[Written 5 days ago — I left my laptop in my dorm while I travelled to Nice, France so this is from a few days ago!]
Quick interruption from my excursion series to discuss the crazy day I had yesterday.
It all started 1500 years ago… Just kidding. But whenever the Vatican decided to open its doors for business is when my troubles began!
Yesterday we had our weekly excursion sponsored by the school and we were taken inside the Vatican museum and, more importantly, the Sistine chapel. It was scheduled to begin at 2 and in case nobody is keeping up with Rome’s weather forecast, 91 is the low this week. So there’s that. I had a busy night before so I was running on little to no sleep and I never remember to hydrate. I was going into this situation with a disadvantage to start with! I was exhausted, hot, and dehydrated and I, as of yesterday, have diagnosed myself with claustrophobia. The Vatican was looking pretty rough to me.
Once we finally made it in we were given tinny sounding earphones to listen to our guide and I immediately had to take them out, effectively ruining the chance to hear about the specifics of what I was looking out. However the art was incredible and just the size of the collections was mind boggling. My only regret was that I wish I could have gone on a different day because all I could think about was how hot, stuffy, and close I was to strangers.. Which only worsened as we watched a young woman in a white dress slip in a pile of someone else’s vomit in the middle of the tour. So I guess my day was pretty great in comparison.
I made it through the museum and when we walked into the Sistine chapel I saw an open seat and I went for it. Not only did I finally get to sit my butt down but I had the world’s greatest view. The room was phenomenal. I think with all great art, places, or ideas we tend to glorify the reality of the situation. I was both surprised and relieved to find that the Sistine chapel was relatively small compared to what I had envisioned but the art was absolutely breathtaking.. That being said — it was just a room. It wasn’t Harry potter where the staircases moved and the paintings could talk. It was easy to envision Michelangelo sitting there getting neck cramps as he rushed to paint the ceiling in time for the pope. It was remarkably human and the fact that such a beautiful room could come from a couple guys with paintbrushes was even cooler than Harry Potter magic.
That was obviously the highlight of my day because from there it all went downhill. As soon as I stood up I felt a sharp pain in my left butt cheek. Yup, that’s right. I go to Italy for a summer and one week in I get an infection on my butt. For the past few days it has been progressively worsening and, standing there in the Sistine chapel, I realized I had to get it taken care of because I was due to leave for France the following morning.
By the time I got back to our dorm I swear I thought I was going to pass out. I was already really overwhelmed by my thirst, the heat, and the anxiety of being boxed in by strangers for the whole day. I found my RA on call and it took about two minutes to realize none of the administrative staff was really going to be of huge help. I was to find my way to the hospital, navigate the Italian language, communicate my pain, figure out insurance.. At 9 pm at night alone in Rome. I was stressing.
I finally found an admin who could help me make the appointment and luckily they had specialists there who agreed to wait for me. I got in a taxi (I figured I could experiment with the buses another time) and found my way to a great private hospital with an English speaking staff. I just kind of followed the signs and there was not even a moment of waiting before I was swept up in an elevator and into a nice, well lit room with the two most handsome Italian men I have ever seen. My doctors. They look like they had just graduated college and they were casually referencing my trip abroad as if I wasn’t standing there because of my butt cheek dilemma. The moment I realized that these two male doctors was all I was getting, I had to laugh at the whole situation. Here are these two young men, no women nurses, and my left butt cheek is on fire at this point. But hey, when in Rome.
It was by far one of the most surreal experiences. I’m accustomed the the American manner of medical behavior.. A nice, 50 year old-ish nurse in the room to de-awkward the situation, a divider between me and the body part called into question, and doctors who didn’t insist on making jokes about my ass. At some point I gave up on all pretenses of dignity and just turned around and joked back with the doctors as I watched them inspect my butt. It was genuinely the highlight of my stress-ridden day.
I practically wept with joy when the doctor prescribed me with antibiotics and told me to come back In a week and it was the most independent I think I’ve felt in my entire life. Which was pretty cool.
Sorry for the longest post of my life but I feel like this warranted a big explanation. Today I head out to France and I will post some more about that in the coming days!
Running in Rome 