Rome Without Gelato...

Buona Domenica amici!

Happy Sunday everyone, how's it going? I'm getting worse and worse with blogging; it's hard to sit down and document it all when I just want to be out there doing everything, but now I'm relaxing and taking time out of my House of Cards marathon to update you guys. You're welcome :D

Last weekend I was so lucky to have ol' Jim Young come visit me in Roma! He was in meetings in Amsterdam the week before so Kath helped him book an EasyJet over here to hang out for part of the weekend. Unfortunately due to scheduling, he only really had about a day and a half here but we packed in everything... Not kidding. The only other time he was here was for my choir performance in high school, which was great, but I don't think he got to see much of what Rome has to offer. He arrived here about 2 hours before I was done with Italian class on Thursday the 13th. He was staying in the hotel 1 block down my street so I was rushing home from class once we were released. I wasn't expecting to cry when I saw him but I totally lost it. Being abroad isn't necessarily hard, it's just a lot of experiences that are unfamiliar and stressful at times, so seeing one person that I was completely comfortable with and that I had missed so much hit me like a shitload of bricks!

Quick side story: my dad was wearing the infamous salmon shirt... My mom bought him a work shirt that is a salmony (sp?) color, that he was not fond of at first, like at all. He would always say, "You're kidding Kath, it's pink... I'm not wearing a pink shirt to work". But he did wear it a lot, and it's one of my favorites! So the summer before senior year (he was living in Switzerland alone at this point), I was leaving to head home to Chicago and wasn't going to see him for about a month, and I thought it would be funny to leave him a special note that he would unexpectedly find sometime that could remind him of home. On a piece of paper I wrote something stupid like "Rock the salmon shirt, dad! Love you!" or whatever, put it on the hanger with the shirt, and left it in his closet. I remember a couple days later I got a text from my dad saying how much he loved his note, and to this day, he still puts the salmon shirt on the same hanger with the note still attached. So whenever I see the shirt it's always kinda special. Dumb, but special!

Anyway, it was about 5pm so JY and I decided to just go for a little walk down into the center of Rome. I took him on my route to school so we passed the Castel Sant'Angelo which he thought was really awesome! Then we walked quickly by my school and then down to Piazza Navona. The sun was setting so a lot of the bustle from Navona was dying down. He was so excited to see parts of Rome he never got to the last time. In the piazza, there is a beautiful fountain constructed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini called Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, or Fountain of Four Rivers. It has bare chested men, meant to signify large bodies of water, the Nile representing Africa, the Danube for Europe, the Ganges for Asia and Rio de la Plata representing the Americas. One of the figures (the Danube guy) is facing toward a church, but has his hand up blocking his face. My Italian roommate, Arianna, told me it is because Bernini was rivals with another architect named Francesco Borromini who actually built the church in the piazza (the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, or Saint Agnes in agony... you probably figured that one out yourself). It was meant to signify that Bernini didn't think that Borromini's church would stay standing and it would fall on the fountain. Pretty cool, huh? Arianna is really great with history so I love when she tells me those interesting little secrets!

Dad and I went into the church, which is incredibly underrated and beautiful. If you or anyone you know is headed toward Piazza Navona, I highly suggest seeing it! It is really cool. The altar is really elaborate and toward the side is a statue of Saint Agnes surrounded by flames. She was a young 13 year old girl who was always pursued by old creepy guys, so she became a Saint and wanted to be celibate, but the men were so mad that they set her on fire. Poor girl...

After that my dad and I walked around the streets of the center for a while. We saw this poster for a production of Romeo and Guilette, and he got such a kick out of that... He just kept trying to pronounce Guilette, butchering the name each time. It was hilarious. Then for dinner I took him to my favorite pizza place near school (Pizza Del Teatro, the best), we got a couple bottles of wine, and watched Arrested Development together. It was a really great night.

The next day was packed with tons of sight seeing! We took a tour of the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was really interesting and I enjoyed seeing the inside of the building I walk by 3 times a day.There were so many levels and different rooms or secret areas I had no idea existed. Plus the statue at the top was really cool; it's the angel saint holding a sword to wipe out plagues. After Sant'Angelo, we walked over to the Vatican and looked around outside before we went in. I love all the statues of the angels at the top of the pillars that surround the courtyard. Inside is indescribable. I've been inside the Vatican before, but this was my first time since being here, and it never ceases to amaze me. I'm not particularly very religious, but when you walk into a place of such magnitude in size, history and belief, you definitely feel something.

My dad and I did the touristy thing and took one of those red double-decker buses that takes you all over the city and explains the history to you over crappy headphones. I love these buses! we stopped first at the Trevi Fountain to quick throw in a coin and walked over to the Pantheon. I think the Pantheon was my dad's favorite. We spend a ton of time in there. It is such a bizarre building since it was built so long ago and is still standing with that massive hole in the middle! When it rains the water gets drained from something like 24 holes in the tiles on the floor. We went around trying to count them but never got all of them. Damn...

About mid afternoon we decided to walk over to the Spanish Steps. Not only did we see them, but we walked up and counted them, but of course I can't remember the number. The steps are so beautiful. There was even a Parkour group there just bouncing around to some bad rap which was awesome. Once we were back down the stairs, I asked my dad if he wanted to get gelato and he said, "Gelato!? Of course I want gelato! You can't leave Rome without gelato! That's like Romeo without Guilette!" My dad has the worst dad jokes; I wonder how long he was waiting to pull that one out of his pocket...

After the steps, we walked all the way down Via del Corso to Piazza Venezia to see the Vittorio Emanuele monument, or the Wedding Cake! One of my favorites, and the size of this building is insane. I still can't believe that in a city of ruins and crazy history, this building stays so white and looks brand new! JY and I walked up more stairs to the inside of the building and found the elevator that takes us all the way to the top. I recommend this view to every Rome traveler. You can see nearly everything from up there. They have maps to show each building which was cool seeing how far we had walked and how much of the city we had covered. It was sunset and I was very aware that time with my dad was fading fast, so it was a really nice moment to be up there with him. We hit up the Colosseum and then headed back home. That night we had dinner with Arianna and my 2 friends from school, Kim and Peter. I absolutely love when my friends get to meet my family! We goofed around with our waiter, drank nice wine and overall had a really great time together.

Dad left really early on Saturday to make sure he caught his flight back from Amsterdam. I was super bummed for him to leave, but it was the perfect dosage of home to hold me until I see them in Amalfi for Spring Break! Can't wait guys! :)

That Saturday night, some kids and I got together for the 'America Party'. This party was dedicated to our Italian roommates and their friends to show them just what it is like to party in the states. We made them try jungle juice, jello shots and grilled cheese, lol. We also got them all in a line to teach them how play flip cup. Arianna and Sara ended up being really good! They're all obsessed with it now, even though we don't have regulation Solo cups...

Lately I've just been muddling through my classes. Most all of them are great but sometimes we have very long days. For most classes we get to go on field studies, kindof like mini field trips through class. Like last Wednesday, my Rome as a Living Museum class went over to the Roman Forum to take a quiz, awesome right!? :) I'm definitely not used to that! Next weekend I get to see 4 awesome friends in Seville, Spain and I am SO excited! I'll post about that later.

Hope all is well! Ciao everyone!
Sara

PS. For those who haven't heard, there has been a tragic loss of an American boy studying here in Rome. His name was John Durkin from Bates College and he was here on the Trinity College program. So for all of you reading I just ask that you keep him and his family in your thoughts. My friends and I have not taken this lightly so we are being much more cautious while we are still here as well. Thank you.