Last Week in Rome

My last week in Rome went by quickly, a little too quickly. We spent a big portion of the week studying for finals and taking tests. I was able to get a quick break and go and visit The Mouth of Truth. It became more famous after Audrey Hepburn's movie Roman Holiday and since I grew up watching that movie it was something I always wanted to see for myself. The church it is located in also has Hadrian's Crypt.

The Mouth of Truth

One night for dinner we went to dinner at La Sacrestia which is rated the 18th best restaurant in Rome. They brought us all foccacia and then I had bruschetta and pasta. After that we stopped and got some gelato at the place with 150 flavors one last time. 

Then CEA hosted a farewell dinner at Ham Holy Burger for hamburgers with an Italian twist. Everything was delicious and some of the students sang Christmas carols in the restaurant. It was hard to say goodbye to professors and staff that we have worked with for the past 6 weeks.

Our farewell dinner with our Theology Professor Lori King

After a big day of finals we decided to have one final outing to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon with a walk down Via del Corso to look at the Christmas lights.

On Friday, the day before I flew to Ireland, several of us took a break from packing and had our Scavi Tour of the necropolis beneath St. Peter's Basilica. I can now say that I have visited all three levels of the basilica plus climbed the dome. It was an amazing tour and its the only way to see fragments of St. Peter's bones. Our tour guide was incredible and since they only let in about 10-15 tour groups a day we had been waiting a long time for our tour. If you are visiting Rome schedule this tour and do it in advance! As we were leaving our tour we saw the christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Vatican. There were carolers and other entertainers at the celebration. After our tour we had to stop one last time at our favorite pizza place and Old Bridge gelato shop right by the Vatican. As we were headed back to our apartments we ran into our Theology professor making me think that Rome is a much smaller city than I thought. It was fun to see her one last time before we headed home.

The Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Vatican

After some tearful goodbyes we flew out to Ireland. We spent our first night eating Bangers and Mash in The Porterhouse Pub and then seeing the christmas lights on Grafton Street.

The next morning we had a full day bus tour of Ireland that took us to the Cliffs of Moher. The drive through the countryside was beautiful and it was amazing to me how green everything was coming from living in big cities with no green. We visited 11 counties, seeing about a third of Ireland in one day. We stopped at Dunguire Castle and Bunratty Castle, we stopped in Doolin for a great lunch of seafood chowder, and spent some time hiking around the Cliffs of Moher. Despite the wind and the constant weather changes it was one of the most beautiful places I have seen on this trip, and a great way to end my time abroad. After a long day we came back and stopped in one last pub called Devitts.

The Cliffs of Moher

Reverse culture shock has hit me in full form and I don't know exactly what to do. Not only does my body not understand what time it is or when to be hungry, I really don't understand having my phone anymore. I was used to not having a TV or a cell phone so these things are a big adjustment for me. Also, coming back to everyone speaking English has been huge.

Despite being gone for so long, it feels like I never left. For those of you that have studied abroad you will probably understand that last part. Time flew by and it was the experience of a lifetime. I loved the Greco-Roman program and would highly recommend it to anyone interested!

For those of you that haven't so far take a look at our group blog: http://beyondcsbsju.wordpress.com/

And continue to check out my photos on facebook, soon I will be posting some more to my photography blog: http://melissabradleyphotography.blogspot.com/

Week 6 in Rome

Only one more week left in Rome and it is finals time. The actual study part of study abroad is incredibly difficult. We all think it should be just called "Abroad" and there should not be finals.

First off, arm update: I have full range of motion back in my arm and can do most everything I want to now. It is still slightly sore from time to time and I am working on getting my strength back in it but overall my recovery went very well! Yay!

This past week has been crazy busy! We started out with class in the Roman Forum with our history professor who is probably my favorite professor over my entire study abroad experience. His name is Jan and he has appeared on the history channel so you can watch him there! After the Roman Forum we all visited the Colosseum which has been on my to-do list this entire trip. It was such a cool experience and such a big part of history that we always see pictures of but you wonder if you will ever be there in person. This whole trip has been full of those experiences but the Colosseum was one of the best ones for me.

hanging out at the Colosseum

Tuesday morning we climbed St. Peter's Dome and had an amazing view of Vatican City and Rome. It was a little windy and a little rainy but still so much fun! That night we attended the Opera. We saw Simon Boccanegra and we had private box seats on the highest level. It was really cool to sit in a box at the Opera, however, the box seats do have a slightly limited viewing range depending on what angle you are sitting at. Keep that in mind all future opera goers:)

view from the top of St. Peters

On Thursday we toured some catacombs with our Theology professor and then we had our first final in Art History and I am glad it is over with! That night we attended the ballet and saw a modern rendition of The Nutcracker. It was the strangest rendition I have seen but it was still very cool to see an Italian ballet.

The next morning we traveled to Ostia Antica with our history professor and had a walking tour of the old city. It was once a thriving port city back in Ancient times that eventually died out and it is full of ruins similar to Pompeii but not quite as big. After our lovely day trip we came back and had our group Christmas party. We exchanged our final secret santa gifts and then handed out trip awards. This past week we all voted for 2 awards per person on the trip (one serious and one funny). I was awarded Best Photography and Most likely to post something to Facebook. We also had another big potluck dinner with potato pancakes, pasta, ham and cheese roll ups, brownies, cookies, and fruit salad! It was delicious!

Loading up our plates at the Christmas party

Yesterday some of us did some last minute shopping and visited the Christmas market of Piazza Navona. There are many Christmas/holiday markets all over Rome right now equipped with Santa's, sweet treats, street performers, and booths of hats/scarves, and holiday decorations. It was almost more like a mini-carnival than just a regular market. Then we went to the Roma v Firenze soccer game. It was probably one of my favorite experiences my entire time spent in Italy. The fans are crazy and although it is an open air stadium it was packed last night. The energy of the crowd was amazing and everyone was dressed in some sort of Roma gear. Our seats were right behind the goal and we were surrounded by fans cheering and waving flags and singing songs. Every time a goal was scored the entire crowd went crazy. It was definitely a must-do activity while in Italy! The final score was 4-2 and Roma won! Such a fun night with a great group of people!

At the Roma game!

It is very bittersweet that this journey is coming to an end. I am so thankful for my family for making this possible and the great group of people I have met because of this program. I couldn't have asked for a better group and a better experience abroad.

I will be home one week from tomorrow. How time flies when you're having fun!

My 5th week in Rome

Every week continues to get busier and busier and we haven't had a chance to sit down. Rome is so exciting and the city never stops moving!

We started out Monday morning by visiting the Vatican Museum and seeing the Sistine Chapel, which was incredible to see in person! That night we visited St. Paul Outside the Wall. The next morning we had our last art history class at the Borghese Gallery where we saw from beautiful Titian's and Caravaggio's. For our theology class we climbed the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa) on our knees that led to Pontius Pilate and that Jesus stood on during the Passion on the way to his trial. It was a very moving experience! From there we toured St. John Lateran and saw the obelisk. From there we saw a 5th century baptistry, and then toured Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Santa Croce had many famous relics including pieces of the cross, nails, and thorns of the crown Jesus wore as he was crucified. I love how are classes take us to such important pieces of history!

St. Paul Outside the Wall

After that, a small group of us decided to try and get to the Basilica of St. Peter for a free guided tour that is offered by American's in the seminary. It was pouring rain this past week and we ended up running in the rain, puddle jumping and all to get to the tour in time but we had just missed it:( We decided we deserved a treat after our little Roman adventure so we stopped for pizza and gelato by the Vatican. The pizza in italy is amazing and I tried potato pesto pizza which was delicious and then had cookies and caramel gelato. Yummy!

Potato Pesto Pizza and a rice croquette

The next day we visited Santa Maria Maggiore thus hitting all four major basilica's in one week! This basilica had a relic of a piece of Jesus's crib. From there we tried one more time to hit the free tour of St. Peter's and we made it just in time, after running once more from the metro station to the basilica. I have run more times to the Vatican than I have walked. However, much of the basilica was blocked off for the Papal event so our tour was cut short, luckily, I have visited St. Peter's several times so this wasn't too disappointing.

Then Friday night we had a big potluck dinner at our apartment with the entire group of 30 plus our directors. Each apartment brought a different dish to share and we played games all night long. Since our time here is running short we are happy we can make time for these "family dinners". our group has gotten so close over the past 4 months and it will be strange not to see everyone every single day.

hanging out at the potluck dinner

On Saturday we visited Subiaco. The drive there was one of the prettiest I have been on yet, through the hill towns of Italy. Subiaco is known for St. Benedict and without him we would not have the College of Saint Benedict and my life would be completely different. We started our day at the first monastery he ever built called St. Scholastica, which was named after his sister. There was a large bell tower and many old frescos. The church itself seemed relatively new and was all white with huge archways. From there we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the monastery restaurant and by doing so avoided the pouring rain that came through the mountains. After that we toured the Shrine in the cave where St. Benedict lived and wrote the rule of Saint Benedict for 3 years. It was beautiful full of frescos and an altar with marble from Nero's Villa who badly persecuted the Christians. We got to sit and pray in the cave of Saint Benedict and it was another amazing experience. The view from the monastery was beautiful and it made me never want to leave. The mountains overlooked a river and the towns in the valley and by the time our tour finished the clouds had moved so low some were floating in front of the mountains. It was so magical!

Subiaco

Yesterday we visited the Capuchin Crypt. It is where skeletons are artfully displayed. It is rather hard to explain so I will just attach a picture.

kindof creepy

Overall this past week has been the week of Churches and I loved it! Only 2 weeks left abroad, time flies when you're having fun!

Pizza and gelato/Florence/Birthday

Sorry for the delay in posting! Things have been pretty busy here in Rome/Florence.

Last week we finally had our much anticipated pizza and gelato crawl. I tried 4 different kinds of pizza and 3 different gelato flavors. It was absolutely delicious!

I also got to visit the Pantheon last week which had been on my to-do list for awhile!

The major event of this past week was our trip to Florence with our art history professor Paulo. He is quite an interesting guy and he led us around the Uffizi gallery, Bargello Museum, and several walking tours of the city.

Our weekend started out with the Uffizi gallery and then a Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel. For lunch I showed some of the girls my favorite panini spot and we got some delicious gelato from Perche No! We then took some silly photos in front of the Duomo before heading back to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner. At dinner each apartment had to come up with a skit to perform for the group. The boys combined to do one big skit. They did a dating game and had our funniest male professors be interviewed by different girls on our program. It was incredibly funny and everyone had a great time!

The next day we toured the Bargello and had a walking tour of the city. During our lunch break I climbed to the top of the Duomo. It was the most beautiful view I have ever had of the city and of the surrounding hill towns. After that we had fun shopping at the leather market of San Lorenzo before our walking tour of the city. That night I was able to meet up with my friend Paige, who is studying abroad in Florence for the entire year. We went out to dinner and I had a delicious pesto pasta and for dessert we went to her favorite gelato shop. I also got to see where she lived and she gave me a little tour of the city and where her classes are. It is very fun to see a familiar face from home, especially around the holidays. We are all starting to get a little homesick but we can't believe how little time we have left! After that we climbed up to Piazza Michelangelo with the group and played games and took pictures. We got to see the city all lit up at night. After that Paige took us to one of the secret bakeries of Florence, delicious!

Gelato with the girls at Perche No!

The top of the Duomo

The next day we got to visit the famous David of Michelangelo. Let me tell you it is so much more beautiful in person than it is in pictures! I think all the girls fell in love a little bit. Then we toured the Medici Chapel, which wrapped up our classes for the weekend. After that we did some shopping in the leather market and I stopped at the farmer's market where I ran into Paige! After that some of us visited the Boboli Gardens of the Pitti Palace. They were absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of Pride and Prejudice with the view over the Tuscan countryside. That night we celebrated the 3 birthdays of this weekend by going out to dinner and getting gelato. We had a great night and of course took one last trip to the secret bakery.

The Pitti Palace

Our last day we were free to spend it as we please and it started with a birthday morning coffee at the Rivoire cafe. It was the best cappuccino I have had in Italy. After that we watched the Florence marathon for a little bit and then we came across the carousel. It was so much fun to ride the carousel and watch the marathon! From there we did some more last minute shopping at the leather market, got one last panini and gelato, and then got some hot chocolate at the Lindt store. We spent our last hour sitting outside the Duomo drinking hot chocolate. European hot chocolate is very different from American hot chocolate. Here, no matter where you order it, it is drinking melted chocolate. It is delicious and rich, those are the two best words I can use to describe it.

The 21 year old riding the carousel

When we got back home we finished my birthday by watching How to Train your Dragon, an excellent movie for those of you who have not watched it. It was the perfect weekend spent with a great group of people!

Roma/Assisi/Siena

Another week has flown by here in Rome and it is crazy to think I only have 4 weeks left of the study abroad experience. This week in Rome we went to the International Film Festival in Rome. On Monday night I viewed 3 short films and on Tuesday night we went to the premier of Twilight. On Monday night there were some italian film stars on the red carpet and on Tuesday night we made it out onto the red carpet. It was so much fun!

Through our school here in Rome they organized a volunteer opportunity at a soup kitchen for us. I served bread and fruit for 2 hours and it was an amazing experience.

On Thursday we visited several churches with our theology teacher and met a monk from SJU who is completing his doctorate over here. That night we headed to the vatican and the castle to see everything lit up at night and of course, take some more pictures.

On Friday we spent the day in Assisi with our theology professor. Assisi is the home of St. Francis and St. Claire and we spent the day hiking the hills, and visiting the sites. We walked past fields of olive trees which they were harvesting and we even picked a few of our own. Then we had a picnic lunch on the hill by the castle and then climbed the towers for an amazing view. After that we saw where St. Francis was buried and had a formal tour of the cathedral. It was a wonderful day and a beautiful city I hope to go back to some day! We couldn't have asked for better weather or a more beautiful view!

On Saturday a small group of us travelled to Siena for the day. We had a relaxing and wonderful time shopping and sitting in the Piazza del Campo. Then we toured the duomo and several of us climbed the tower for the 360 degree view of Siena and the surrounding hill towns of Tuscany. While we were on the top of the tower a photo shoot was happening with some dancers that was really cool to see. We also saw a hot air balloon and now going on a hot air balloon ride over Tuscany is on my bucket list. Then we went through the museum and saw the arm that baptized Christ. After exploring the city we headed to our wine tasting class. We spent two hours tasting 6 different wines from the Tuscany region, learning about how to purchase the best wine, how to properly taste olive oil, eating cheese, bread, and dark chocolate, and learning about how they harvest/make the wine. It was the highlight of everyones day and our teacher was excellent! If you are ever in Siena go to the Tuscan Wine School:) After the wine tasting we had just enough time for dinner at a restaurant (Guido) that was filled with pictures of the famous people that had visited and their autographs. It was fun to look at the pictures while enjoying our delicious risotto with a pumpkin cream and gorgonzola sauce.

We are all so excited to spend Thanksgiving in Florence this weekend. Keep checking facebook for more pictures!

Roma/Pompeii/Sorrento/Naples

Time in Rome is already flying by! We are so busy the weeks are starting to merge together and it is time for a long update.

This past week in Rome we had our first class walking tours with our History and Art History professors. We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Mussolini's residence, and many other historical buildings and Piazza's.

For our theology class we toured San Clemente church and I have to say it was one of my favorite churches in Europe so far. We had a wonderful tour guide with an Irish accent who is in the monastery there. He gave us a lovely tour of both the church and what is underneath it. It turns out that the church was actually built on top of another church that was built on top of a house. The house was for a very rich family at the time because they had running water. There will still frescos on the walls of the original church from the 10th and 11th centuries. My favorite part was looking at the beautiful mosaic work behind the altar while listening to his story of how he entered the monastery.

Later that day we went out to dinner with one of my roommates family who were in town visiting. I had a wonderful pizza with gorgonzola and rucola. From there we walked to the Pantheon and then a gelato shop with 150 flavors. I tried kit kat, chocolate raspberry, and chocolate coconut. From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain and made our wishes. While we were there a couple who had just gotten married were taking some wedding photos:) After that we walked to the top of the Spanish Steps and enjoyed the view.

This past weekend was excellent! We traveled to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Naples. We started our journey in Pompeii and although our original tour guide wasn't able to make it we were able to find another guide and got a wonderful tour of Pompeii. We walked into the gladiators quarters where they trained and resided. Then we saw two theaters. Along the walls leading into the larger theater you can see carvings that people did on the walls while they got bored waiting to get into the theater. There were gladiators and horses and people. From there we walked along a smaller street with shops and homes. Many of the residents lived in the shops where they worked so there are not many plain homes.We saw the baths both male and female that were fully equipped with hot and cold running water. After that we toured the brothel/the most visited place in Pompeii and walked past what they called a "Happy House" or a smaller brothel that could charge expensive prices. After that we went to the forum, basilica, and then an aristocratic residence with the first ever "Beware of the dog" sign done in mosaic on the front entrance. Along the way we saw preserved bodies and frescos that had been left at the sight. I loved Pompeii, it was great to see what I studied when I was younger in person. That has been happening a lot on this trip and is one of the reasons I love Europe.

From Pompeii we drove to Sorrento famous for their lemons and lemoncello. We spent the night watching a soccer match, shopping, and wandering the historic city center. I tried some lemoncello, and wonderful lemon candies. We were served a fancy meal at our hotel where it just so happened that the Sorrento soccer team was staying for the night. Sorrento was a lovely city that I hope to go back to some day.

The next day we traveled to Naples where we toured the archeological building that has many artifacts from Pompeii. The mosaics were lovely and it we saw many sculptures we have been studying during our time in Greece and Italy. They have a special room at the museum that you are only allowed into if you are 18 or older. In Pompeii they used an image of a phallus to ward away evil. Those objects are kept in a separate room. After we completed our tour we stepped out into the city of Naples. I have to say...it's not a pretty city, probably one of the dirtiest I have ever been to. However, we did have some excellent pizza and a cannoli. We also got to shop along the street where everyone buys their Christmas nativity scenes and Christmas decorations.

It was a wonderful and busy weekend.

Last night I attended some short films at the International Rome Film Festival and tonight I am going to the red carpet premier of Twilight. It should be a blast!

Venice/Murano

This weekend we took a little group excursion to Venice. We took the train and arrived in Venice and Friday evening. We spent Friday night exploring the island, had a little dinner, and then headed to our hostel for the evening called "Camping Jolly Plus".

Saturday was wonderful! We spent the day souvenir shopping, finding hidden canals, drinking coffee, and seeing the sights. We basically spent the entire weekend eating carbs: croissants, pizza, pasta, etc.

In the afternoon a small group of us traveled to the island of Murano which is known for glass blowing. We stepped off the ferry and into a glass blowing demonstration. We watched him make a vase, while another man explained different glass blowing techniques and how they add colors. It was very interesting from there we did some shopping and I found a beautiful blue and white vase that reminds me of the ocean. After a little bartering I bought it and sent it home to the states. I can't wait to see it when I get home! After that we saw shop after shop filled with beautiful glass pieces: chandeliers, vases, platters, cups, wine bottle stoppers, animal figurines, etc. In different small palazzos on the island there were huge glass sculptures. It was just beautiful.

The best part of Venice and Murano is that it is all about the exploring. Venice is filled with canals, gondolas, and hidden streets. Rick Steve, who write many guidebooks for Europe, encourages getting lost in Venice and that is exactly what we did!

The most interesting things about Venice:

• most of the dogs are dressed up in some fashion: jumpsuits, raincoats, dresses, etc
• the roads are canals and therefore the ambulances are small boats
• even when you are lost, you can always find your way back to the main squares
• the gondolas are beautiful, but incredibly expensive
• the canals are perfectly picturesque
• everyone wears scarves and leather boots
• the masks for the festival are crazy and everywhere!