4 years ago when I was there with my mom I really did not like it. We spent most of our time navigating through crowded streets and waiting in long long lines, only to push through giant crowds of people again (it was summer tourist season).
I really loved it this time. To be fair, it is still an enormous city and I do hate that. I hate the overcrowded-ness of the place, I hate all the high end, over-priced shopping selling things no one needs, the obsession with what it means to be Roman, or what it means to live in the Catholic capital of the world. So why then did I like it so much..
I had incredible roommates (Laura, Sonora, and Lauren). And we had a couple extras that might as well have been our roommates (Bry, Taylor, and Tiffany). Our space was filled with so much laughter and silliness. Laura and I shared the most giant bed I have ever slept on. Everyone was piled on it as we spent a whole day writing our Technology in European Society paper and another studying for our WWII final. Pumpkin seeds and sarcastic insults were flying. It was wonderful.
I really was not looking forward to our tour of the Colosseum or the Roman Forum. I saw them as merely physical representation of a powerful but sick society that is long dead and gone. And I still think that. But we had the most AMAZING tour guide we have ever had named Franchesca. She made every place come to life as she imaginatively reconstructed every ruin and painted it with marble and frescos for us. I understood the Roman Empire and current Roman culture in an entirely new way as she then connected it to our every day lives. It made me appreciate every Roman ruin I saw for the rest of our time there. It was essential to my time in there.
The rest of my week had times of homework, rest, shopping, site-seeing, and great dinners with friends. I got together with my roommates from Krakow (known as 'the Bitches' for no good reason). I am just so thankful for the times I get to go out with small groups of people I am close to. We shared a delicious Italian meal, got cut a deal by Tony our waiter, and at gelato in St. Peter's Square (circle). The next night I went back to the same restaurant with my small group. I am just so blessed to be around so many incredible women on this trip. Each day I fall more and more in love with the group I am with. I am so thankful for them.
One of the interesting excursions I went on in Rome was to see the prison cell Peter and Paul were held in. The cell was far below ground level (since Rome has been built on top of itself). Above the prison was a Medieval church dedicated to Peter which is now a museum. We purchased the audio guide for our short tour and let me tell you- it was weird. No other word for it. It tried to be extremely symbolic with talking about stones and water, and water dripping like a heart beat, colored stones from different time periods that talked and argued.. etc. Strange! The religious portions of the tour were also odd. They practically glorified Peter above Jesus, only mentioning that he is the Son of God once and the reason Peter lived and breathed. They claimed that Peter split time in two with his creation of the church and only talked about him, not even the reason he was really imprisoned. On top of that, they did not even say a single word about Paul. It was hilarious how strange it all was, but it was also sad. This place where Paul wrote so many letters, this place that was so special to us, had become somewhat absurd. Here is a picture of the church above the cell..
Our tour of the Vatican was not as expected either. We had had our WWII final that morning and were practically useless, add that to a very average tour guide, with some useless information and only about 7 minutes in the Sistine Chapel, and you have a pretty big waste of time. The thing that did stand out to me was St. Peter's Basilica (aka the Vatican church aka the most important building to the Catholic World).
IT IS SO DAMN BIG YOU CANNOT DESCRIBE IT TO YOU. I could not even handle it. (Keep in mind that this church was assembled entirely of marble taken by destructing every temple in the Roman Forum. The alter above St. Peter's remains is constructed of melted bronze from the ceiling of the Pantheon). I felt so so so small in this place. It blew my mind. Everything is oversized. They have a marker of the size of every other Cathedral in the world on the floor to show you how big it is. I thought that was awfully unnecessary and conceited. This basilica, the capital of the Catholic world, felt lifeless to me. It felt like a government building, only concerned with size, power, and tradition. I do not at ALL think that way about the Pope, the Catholic faith or community, but that is how I felt towards the Vatican.
And now I sit in the Hotel Parthenon (ha) on the eve of my journey to Israel. Yesterday we spent in class learning about the Arab- Israeli conflict, visiting the Parthenon and Acropolis, and copying my professors maps of Israel for our JUC course (yes, they let us copy, this trip is the best)! Today we had another class and then a free afternoon. I laid on a fenced-off lawn next to the statue of an angel in a park for two hours. I then ate the best 2 euro gyro of my life in the same park and journaled next to the birds. I then went to cafe Smile and drank a beer as I read my Bible (Beer & Bible, you proud Dad?) We fly out of Athens/ EUROPE tonight at 10:30 PM and arrive in Israel/ THE MIDDLE EAST at 12:30 AM.
I cannot believe it has finally come.
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