Getting off that France high wasn’t really much of a challenge when I got to jump right back into all the fun happening in Rome.
I am sitting here going back through my pictures from last week and I am continuously awed by the sheer amount of history and life here in Rome. I was speaking with my mom last night (more about the ‘rents in a later post!) and I was saying how much I love being surrounded by people. Every day there are kids, puppies, older couples, and young business-y type people walking the streets of Rome. It definitely makes you feel guilty if you allow yourself to be cooped up inside all day because you just know there are people seeing something cool and exciting right outside your window!
Anyway.. Here is my “typical” Monday – Thursday
First up.. My Monday adventure back to the hospital! I had to go get my booty problems all cleared up so after missing my bus stop and waiting for 2 hours, I finally got to see a doctor and he gave me the all clear!
Earlier that day I had a quiz to study for so my friend Mercedes, Michelle and I walked 10 minutes to Piazza Cavore where we all studied for our various classes. It was a beautiful day with birds chirping, dogs barking, and kids screeching at the top of their lungs. My favorite.
The picture in the middle is my face of joy when I realized I’m never going to conquer Italian. We must have sat out there for 20 minutes slowly panicking over our lack of Italian and just praying our teacher, Ms Ipolita, didn’t come over and quiz us.
Tuesday was something of a blur.. really the most important part of Tuesday was when I finally watched an episode of Game of Thrones and captured this stunning smile on Arya’s face. Arya doesn’t smile. This was maybe the highlight of my Tuesday — I don’t even feel bad.
WEDNESDAY DOE. We started off the day going to Galleria Borghese with the program I’m with. This is one of those museums all the guide books say to do and it was absolutely filled to the brim with sculptures and stunning artwork. During our walk to the gallery we passed through Piazza del Popolo and had a great view of Rome once we reached the top at Villa Borghese, a huge park in the middle of Rome.
Once in the museum I quickly established that my favorite sculpture was The Rape of Persephone. I was blown away by the life like quality of the marble and where Hades hands dug into Persephones thigh it looked like her skin was actually stretching out. It was absolutely remarkable and I enjoyed the minor fact that I recognized enough of ancient mythology to understand what was being illustrated.
We continued through the halls of the gallery and seeing all the paintings and sculptures gave me a huge appreciation for the patience and creativity of the artists back in the day. It definitely saddens me that up until this trip I had no preference one way or another for art. However after being in Rome for even just 3 weeks I am definitely being challenged to reevaluate my previous attitude toward art!
After our trip to Galleria Borghese my Italian teacher took us to Eataly to identify all the different food types in Italian! Whoa man, Eataly is big. They had every food group you could possibly think up and it was 4 floors of a foody’s heaven.
I mentioned my new obsession with brie but I think I’m expanding my addition to encompass all types of cheese. I about died when I found the “formaggio” section of the place.
Thursday was hands down my favorite day this whole week. My priest from Tampa, Florida was in town. Yup, he just swung by Rome before he jetted off to a bunch of other countries in Europe. He knew I would be studying here this summer so he invited me to celebrate a private Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. Wow.
I actually didn’t take any pictures because I wasn’t really there for the scenery aspect, more just for the Mass but take my word that it was beautiful. I did figure I should take a picture as I was leaving St. Peters but there are definitely more to come when I go back!
We celebrated Mass in one of the side chapels within the Basilica itself. Before we actually made it to Mass though my priest invited me back into the Sacristy which was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my short time here in Rome! It was quiet because it closed off to the public but you could hear the slight murmurs coming from priests all around the room as they prepared to deliver mass in various chapels. We were also led back into a room not opened to the public and I wish I could recall the name of it. We walked in and it was empty. It was dead silent and also one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever been in. The ceiling was ornately decorated and there were seats around what appeared to be some kind of altar or another. I was informed that there are priests who live in Rome and their full time job is to go in this room every day and pray.
After the quick tour of the room and Sacristy we went and celebrated mass. It was so, so lovely to hear Mass in my native tongue and from a priest I admire and know.
After Mass I headed over to Villa Borghese. I knew from Wednesday that the park was massive and I wanted to explore it a little more.
I got lost. That was to be expected but I was definitely a little surprised by just how big it really was. I ended up finding a map and wandered around. This park has everything. I found a lake, a dog park, and a fountain where I read my book for a few hours. There were musicians, go carts, segways, bikes, and trolleys. There were restaurants, museums, and casinos.. And I’m not kidding when I say I could spend the rest of my summer just in that park and be completely satisfied.
I could not think of a better way to spend a Thursday before Italian class.
It was an amazing week and one filled with new discoveries and a lot of fun. Friday is when my parents stopped by Rome to start off their 3 week adventure in Europe and we had a great time! More to come on that later.
Running in Rome 