It's almost midnight here and I'm exhausted. Not the type of exhausted that I am in need of food, water, or ice. But, the type of exhausted that leaves you pleasantly "full" for the day, knowing that you enjoyed every last little bit of it and that after a good night's rest you will be ready for the next.
We had our first field study today! Or might I say field studies-that's right, today we visited not one, not two, but THREE different sites in the city of Rome. And I had that "aha" moment today where I fell in love with the city. Like Paris it took some time, but I think it hit me when we saw Notre Dame for the first time and walked along the Love Lock Bridge. Today it hit me when we used public transit for the first time and successfully navigated our way to the Roman Cathedral, Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano! As planned, we met our Rome as a Living Museum professor at 9:30 in the courtyard of Rome's oldest church, where we sat while he lectured us for about 10 minutes before going inside. I know I say this a lot but...wow. There are so many beautiful places in America, Florida, and Miami/Jacksonville in particular, but there is just something special about the places here in Europe. It may have been our first major monument/place here, but I was in awe the whole time. Must be something about walking into a building that has been there for more than a thousand years before you even were born. Whatever it was, I found myself mesmerized by the building and its architecture and history, yet pleasantly surprised to find it just off a busy metro stop and in the middle of a busy modern street with cars going up and down the road.
After our first visit, we got on the metro bus towards our next field study: Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, or the Virgin Mary. Again, all I can say is wow. Yes, mom, I did take in the academic information that our teacher provided us with, but how do you regurgitate all of that when you're looking at pictures of a place so stunning? After both of these church visits, I found myself falling in love with Rome, especially after not really leaving our neighborhood/the city center for our first few days in the city. It was great to venture off and really see the city in action, especially with some modern elements included (normal streets and crosswalks-surprisingly not all of the roads here are back alleyways). After our visits, my classmates and I took the metro back to our stop, just past the St. Peter's Basilica, and walked back to our apartment to eat lunch and just take a break. On our way to our next field visit of the day, for Museums and Heritage, we stopped at a great new place called Lemongrass for gelato. 5 days, 5 servings of gelato. Yes, a little much I know, but today's was the best: 1 scoop of chocolate and 1 scoop of oreo. Yummmm. Makes the walking almost 10 miles today totally worth it.
For our class this afternoon, we met our professor at Palazzo Massimo, part of the Roman National Museum, on the same side of town as the churches we saw this morning. This made getting there 500x easier. The museum primarily focuses on heritage from the local area, within a nearly 500 meter radius, and I really enjoyed looking at the sculptures and different forms of artwork than we saw in Paris. Mostly ancient pieces, I especially loved the section on mythology and Greek/Roman gods. I also liked the pieces carved out of marble and pictures put together by glass tiles. It amazes me how talented artists were in the (very, very) old days.
After class was over, we walked to the Termini Train Station-Rome's biggest train station the only metro line cross over, bus hubs, and international destination trains-to meet an IES ISC, Italian Student Companion, for dinner at this cool place called Eataly. ISC's are like RA's, hired by IES, who serve as live-in resources and roommates for students who are studying in Rome. Because we are only here for two weeks and there are 3 of us, we don't currently have one. But Silvia, a 21-year-old college student living with six other IES Rome girls at the moment, agreed to take us to Eataly to show us around. Eataly is unlike anything I have ever seen before: a large Italian marketplace designed to sell the highest-quality foods made in Italy, with its own restaurants on the inside. There are a few around the world, but the one in Rome is the original. And may I say, it was SO COOL! We walked all the different floors, exploring the different food vendors, before agreeing to get dinner at the-you guessed it-pizza restaurant on the first floor. And without a doubt it was the best pizza that I have ever had. Ever. Too bad I was so hungry (it was also late) that I forgot to get a picture of it before shoveling it down. We also ordered focaccia bread and desserts to share, and everyone left happy with full bellies.
We didn't get home tonight until almost 10:00, which after almost a full day with a break in between, left us exhausted and drained. Luckily, though, the apartment wasn't nearly as hot as we imagined, because we finally figured out how to adjust the shades/windows to the way we want! Tomorrow is our last day of class for the week, and I am excited to see a monument where dreams are made of...don't get my reference? Well, you'll just have to see tomorrow! Until then, it's off to bed for me after another amazing day in Rome.
Addio bella!
No comments:
Post a Comment