my paper for an hour by taking a nap and browsing the internet, before really cracking down. I was nervous that reaching the ten page minimum for this paper was going to be difficult based on what others who had started were saying before class on Monday. I was pleasantly surprised to find that material came willingly enough, it just took a good chunk of time to write out. I also discovered that I didn't need the notes I had taken during the opera as much as I had expected. For writing this paper on a show I had seen about a week and a half ago, I managed to remember details much more vividly than is typical for my crapshoot of a memory. I wrote from three in the afternoon until ten that evening with a couple of half hour facebook breaks. I was pretty pleased with myself by the time I was done. Finishing any length of paper is always a pleasant feeling, but the longer the better. I didn't proofread it, like usual, and I'm anxious to get it back to see if what I wrote aligns with what the professor is looking for. I wont get the paper back before my next critique is due, which is a bummer, but it will be nice to have a majority of my course work done for this class. Because of my lengthy paper, and because I procrastinated it I accomplished little else on Tuesday, despite this I still feel like it was a productive day.

Goodbye Break, Back to School

Today was my first day getting back into my school routine, while I was not looking forward to adjusting to school work again I was very eager to get my midterms back. While waiting to get into opera class many of the girls revealed they would just rather not know. I don't care if I think I've done great or terrible on a test I want to see the results so I don't have to worry about it any longer. As it turns out my opera midterms was my highest scoring test, ridiculous. I missed a good deal more points on the listening section than I suspected (I mixed up the mezzo soprano with the soprano, whoops) and only missed one in the multiple choice section. That was some lucky guessing, I literally guessed on seven out of ten of the multiple choice and got all but one right, awesome. I got seven out of ten points on my essay, not bad and I received eight points on the extra credit. Overall a ninety three percent. Kinda sad that it was my highest scoring midterm, but at least I got mostly A's. We also prepared for our next opera performance: Tosca. The class just before we attend the opera is canceled for Easter Monday, so we watched Maria Callas (who was apparently a very big deal, I had never heard of her) perform the most famous scene from the opera. I think I'm going to really like this opera, almost everyone dies in the end, and I'm a big fan of tragic endings. After opera it was time to head to Art Gallery Management. I did not do as well on this final as I had anticipated, I think I only scored an eight four. The professor scored things differently than I'm used, and I'm going to have to prepare accordingly for the final. We talked about our final project today as well. I'm not terribly excited for it, at all. The project is to arrange a gallery style show. When I read about this in the syllabus I imagined that we would be provided with a space,and that there might be some sort of exchange with the school's small art department. Meaning we would have to use what we had learned to show that we could put together a well spaced and themed show. Not the case. We are given no such amenities. The class is split into groups of four or five and we are charged with finding an artist, a space to display the work, and not only arranging the work but attempting to sell it. Admittedly this would not be as difficult if any of us spoke Italian, or weren't study abroad students who have no connections to local artists or venues. Not to mention the money were going to have to pour into this. I realize that I paid over one hundred euros for opera tickets, but I was forewarned in the syllabus. I've already purchased fifty euro worth of books for this course, and now I will be paying for possible printing fees, hanging supplies, and maybe even venue rental. I'm not very please. In fact the details of this project have turned me off of this class almost completely. For as specific as this course is to my major I'm not comfortable not enjoying it, It makes me wish I could still take Issues in Arts Management back at BV, because I don't appreciate the way this class is being handled. I'm not sure what we will be learning about in the next month, but I highly doubt that it's how to properly hang paintings, I'm very glad I came into this class with experience, I would be even more stressed if I didn't already now how to do some of the basics. For venues our teacher recommended restaurants that we have connections to. Which would be fine except this will go against absolutely everything we have learned about the modern 'white cube' gallery space. This project is going to be a pain in the neck I think, I'm not looking forward to dedicating my time to it. In happier news once class was over I walked home and checked my email to find that Jessica and her friends wanted to meet at six, it was already five forty, and it usually takes awhile to get anywhere at this time of night, let alone across the river to the Vatican. I rushed out the door, and made it ten minutes late. I had offered to walk them around some of the major sites, but they had paid to do one of the forty eight hour hop on hop off bus tours, so they had already seen much of what I anticipated to show them. I took them around the Cake topper building in Piazza Venezia, as they hadn't seen most of what was behind it. We then started to walk down the main shopping street for gelato and then Piazza del Popolo when the girls told me they wanted supper first. We turned around and headed for old Trastevere, which has several very good, and very cheap restaurants. We had pizza and pasta, and it was incredibly filling, and nice to sit and eat with good company. We traced our steps back to Corso, the shopping street and I took them to Gioliti, one of the best Gelato places in Rome (at least it has one of the best selections)I actually found a Gelato I didn't like, which is absolutely nuts. I had to throw it away (I'll give you some time to digest that information) I made the mistake of ordering something for its color again. Mistake, again. It was pretty pink, and grapefruit flavoured, I couldn't eat it. I tried, but it was too gross. Hopefully that will be the first and last time I have to throw away gelato, it made me sad. We walked to the end of the tram line together and said good night to the girls. I wouldn't be seeing them on Tuesday night, I still had my massive opera paper to write, but we decided to meet Wednesday morning to go to the papal audience together.