Siamo andati a Roma!

Translation: We went to Rome! … and there is far too much to say about it. Unfortunately we are struggling through a very busy week this week. We both have important Italian quizzes and cooking papers; Cody has new water-color paintings due and I have a rather difficult photography critique ahead of me. So we may not be able to say all we’d like to about our amazing trip this weekend. So we thought we’d do something a little different for our post this week. Instead of informing you of nearly every detail, along with all the information we learned from our tour guides, we’ll give you more of a summary with some “most interesting” fun facts, and some of our thoughts along the way. You are most likely relieved about this since perhaps all our details and facts were boring you, but we did that partially to keep a diary and remember those things for ourselves. So, if we do get the chance, we might post some of those details later in the week. Unfortunately, this also means that we might not post our abundance of pictures until next week as well.

What we did:
Friday we arrived in Rome around noon and stashed all of our things in a baggage room since we couldn’t check in yet. Then we set of to see the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill, Imperial Forums, and Capitol Hill. The Coliseum was our favorite. My thoughts were filled with Hadassah and the Mark of the Lion series, giving me a solemn feeling as I walked around, as well as yearning to re-read my favorite books! Cody thought of Gladiator and wished Clint was there to be excited with him. It was one of our favorite experiences. We were exhausted at the end of the day and enjoyed a really great meal at the hotel for supper.

We were a little worried about the weather for the weekend because we were told it was supposed to be raining the entire time. This is NOT good news, of course, because this is not ideal sight-seeing weather, and we’re both a bit suffering by our lack of water-proof shoes. I have taken to converting to the elementary school solution of wearing plastic bags over my socks, inside my boots. But even that couldn’t save me on Saturday… we walked several blocks and waited forever in a crowded line of tourists waiting to get into the Vatican museum in the torrential downpour. So, yes, Saturday we saw the Vatican museum, including Rafael’s rooms (amazing!!!) and the Sistine Chapel (!!!!!) and Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica (ahh!). Ok, can you tell we were excited about this?? ☺ The crazy cold rain hardly dampened our spirits, though at one point we were a little freaked out because our tour guide told us several rooms and maybe even the church was closed because there was a special ceremony going on that day. We were totally bummed ‘cuz we were there to see those things!! But it all worked out in the end because the ceremony had taken place earlier in the morning so eventually everything was opened up again! yea!! There is far too much to say about that day and what we saw. Everything was sooo amazing. A few fun facts though, maybe I’m silly, but I did not know that “Vatican City” is its own country. Apparently for several years, through about 4 different Popes, the Pope refused to recognize united Italy as a suitable country, so they shut themselves in the Vatican to stay for their entire Papacy. After the fourth Pope, Benito Mussolini decided to make the protective walls around that small area the boundary for its own separate country. Then the Pope was willing to recognize Italy as a country because he didn’t have to be a citizen of it. Also, the name “Vatican” doesn’t really mean anything associated with the church, it’s simply that the hill on which Vatican City was built and located has always been called “Vatican hill.” This name is so ancient they don’t even know its origin. But that is why the Vatican is called the Vatican. Things I did not know.

Sunday we saw the Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona – including the Fountain of the Four Rivers – the Pantheon, and the Jewish Ghetto. Then we ran across city and road on the Metro to catch….. THE POPE!! He was in the city so we got to see him give his blessing to the people in St. Peter’s Square. We saw the Pope! Quite unexpected. Very cool. Then we spent a relaxing afternoon on Via del Corso (any street using the word Corso means that it was once used for horse and chariot races and is usually a long, straight road.

Kait’s observations from our trip:

* This whole study-abroad experience is a HUGE learning experience, not only are we learning to LIVE as Italians live, (for the most part; as much as we can gather or adapt) Not only are we learning new things in our interesting variety of classes, but we also learn soooo much about history and art from all the amazing tours and trips and museum visits. We also are able to learn a lot from each other, Cody and I, plus from Brie, Megan and Carmel. It seems every time we take a tour or visit a museum together, everyone has something to add about what we see from what we’ve learned while here or in the past. It’s fantasic.

* I find I get very time-line and geographically discombobulated here in Italy. The Roman empire stretched so far and had it’s hand in Israel, so I get really confused about what happened where because nearly everything was part of the Roman empire at one point. So I imagine the ruins that are everywhere in Rome must look a lot like some of those in Israel. I don’t know if I’m making sense but it gets confusing to me. The time-line issue comes from living in Florence, where much of this history has to do with the middle ages and Renaissance. But then we go to Rome and WAIT, oh, the Roman empire was earlier than all of that… so what we see in Florence isn’t nearly as old. They are such different time periods but it’s all “ancient” in my mind.

* This trip was probably among the most significant I think, for both of us. There were more things in Rome that are famous world-wide so it seemed more of a “big deal” to be seeing them for ourselves. Plus like I said, the history is older and so rich and so interesting. I want to tell you everything we learned!

* We thought Florence was a city… you should experience Rome… It obviously felt much bigger and we could have spent weeks there seeing everything there was to see. It would be an amazing place to live and study, but we still find ourselves thankful that we go to school in Florence. The city center has become a smaller world to us, it’s easily traversable and navigable, and it feels like home to us now. Sometimes we feel like it’s really hard to take everything in when we go on these trips, because we feel a little bit like we’ve been traveling for months. One usually feels ready to go home after 1 or 2 weeks of vacation but going away every or every other weekend, we get a little travel weary, so besides 1 last trip, we are happy to stay here to enjoy our first home together in Florence for the rest of our semester. But… we are pretty excited about our last trip we just booked and it will pretty much be the last check mark on our major list of places we wanted to see… we’re going to Milan for my birthday!! Thank you Cody!

* Though we missed our trio of friends, since Brie, Megan and Carmel did not attend this one, it was a wonderful opportunity to branch out. So we spent some more time with some friends from our classes and got to know them a little better. One of the girls from Cody’s Italian and painting class pretty much wanted to be our photographer the whole time so that we could finally have pictures together. She was really sweet and we were thankful for her desire to do that for us. It was fun to make some new connections or just get to know some other friends a little better.

Cody’s thoughts on the trip:

*Rome was beautiful, and (in spite of the rain), probably one of my favorite trips so far this semester. I had a hard time appreciating all the sites, to be honest. There was quite a lot. Friday we saw (almost) all the ruins of the Roman empire, which were incredible, but also very sad. The Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages decided that St. Peter's Basilica, among other churches, were more important than these places of pagan culture, and so they stripped them all as though they were nothing more than marble quarries in order to make more magnificent places of worship.

*We also saw a few churches that had been built around or on top of old pagan temples. Roman Christians before the Middle Ages built all their churches as far away and as different as possible from the pagan temples in order to emphasize that they were not pagans, but during the Middle Ages, the Roman Church decided that it needed to display its power over paganism, and so replaced all their temples (including the Pantheon).

*I think my reaction to all of this history is a chunky stew of sadness (at losing such incredible cultural places), indignance (at the medieval church's arrogance), and wonder (that Rome is able to preserve its pagan antiquity and its religious grandeur in such close proximity). And then I'm proud to be a Protestant.

* BUT, I also remember, with a bittersweet taste in my mouth, that I need to be more humble. Yes, pagans were "wrong," and the Christians were "right," but the Christians were also wrong in how they treated the pagans. Those Christians are my ancestors.

* I have caught myself, more and more frequently, being WAY too judgmental of the other students here. I often find myself looking down on them because they drink too much, or because they spend too much on clothes and trips, or because they don't care enough about classes, or because they take too much food at the buffet. I need to look at the beautiful ruins and learn the lesson that those early Christians left for me: humility. I'm not better because I'm a Christian. It does, however, mean that I'm different. I should live like it.

A couple extra things not from our trip:

* Though it is going to be a busy week, Cody and I have had several conversations lately about how we’re always going to remember this time of our lives fondly. We will remember this semester as the time we had nothing but each other and all we had to do everyday was go see beautiful things in the world and learn about them. How’s that for the first ½ year of marriage? ;) We’re pretty satisfied to say the least. :D

* The weather has been so odd here, if it’s not super wet and rainy, it’s really pleasant and even warm – much warmer than it was for a few weeks back. Yesterday we walked around Rome for a while in just our t-shirts!

* We were reminiscing about how lovely the NWC campus and Orange city looks during Christmas time and how we’re going to miss that…. but wait! They have been stringing up fancy lights in all the streets all over the city! We can’t wait for them to turn them on, it should be magnificent!

From us to you:

It’s Thanksgiving this week! So we want to make sure that we tell you how much we are thankful for all of you. Your taking the time to “follow” us on our blog and praying for us while we are here is deeply appreciated and felt. We feel like we are doing really well here and we know that is in great part due to your prayers, support, love and remembering us while we are here. We are thankful for our families for setting us free and supporting us and helping us to get the most out of this experience. Your love, example, and generosity make our dreams come true! We are so thankful for our parents, grandparents, sibs, aunts, uncles and cousins, we are so blessed to have you all for family! We are sooo thankful for our dear friends at home who take time out of their busy class, work, and activity schedules to read about us and communicate with us. We REALLY appreciate it. I am told some friends of my sister are even reading our blog, and we want to say we are thankful for your thoughtfulness and interest as well! We are thankful for Northwestern for allowing us to be here and for giving us the head and heart knowledge to keep growing and hopefully bless and be blessed. We are thankful for the people God has put in our lives while we are here, some friends we’ve made in our classes, our amazing professors, and especially Carmel, Brie, and Megan. It’s so amazing that God gave us these three friends we can pray with, celebrate with and that we all have each other to sharpen one another. We are thankful for art and history; how it teaches and shapes us, and how we have been able to see and experience it. We are thankful for our faith, traditions and the people and places that we get to come home to. 4 weeks left! We Love you all so much and we’ll see you soon! Happy Thanksgiving.