Roman Holiday

1/7/2010, Roma:
Riding the bus into Rome, no one knew quite what to expect. The pretense of a city of this magnitude was overwhelming and exhilarating. To begin the opening tour, we went out to an extravagant, typical five-course Italian meal which was a wonderful precursor to the sight-seeing that lay before us in the upcoming days. The next morning, we departed on a three-hour walking tour of historic Rome that included tours of the Pantheon, Colosseum, the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, my personal favorite. We grew accustomed to native means of transport (lots of walking and the subways) to which we felt ever the more so like American tourists because having heard such elaborate stories of pickpockets on mass transit we held our belongings tight to our chests and looked around at any passerby as if they were packing heat. Later on, we were given an exclusive tour of the Museum Borghese and went home to get some rest. Day 2: The group was allowed free reign of our time and used it to tour Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. Behind the immense, stone walls of Vatican city lies some of the most historical art and sculpture pieces in all of the world. We were ushered through a series of rooms, each more intricately decorated than the last, which eventually led to the finale of the Capella Sistina. Even amongst the crowds, tour guides, and Swiss guard members who were constantly berrating onlookers not to take pictures (although certain onlookers may have been able to sneak a video or two), the room was absolutely breathtaking. The thought of Michelangelo being propped up on scaffolding for seven years covering every square inch with such symbolic art was monumentally moving. We were blessed with the "Roma" passes which allowed us to go into all of these beautiful places. At the conclusion of the second night, we were blessed with the opportunity to tour the Jesuit house of Rome which had one of the best views of the city skyline we had seen to date. This tour was given by Father Michael, our resident Chaplin who travels with the Gonzaga-in-Florence program quite a bit. Within the house, he showed us the room that St. Thresa of the Little Flower had inhabited and the terrace where the Jesuits entertain and eat their meals. On the third day, we had the rare opportunity to be blessed by the Pope and then got back on the buses to head back to Florence! The weekend was a whirlwind of history, art, and new experiences to the point where we were all happy to be back in our own beds. It was educational not only in that the pieces we were viewing had previously been unbeknownst to us beyond the pages of a text book, but also in that this was the first time any of us had to navigate our way through a city completely on our own with no means of communication and a large language barrier. These hurdles were cleared with (relative) ease, and lessons learned. On to the next adventure!