Week of October 24th-28th

I apologize for the lack of originality in my title but I could not think of a way to sum up this past week into one particular thing or feeling. Like all weeks here it has been a varied set of experiences but this one has had an added sense of stress and intensity that I haven't had while in Rome. I guess I can kind of write this as a series of little updates and tidbits to help me remember what happened but without making it seem like one continuous event.

My week began on an amazingly high note after having my friend Brit stay with me over the weekend. Not to downplay all the incredibly fun times we had while she was here (that could fill pages in another blog), but it was a great time that made my procrastination of my school-related things very worth while. But that certainly made me have to play an intense game of catch-up right off the bat when I went to school on Monday. I had both an Art History presentation and an Italian midterm in two days and I had done absolutely nothing to prepare for either things so I was pretty much busy at all times this week. After a full day of school I came home to a very unnerving situation. My apartment mate Jeremy was suffering tremendously from some sort of illness and it was so intense that we had to call and ambulance to take him to the hospital.  I don't think I've ever seen somebody so traumatically ill and it was honestly really scary. I agreed to ride with him in the ambulance to calm him down and talk with the paramedics. That was one of the most intense rides of my life but thankfully I kept myself together and was able to function in a real "crisis-mode." I was shocked that I was able to keep calm and do a pretty good job trying to speak Italian with the paramedics. Luckily the madness subsided when we got to the hospital and our program manager stepped in to translate and take care of everything. Jeremy ended up staying in the hospital for three days to get over the really intense flu and I'm glad it's all over now.

It was a relief to get home Monday night but I ended up going to bed really late and then had to wake up at 6 AM for my Italy Reads volunteer program. This was extremely difficult and I was cursing myself the whole time waiting for the bus outside in the dark for signing up to do these Italian high school visits but it payed off in a big way once we got started. We took two different buses to a very different part of Rome that we had never seen before and walked into a pretty nice (private I think?) high school. Our program was set-up around the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and we were there to discuss its themes with the students. This proved to be a very interesting and rewarding experience to hear these Italian kids talk about a novel in ENGLISH that was very American in nature but I was pleased to see they understood much of it. I was seriously impressed with their English-speaking and reading abilities and it made me think twice about what it means to truly learn another language. And I also enjoyed being able to provide my distinct, American insight on this novel and it made me proud of my teaching abilities. This visit was a great success and I have a few more to look forward too, including a follow-up to the same class which is exciting.

After more intense studying and late nights, I had my big day of the presentation and midterm and they both went pretty well despite the stress leading up to them. Since then it has been relaxing, minus the fact that my headphones broke during the week. I think I am a headphone murderer because this has literally been the fourth pair of headphones that have broken in the past two years. It's not that I'm overly rough with each pair; it's just my constant use (literally like every day) that wears down the wiring. Luckily I was smart this time and bought an extended warranty from Guitar Center so I can get them replaced when I get back but it sucks nonetheless to go from awesome AKGs to shitty ipod earbuds.

But the past two days (Thursday and Friday) have been awesome and relaxing. I finally had a reason to take PICTURES (yes, first one's I've taken since I lost my camera over a month ago) when I went to the Villa Borghese and the Vatican Museum. Since I finished the bulk of my workload, I had no homework or things to do on Thursday so Vince and I decided to go for a run/walk to the Villa Borghese which is a place we regretfully haven't been to enough times while living so close by. We are all realizing that in many ways our time is limited here. With all of our weekend trips planned and the impending workload that finals entail, we need to take advantage of every opportunity we have to explore our city. The villa was so beautiful and peaceful that we both agreed to make a better effort in coming back to the park for a place to picnic and hang out. It is especially beautiful given that we are now in Fall:

Great view of the Piazza del Popolo and the Vatican:

Saw some cool stuff along our walk down one of the main roads:

A lot of the park's vegetation and architecture strangely reminded me of San Diego but maybe that's a stretch because I miss home so much. The zoo looked a lot like the SD Zoo that's for sure:

It has been great to finally have pictures of my own even though a lot of them are of pretty unexciting things...

Today (Friday) my program and I went to the Vatican Museum for an amazing guided tour that was probably my favorite one so far in Italy. Our tour guide was actually a studied Art Historian which was very valuable because there was so much to see and learn about in a short amount of time. The museum, as expected, was extremely lavish and contained thousands (if not millions, seriously) of art works from Ancient Greece, Egypt, the Medieval Era, the Renaissance, and even Modern Contemporary Art. As you can imagine, this place was massive and overwhelming; the museum felt like it was just an endless hallway with every inch covered in something beautiful. For example:

I didn't get to take many pictures because we moved so quickly but here are a few, though I doubt they will do it justice.

The highlight of course was our visit to the Sistine Chapel. Frankly I don't think I've ever seen anything more visually amazing in my entire life. How did Michelangelo paint that, and more importantly, how did he know he could paint that? I was shocked by the amount of detail within such a large-scale work but it makes sense considering it took over four years to complete. Thinking about that in itself was just as thought-provoking as the subjects alone but of course they came to life more than I have ever seen before. The Last Judgement in particular was the most shocking; it was designed to scare its viewers into fearing the wrath of Christ, something not typically represented in religious art (his sense of forgiveness is usually portrayed). To this day, Michelangelo's execution of the scene is immensely powerful and effective. Although we had a full twenty minutes to look around in the Chapel, there was clearly not enough time to "read" the scenes and soak it all up. So we will definitely be back. I want to revisit with more time and energy to see the other wings of the museum to see more of its fantastic and one-of-a-kind collection.

So as I said earlier, a very interesting and diverse week here in Rome. I'm learning so much and I am thankful everyday for the opportunities that seem to just fall into my lap. Just "popping in" for a visit to the VATICAN on any regular Friday is a great example of this sense of pure discovery and excitement that comes from living in one of the most interesting cities in the world.