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!