Dear Spain...a highly opinionated post.

So I haven't posted something random in a while and thought I would take some time today to correct any misconceptions that my friends and family back in America might have about my time in Spain, and furthermore to educate them. I should probably say first off that I do love it here, this is not a post on how much I hate Spain. This is simply a post demonstrating some differences between Spain and America, and the Spanish and Americans.

1. Spanish food IS NOT, nor is even similar to in the least, Mexican food. My marketing teacher told us the first day that Americans always ruin their food by adding too many spices or sauces...THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT TASTE GOOD. There isn't even PEPPER in Spain, were you aware of that? If I come across actual pepper in a restaurant I go absolutely nuts. Most American families have salt and pepper on the table, well I don't even know where my hostmom keeps the salt and I know we don't have any pepper. At my house in America we have an entire cabinet dedicated to only spices and other baking essentials. Here, we have to beg for ketchup, ranch simply does not exist, and chicken broth is somehow incorporated into every single meal. If I have SOUP one more time, I don't know what I'll do with myself. And it's not that our hostmom is feeding us soup because it's cheap, my entire host family eats the same thing we do. It's their norm. In my mind, as soon as it hits 55 degrees soup should not be served anymore. I'm not talking gazpacho, people, I'm talking HOT SOUP. Okay, aside from the soup, we have mystery meat every now and then - could be dark meat chicken, could be pork, could be cat who really knows? All I know is I'm completely fed up with TASTELESS Spanish food. The only good thing I've eaten here is salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing. And I can get that in America.

Fast food restaurants don't stay open past midnight here either. So when you've been out all night drinking with your friends and you're starving, forget it. NOTHING is open past midnight. You are S.O.L. This really makes me miss Taco Bell and the concept of a 24 hour drive-thru.

At least this had lemon with it. Paella is so bland.



 2. Siesta...WHAT IS THIS?! Spain wonders why their economy is crashing yet the government mandates a break in the middle of the workday that ranges from 2 hours to 4 hours. Businesses SHUT DOWN from 2-5 in Sevilla. You can't get anything between these hours because every single business is closed. I understand the roots for this, it gets up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit here in the summer. That kinda makes sense to go home and not be outside, because no one is going to come to your business in that kind of heat. But the rest of the year? It's simply not necessary. And people go home and don't even sleep. They watch TV. Why wouldn't you want to be at your business MAKING MONEY? My European Union teacher says Americans are just all about profits and making money, um YES we ARE why the hell else would you run a for-profit business?! We have the biggest economy in the world if you look at our GDP purchasing power, with $14.6 trillion. The next-closest is China with $10 trillion, and behind them Japan with $4 trillion. This also ties into my next point.


3. Business hours...businesses in Spain do not open until 10am, they close for at least 3 hours every afternoon (well they're not open on Sundays at all) and some MIGHT reopen for a couple more hours but some might just stay closed. How are you going to get out of this severe economic crisis when your businesses aren't even open for 8 hours a day? Most businesses don't even post their hours on the door, so no one even knows when they can or cannot go there. Nothing is open on Sundays, which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. People would still buy things on Sundays thus injecting the economy with more money, but they can't. If you're a religious person, you probably think things in America should be closed on Sundays because it should be a day of rest. I don't disagree with you. But we're in Spain, a country that is 97% CATHOLIC, but whose government has been passing laws voraciously to separate church and state. Did you know public school students can't even wear a cross to school?! So why are STATE businesses closed on Sundays? Laziness.

4. LAZINESS...pick up the pace when you're walking down the street. I understand you probably have no where to go since your place of work is closed more often than not, but some people actually do. My roommate and I have a theory that the government only enforces things that condone laziness. When we were on a bus from Madrid to Sevilla, we were informed that bus drivers in Spain cannot drive for more than 3 hours without a 45 minute break. It's an actual law. So instead of our trip taking 4 1/2 hours, it took nearly 6. Another lazy law would be SIESTA, and yet another would be being closed on Sundays.

5. Winter clothes...it's 65 degrees outside, you don't need layers, you don't even need a coat! Americans stick out the most because we wear shorts and dresses when it's 70 and everyone else is in all-black winter coats! Crazy people.

6. Water conservation...okay okay I know it's important and blah blah blah but how many of you "environmental activists" actually shut your shower off when you lather your hair, then turn it on to rinse, then shut it off when you lather your body, then turn it back on to rinse? Over and over and over until you're finally squeaky clean and frozen to death? Probably none of you. I understand that water in Spain is expensive because it's a dry region, but is it really too much to ask to take a 5 minute shower without interruptions?! Spain has been around a long time, you would think they would have this figured out by now like the Romans, but they don't. And there are just as dry regions in America, yet I feel like we know how to control and preserve our water without going to extremes. I could be wrong, it's just my opinion. After all, I am the person who drinks a 24 pack of Dasani every couple of weeks without recycling the bottles. My bad.

One more shower complaint (and it could be just my hostmom): My hostmom has yelled at me for the last time for dripping water on the floor after I shower. Sorry that you have all-tile floors and NO RUGS ANYWHERE. I'm not going to wipe up the dirty floor with my only clean towel, nor am I going to immediately put dirty flip flops on my clean feet. She full-on gets the mop out and mops the entire hall way after I shower. There MIGHT be one footprint, but the floor isn't wet. It's not a question of safety, it's a question of her being anal. I've resorted to using old t-shirts as rugs, but I have to always hide them so she doesn't know what I'm doing.



It's called a bathmat, invest in one.



7. Jamon...ham. Where are all of these pigs that provide the legs hanging in the shops? I have yet to see ONE PIG in Spain and I've ridden in a bus through much of the southern half. You walk into a bar or restaurant or even regular shop and you will see tens of ham legs hanging from the ceiling. I think they're cured, I mean if you order a ham sandwich they will walk right over and slice the ham off the leg...so they should be fully cooked, but who knows. It's Spain. The ham meat itself isn't too bad, but I'm just glad I won't be here in the heat of the summer when flies and other bugs are crawling all over the meat hanging out in the open. Oh yeah, they're not wrapped or packaged in anything. Our jamon (yes our host family had one on the kitchen counter) was at least wrapped in cheesecloth. They got it around Christmas, and last weekend they finally finished it off. Thank goodness, the entire bottom of the cheesecloth was molded.

Sorry it's blurry, but this was at an actual restaurant here in Sevilla.

8. Fish....ohhhhh the fish. You would think I would be eating some amazing seafood here because we're a peninsula, but you would be wrong. First of all, canned tuna does not need to go in every meal (especially spaghetti). Second, it's really hard to eat [other] fish when the bones are still in it. Locals just eat the bones, especially in salmon filets. One of our directors has had a fish bone removed from her throat TWICE in her life. Um, excuse me?! Seems a little unnecessary! This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the laziness. Maybe it means they're less processed and to some people that's good, but I'd rather my fish be de-boned before a take a big bite. Let's talk about processed foods for a minute. America is known for it, and everyone seems to hate it because it's not "natural". Well, lots of processed foods are actually natural, they just have extra things added to preserve them and protect against bacteria. Food poisoning has been a pretty common occurrance with people in my program. My roommate even had symptons of salmonella for about 4 days. So before you hate on processed American foods, come to Spain, grab a ham leg or a big hearty bite of your fish filet, and enjoy.

Bones EVERYWHERE in my salmon.

9. Wal-Mart...HOW I MISS THEE. Here, you have to go to 5 different stores (never located near each other) to get what you need. I not only miss the convenience, I miss the variety. Some of the weird chip flavors here are actually good, but I want the choice of eating those or something more familiar you know? Also, Super Sol brand shaving cream is just not doing the trick.

10. Breakfast. Just the word angers me. I get toast (more like a giant white baguette) every morning with butter and peach marmelade, and hot tea. That's fine and dandy a few times a week, but one morning I asked if I could have an orange instead. She went nuts, she was asking why, are you sick, is something wrong with the toast, are you okay, etc...I kindly explained that I simply did not want toast that morning and an orange sounded more appetizing. She finally let me eat it. It's called variety, Spain, it's the spice of life. Well I guess Spain doesn't even have spices so they couldn't relate to that saying. But really, even when we are in hotels and eat the hotel breakfast, we get the option of meats and cheeses, and toast. And "bacon" here is NOT bacon. It is fried fatty ham. Eggs are a dinner food. I think IHOP is calling my name back home. On the same note as toast, I eat more bread here than I ever do in America. We have some form of non-nutritional bread or white rice or white bean with every meal. I rarely even eat sandwiches in America, much less a piece of bread every night with dinner. And if I do ever eat bread at home, I prefer wheat. I have yet to see that here.

Okay okay I'm being ruthless. Truth is, I'm loving my life here and really do enjoy learning about another culture, and I don't want to go back to reality just yet. I just feel like America has perfected most of the 10 things I've listed. Some people may argue "Of course you like it that way because that's how you were raised," which certainly may be true, but who knows unless they've lived in both worlds. I highly recommend people to come to Spain to study, I have definitely enjoyed my time here. I just think one of the most important things I've learned here is how to appreciate my own culture. Don't take being American and living in America for granted. Ever. 

PS: Sorry if I offended anyone, it's just my opinion.

Leia Mais…

ROMAMOЯ - Terzo Giorno

So our alarm went off about 4 hours after Emiley and I had laid down to sleep...hey you only live once! We got ready, went down for another hearty breakfast, and made our way to the metro station. So Rome has almost 3 million people living just in the city and only 2 metro lines...weird right? I asked my Roman friend why that was and he said that every time they try to expand and start digging, they hit tombs or ruins of some sort so they had to stop at 2! Never really thought about that, but it makes perfect sense. We got off at the Colosseum stop and when we walked out of the station, there it was right in front of us. If you recall, we saw it from a slight distance on our Vespa tour but now we were standing at the base of it. It was massive! And so, unfortunately, were the crowds of people waiting to get in.We decided to do another "skip the line" + a tour so we would get the most out of it. After waiting about 20 minutes, then getting stuck in the crowd anyways, we finally made it inside.Our tour guide was so informative! He told us it was finished in the year 80 A.D. and back then was known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium. In its first inaugural season, Emperor Titus demanded that there be 100 days of partying within the next year, in attempt to appease the gods. You see, after his father's reign, months of disasters ensued during his first year including a plague and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We learned that admission was always free to the games and it was even a family environment! 700,000 people have died in the Colosseum, but yeah, it's a great place to take your kids. There were, however, 3 groups of people who were not allowed in to watch the games.

1. Ex-Gladiators: thought of as unstable and a possible threat...do you know how hard it is to be an ex-gladiator?!  Most glads didn't survive past 10 matches, and the average age at death was 27.
2. Gravediggers: no clue on this one.
3. Actors: they were the absolute lowest class in ancient Rome.

Arch of Constantine

During the games sometimes the crowd would get showered with wooden, hollowed balls that contained prizes such as gold coins, exotic birds, or even a lottery number for a bigger prize. There were over 1,000,000 animals killed in the Colosseum during its prime, and Rome in fact wiped out entire species of animals in all of northern Africa! The Colosseum even had a type of sunshade that when opened, allowed for air filtration so that the stench from the blood and bodies wouldn't get too overwhelming for the crowd.

 It is also believed that the bottom part of the Colosseum could be filled with water. Supposedly there was a re-enactment of a famous sea battle there. Slaves were put on 2 micro-ships and were forced to battle it out for entertainment. They had to fight until they were either dead, or killed all the men from the other ship. Brutal entertainment they had back then, huh?


Interesting facts about the Colosseum:

• Heated Floors - There was an extensive underground area lit by flares that warmed up the wooden floors.
• Elevators - Human-powered elevators were used to bring wild beasts up through trap doors in the arena floor.
• Arena - Arena is the Latin (and Spanish) word for sand. The battle floors of the ancient stadiums used to be topped with arena (sand)...but why? To soak up the blood from the brutal massacres.
• Telemachus - Christian monk who was stoned to death when he threw himself into the arena to try and stop 2 fighting gladiators. This led to the abolishment of gladitorial fighting in 404, though animal hunts and other brutal forms of entertainment went on for many more decades.
• St. Ignatius - First (and only?) saint to die in the Colosseum. He chose to die for his religion in front of tens of thousands of people rather than die in a less public place.
• Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down - Myth. If a thumb was shown at all by the emperor or other judge, that signaled a swift slit of the throat to the deafeted by the winning gladiator. Thumbs in (just a fist) signaled a release of the defeated.
• Pope Benedict XVI leads the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday.
• Over 600 species of plants have been found in the Colosseum. Many are exotic and from far, far away.
• 50,000 spectators could go in and out of the Colosseum in under 8 minutes.
• The south side collapsed during a earthquake in 1349.

Ok ok enough history...it's just so interesting! Not gonna lie, I definitely stopped blogging to watch Gladiator, thus the reason it's being posted on Sunday night rather than Thursday night. Gladiator isn't totally historically accurate on many counts, but it's still a great movie!


The ticket we bought at the Colosseum also included a tour of Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill is the hill on which Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus in 753 B.C. The word "palace" actually comes from the word Palatine. There's actually a long legend that goes with the founding of Rome but I'll try to cut it short. Romulus and Remus were supposedly fathered by the god of war, Mars. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, put them into the Tiber River to escape from being murdered. The river god carried the twins downstream until they reached Palatine Hill (Rome is the city of 7 Hills if you didn't know). There, a shewolf nursed them until they were found by a shepherd who took them into his home. After a few years the twins knew they weren't like regular people. They left their home and decided to go back to the Tiber and build a city that was destined to have world influence and fame upon the Palatine Hill. So they did just that. Romulus ended up killing Remus for one reason or another and from then on Romulus ruled as the first king of Rome. He not only created Roman Legions and the Roman Senate, but he also added citizens to his city by abducting the women from a neighboring Sabine tribe.

 Interesting side note - if you're married, did you carry your wife/get carried over the threshold? That practice actually stems from the rape and kidnapping of the Sabine women by Romulus.


Anyways, so on Palatine Hill today there are lots of ruins. Oddly enough though, only 40% of the Palatine Hill has been excavated; 60% remains untouched underground. In 2007 archaeologists thought they found the "lupercale", which is supposedly the cave where the shewolf nursed Romulus and Remus. It's not open to tourists, but you can google it.

Ancient Courtyard...imagine this surrounded by walls of marble.





Little toe of a statue in the ancient palace...it was HUGE!

 At one time, during Domitius' rule I believe, his entire palace was covered floor to ceiling with multi-colored marble. Not much of that marble exists today because the Vatican took most of it, and it's a good thing they did too. It wouldn't be as preserved on Palatine Hill today as it is in the Vatican. They did leave a few blocks, though, but they just looked like white stone. When our tour guide poured a little water on it you could see every color instantly. It was almost like magic! I can tell you no one thought they were going to see that multi-colored marble glistening when the water cleaned it.


From the ruins at Palatine Hill, we walked to the Roman Forum which is an area surrounded by ancient government buildings of Rome. The Forum was crucial to ancient Rome, but perhaps the most notable thing that occurred there was the public burning of Julius Caesar's body.




Church were St. Lawrence was believed to be martyred.



Temple of Divus Romulus, 5th century A.D.
Bronze door and lock are the originals.



Basilica of Maxentius, 4th century A.D.




View of the Forum




Temple of Vesta, 4th century B.C.




Newest excavations in progress.



Arch of Titus, 1st century A.D.



After spending a good couple hours at Palatine Hill and in the Forum, we decided to head back to our hotel. On the way, we got gelato (yum), bought a few souvenirs, and went to the Pantheon. Unfortunately all three of our cameras were dead at this point so we have no pictures of the inside of the Pantheon, but it was amazing! It was commissioned to be built in the 2nd century A.D. as a temple for all of the ancient Roman gods, but in the 7th century it was transformed into a Roman Catholic Church and that's still what it's being used as to this day. Inside where the tombs of many people, but I thought the most interesting one was the tomb of Raphael. If you remember from my blog post about Friday, you remember that Raphael is one of the most important artists in Roman history, if not all time.


We rushed back to our hotel, changed, then walked to St. Peter's for mass. When we got there, we weren't quite sure where to go because it looked the same as it had the day before when we visited...no pews or anything were set up in the center. We finally saw a small gate where people were going through past the Baldacchino (high altar) so we went in. If we hadn't gone to mass at St. Peter's, we would've missed out on quite a bit.

We got to see the back of the Baldacchino which had a tabernacle and chalices all made of pure gold. There was also a golden bust of someone, but I'm not sure who. Beyond the Baldacchino there were pews and the altar that we were never able to get a clear picture of. I couldn't take my eyes off of it the entire time we were in mass. None of us had our cameras, so I'm just going to have to post a picture from the net. This altar is called Cathedra Petri or the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter. The base of the altarpiece was made of multi-colored marbleand standing on the marble were four larger-than-life bronze statues surrounding a giant chair. The two outer statues represent Doctors of the Latin Church: St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, the two inner statues represent Doctors of the Greek Church: St. Anthanasius and St. John Chrysostom. Above the chair is a heavenly host of angels among rays of light and clouds, all surrounding a golden alabster window with a dove in the center. The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church.



Cathedra Petri...click to enlarge & zoom.

After about 10 minutes, the mass began with the choir singing. The celebrant entered from the left, followed by about 20 other cardinals/bishops/priests. I wish we had known who he was, but there wasn't really any way of finding that out. The entire mass was conducted in Latin (and a little Italian I think). He greeted us at the Baldacchino (which would be behind us) and began the mass. When the litany began, he began to process around the basilica followed by the men he entered with and the people attending mass. The choir was chanting the litany and when I realized we were supposed to process behind the celebrant, I was thinking it had better be a long one because walking a circle around the interior of St. Peter's was going to take a while! And who knows if the litany was long or if they kept repeating it, it was all in Latin. I would say it took a good 10-15 minutes for all of us to do the procession and walk back to our pews. There were visitors inside the back of the church but the guards had them clear a path for everyone. It was quite an experience processing around St. Peter's behind cardinals of our Church.

One of the coolest things about being Catholic is being able to go to any church in the entire WORLD and understand what's going on, no matter the language. St. Lawrence in Monett, Missouri celebrated the exact same mass that my mom and I did at St. Peter's Basilica.

After the readings the homily was pretty long, especially since we hadn't even sat down for a substantial amount of time the entire day. I may or may not have dozed off but I wasn't the only one...Mom nudged me at one point and pointed out one of the priests sleeping! Oh well, it's not his fault. He was pretty old and Latin could put anyone to sleep. You know, I've heard that you can actually learn things if you listen to them while you sleep. Maybe I picked up on some Latin...

Mass ended and all 3 of us definitely went in peace. We decided to find somewhere to eat even though it was early (7pm) for us Spanish students. We went to an Italian restaurant where we got 3 courses and a bottle of wine. It was pretty good, but all in all I just wasn't impressed with the food in Rome. I think you have to go other places in Italy to get true Italian food. We got a little lost on our way back, but I, with my excellent orienteering skills, managed to get us back safe and sound. We all decided to stay in and visit with each other since it was our last night in Rome and mom had to get up pretty early. The bartender at the hotel (who was obsessed with us) saw us when we were walking in and said he had a surprise for us. We followed him and he took us to the roof of the hotel which we didn't even know existed! We had a great view of St. Peter's and the western half of the city, and it was a beautifully clear night.




Goodnight, Rome. Until next time....


Rome was definitely the most amazing place I've visited in my entire life. If you get the chance, you must go. Heck, start saving NOW for a trip in a couple years if you have to...just GET THERE. I absolutely fell in love with the rich culture and history of the city, and of course the religious environment, too. I'm actually going back with 4 other friends April 8-10 (I know I'm crazy) so hopefully you will see some new pictures of places we didn't have time to visit my first trip. 

Lisbon update coming this week...I DO have classes and homework that should be taking priority over my blog but if you know me, you know classes and homework don't take a priority over very many things in my life :) Love you all and God bless!

Part of Palatine Hill

Leia Mais…

ROMAMOЯ - Secondo Giorno

We woke up Friday morning to the beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies, thank goodness! We were eating breakfast by 9am to make it to the Vatican by 9:30ish. The hotel had an amazing breakfast; it was the perfect mix of European breakfast foods (meats, cheeses, assortment of vegetables) and American breakfast foods (eggs, sausage, bacon). Once we finished charging ourselves for the day, we started walking to the Holy City. Right outside the Vatican we were bombarded with tour groups saying you can "skip the line" to the Museum. One look at the line and we all decided it was worth it to pay the €35 to skip the line and have a guided tour. When we waited for the rest of the group to be assembled, we sat down and got some water bottles at a small cafe. Within 15 minutes a group of about 15 of us were off with our guide in the lead. The line to the Vatican Museum was SO LONG, it would take hours to wait in it! We actually ended up skipping that line, but had to wait in another one solely for groups with guides, but it was only 20-30 minutes. Once inside, we all got our tickets and headsets and the tour commenced.

The first stop on the tour was the Cortile della Pigna. It gets it's name from the large bronze pinecone located in the entrance to the museum. My camera of course died right after we left the courtyard so I have very few pictures, but I'll try to steal some from my mom. The courtyard connects the museum with the Sistine Chapel. Set up around the grassy areas were big boards with pictures of the Sistine Chapel on them. Our guide took us to one and began to explain the art in the Chapel. She told us they had to set up the boards because pictures are not allowed inside due to the current agreement the Vatican has with the Japanese public television company...confused yet? So were we. Apparently before 1980, the ceiling and walls in the Sistine Chapel were in terrible shape. The pictures were so dark and dirty that books had even been written and studies done examining Michelangelo's "dark painting" style, when in reality it wasn't his style at all! The Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan provided major funding for the restoration of the Chapel in exchange for filming rights; thus, no photos or videos are allowed inside as long as they have the rights (for the next 10 years or so). The restoration team was comprised of world experts in their field, and were required to study the art intensively before touching it at all. They decided to leave a few small squares untouched so people could see what a difference the restoration made. Witnesses say it was like opening a window to a dark room, the pictures were full of light and color, and Michelangelo actually had a gift for painting the light in his works. 

The pinecone is behind Mom's head.

Michelangelo. What a brilliant man. Most people think of DaVinci when they think "Renaissance Man" but Michelangelo was truly a Renaissance Man as well. He was an architect (he designed the main dome of St. Peter's Basilica), a writer, a painter, but most importantly (to him) a sculptor. He was working on the funerary sculptures of a past pope when we was commissioned to begin working on the Sistine Chapel. Up until that point Michelangelo had never really painted because he thought it was the lesser art. He definitely had no experience in painting fresco, which is a very difficult form of painting on wet plaster before it dries. Raphael (who was fresco-ing the pope's private library at the time) knew that. And that's precisely why when asked by the pope who should paint the new chapel, Raphael said Michelangelo because he couldn't stand the man and also couldn't wait to see him fail at something in his life. Raphael couldn't have been more off if he'd tried. Michelangelo called in apprentices to "help" him with the frescoes. After a few months of observing the art of fresco, he ended up locking the apprentices out of the chapel, destroying all of their work, and beginning on his own masterpiece. The ceiling work depicts scenes from Genesis, and the Last Judgement on the wall depicts something entirely from Michelangelo's brilliant mind. The Last Judgement has Jesus welcoming people into heaven and sending others down to hell. He is accompanied by angels-one has the heaven book, which was very small; the other has the hell book, which was very large. There are a lot of unique aspects to this work but the most interesting part is the bottom right corner. There you will find the only man who ever spoke out against Michelangelo...he is the only aged man in the entire picture, and he has a snake wrapped around his body with its mouth on his you-know-what. The man was actually an interrim pope and didn't like that Michelangelo was painting naked bodies in such a holy place. Imagine his surprise the next time he came to view Michelangelo's work!


Ok ok enough about Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel...at that point we hadn't even gone into it yet, just talked about it so we would be informed on what we were looking at. From the courtyard we went into the museum and saw another small courtyard surrounded by sculptures. After waiting on the crowds to disperse themselves, we began to walk through the halls of the Vatican Museum. Keep in mind the Vatican Museum is home to over $48 BILLION worth of art. We saw incredible flat ceilings with 3D art popping out at us. We saw the tombs of the emperor Constantine's mother and first born daughter. We saw ancient tapestries. We saw Nero's bathtub...or was it his mixing bowl? We learned about a precious stone that can no longer be found in nature and 90% of the world's supply is in the Vatican. We saw mosaic floors that were over 2000 years old. And finally we saw Raphael's Rooms which house his great masterpiece the School of Athens.

Mosaic FLOOR

Nero's Bath or Bowl...whichever you prefer.

The School of Athens is a work of art that depicts knowledge. In it you will see Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Raphael himself and...yep you guessed it, Michelangelo. It is believed that when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel, no one could enter and see his work. One night, Raphael snuck a peak when Michelangelo had gone out to see how badly he was failing. Upon seeing a pure genius masterpiece, Raphael could admit to himself he was wrong about Michelangelo, and thought so much of him that he included him in the School of Athens. Not only did he just include him as another figure, though. He put him in more modern clothes, not ancient togas like the rest. He did that to symbolize how Michelangelo was always ahead of his time. The most interesting part of this Raphael-Michelangelo story? Raphael thought so much of Michelangelo that he completely changed his way of painting after that. His figures began to represent those that Michelangelo painted - more muscular, perfectly carved bodies. Pretty neat, huh?

Raphael's School of Athens

From Raphael's Rooms, we finally went into the Sistine Chapel. Talk about amazing. The frescoes were almost surreal. I couldn't even tell if the ceiling was totally painted on or if the divisions between the Genesis stories were real! And the Last Judgement...I couldn't peel my eyes away. I can't even explain to you the massiveness of this work of art, but I'll try. Imagine in your head the front of a 4-story building...THAT'S how big the Last Judgement is. You could actually see the expressions on all of the figures faces. And the man with the snake was pretty easy to find. You could also make out a skull hidden in the work...

Michelangelo's The Last Judgement

The ceiling was intense. Everyone had their heads completely tilted back 90 degrees, looking at the different scenes. The middle section in the ceiling painting depicts the creation of Adam. The fingers do not touch, and some say the area where God is located is also thought to represent the human brain depicting a transfer of knowledge. Some even think the area where God is located is a uterus, with his cloak being the umbilical cord to humanity. What do you think it represents?

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

Now, there have been a few popes in the past that have covered the genitals of all pieces of art in the Vatican Museum, and Michelangelo's work was no exception. He was actually alive when they commissioned someone to do it, and he said it was the only person in the world he would trust to touch his art. In the later years more cloaks and clothes were added after Volterra painted on the first ones, but one pope eventually ordered all of them to be removed except for the originals.


Our guide also showed us the purple stone circle at the front of the Sistine Chapel where every pope has stood since the 16th century. It has the best view of the Chapel. For some reason I had a weird thought in my head when I was there and couldn't seem to get it out...but how cool would it be to be proposed to in the middle of the Sistine Chapel?


When we finally left the Chapel, we went to the Museum bookstore where I bought a postcard. I wrote it and mailed it at the Vatican Post to my grandma...I hope she got it! It was 2pm when we finally exited the massive museum. We had been in there since 10am! From there we went straight to St. Peter's Basilica. The line was pretty long, but moved quickly since there is no charge to enter. We saw the Swiss Guards as we were walking to the Basilica, and we stopped briefly to check out the view of the square from the top steps of St. Peter's.

Swiss Guard...he might look like a court jester but he's trained in 3 martial arts
 and has the authority to behead you if you pose a threat to the Pope.

I didn't know it was possible to have so many moments that literally take your breath away in one day, but it apparently is. As we entered the Basilica, a certain wave of emotion came over me and I realized I was standing in the spiritual center of my faith, Catholicism. We were also standing above the tombs of countless people, including the composer Palestrina, John Paul II and supposedly St. Peter himself. For a while we walked around in silence just viewing the magnificent art and unbelieveable architecture, but eventually found ourselves at a large chapel on the right-hand side with a sign out front saying "Only those who wish to pray may enter." So the three of us, of course, entered. I can't lie, I'm getting emotional as I'm writing this; my experience here is so hard to convey through mere words. As we knelt down in front of the Blessed Sacrament, something just came over me. I started praying for my grandmother's health, my brothers and dad, and my mom for a safe trip home, among other things. Tears would not stop streaming down my face. I wasn't sobbing, just crying silently. At that moment I felt closer to God than I've felt in a long time, and it's something I know I needed to feel. After praying, I sat down and meditated for a good 10 minutes. The room was so calm and comforting. There were 2 nuns praying directly in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and about 20 or so other people in the pews. As the three of us got up to exit the chapel you could tell we all had a similar, yet different experience. From the moment we entered the Basilica, we heard a choir singing over the speakers. It was so beautiful, we figured it had to have been pre-recorded. When we left the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament though, we saw a group of choir boys singing to the right of the High Altar! We couldn't believe our ears. The music they were singing was flawless, and they were so young! That definitely just added to the spirituality of St. Peter's.

Square from the steps of St. Peter's

No words.

Choir boys bottom left.

From there we crossed in front of the high altar over to the other side of the Basilica. The high altar is quite a sight to see. There are 4 twisted pillars on the 4 corners of the altar that seem to reach up to the top of the dome...they are actually 95 feet tall...forget Michelangelo's 4-story painting, these pillars were HUGE. Oh wait, did I mention that Michelangelo actually finished these pillars? Truly the man was a genius. There are actually staircases inside them that lead to 4 balconies. This baldachin is quite a sight to see at the very least.

High Altar

We finally made it to the Basilica bookstore, and were a little disappointed as the Museum bookstore had a lot more to offer. As we walked in we passed an area that said "Mass Offerings". I pointed it out to mom and we asked a guard if we could go in and write a mass offering. He led us right in and mom wrote the offering for her father, my grandfather, Raymond Brysch. He passed away about 11 years ago, and now a mass is going to be offered for the repose of his soul at St. Peter's Basilica. It's just hard to find words for moments and experiences like those.


We walked out of St. Peter's around 5 and walked around the square for a bit. At the front of the square there was a group of young people (my age) signing, playing guitar, and holding a big wooden cross. We walked closer to them and were approached by 2 college students. One was a girl from Nicaragua, and the other was a boy from Scotland. They asked us if we had ever heard of World Youth Day and of course I have! I actually remember celebrating WYD in Lebanon, MO the year it was in Germany and we had sauerkraut and sausage for lunch and got to watch a satellite screening of the actual WYD. They informed us that the wooden cross was the original one given to World Youth Day by Pope John Paul II. They explained to us that they were students who committed to one year with a missionary community in Rome. There are only 2 other ones like it in the world, and their home church was commissioned by JP2 in the 80s. We talked with them for a few minutes, then the girl asked if we had anyone we'd like for them to pray for. After 5 seconds of silence, Emiley and I spoke up at the same time and I said "my grandma" and she said "my grandpa". The girl smiled and asked if she could pray in Spanish with us right then, in the middle of St. Peter's Square and we of course said "si". This was another emotional experience for me. I didn't even know these people yet they were kids my age doing good in the world and praying for the health of my grandmother who they didn't even know or know what was wrong with her. The five of us just stood there with our heads bowed as the prayerful Spanish words flowed beautifully out of her mouth. Even the guy from Scotland had tears running down his face when he saw how much of an impact it had on me, and he does this sort of thing on a regular basis! It is undoubtedly true that "where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in their midst".

Whew, what a day! And it's not over yet. We walked back to our hotel, or more like hobbled back to our hotel because we had been standing up and walking all. day. LONG. We freshened up and mom found a seafood restaurant for dinner and we were off yet again. The food was pretty good, a little pricey for what you got but good nonetheless. The wine was excellent of course. You know me and mom, we can't go out to dinner without a bottle of wine, and we weren't passing up the opportunity to try new reds in Italy! After dinner we went got back to our hotel around 10pm. The West Point guys next door wanted to go out, and mom felt comfortable letting them take me and Emiley out if they promised not to leave us the entire time we were out.


Drunken Ship it was. We took a cab this time since it was over a mile away. We didn't want to miss out on the party! We shared 3 pitchers of various mixtures and then played some beer pong. Me and Emiley whooped up on the boys, but then got beat by 2 girls the next game :( As we walked outside, defeated, we found a table and sat around it for a while just talking.

Drunken Ship beer pong!

I eventually needed to go to the bathroom and it was in line there that I met this Roman. I wasn't purposely trying to meet him, I really just wanted to find someone who could translate "I'm On A Boat" to the DJ so he would play it. The Roman said he would, but after a while we lost him and I doubt the DJ had that song anyway. Oddly enough we ended up running into the Roman again outside when we were considering leaving. I ended up talking to him for a good hour or so and Emiley and one of our West Point friends were talking to his little brother. We all decided to hit up one more bar that night and we had the time of our lives there! It was huge and there were 2 rooms with 2 different types of music. I was drinking good old cider again, and we were all dancing and just having a genuinely great time. As the clock struck 3 I figured we'd better be heading back to the hotel because I knew mom would be worried. The Roman took the three of us (one of the West Point guys got sick and left early) and his little bro around Rome to a few of the major sights that were lit up at night. One being St. Peter's Square, which was absolutely magical-looking, and the other was a lookout over the city. He finally dropped us off at our hotel around 4am and the doors were locked! The receptionist saw us thankfully and unlocked them. Mom said she was worried but said a prayer for us to get home safely and not 2 minutes later we came walking through the door. God works in mysterious ways.


Friday was probably one of the best days in my entire life, for many reasons. Good food, good friends, and good fellowship only just begin to describe it. Terzo giorno coming tomorrow hopefully!


Ciao for now ;)

Leia Mais…

ROMAMOЯ - Primo Giorno

Day 1...for those of you who don't understand Italian. And might I just add that we picked the perfect weekend (that was a little sarcastic) to go to Rome: Italy was celebrating it's 150th birthday as a sovereign nation, Father's Day or the Feast of St. Joseph was Saturday, and the Rome Marathon was Sunday!

It all began as an earlyyyy morning! I was up at 4am on Thursday getting ready. Mom was landing in Rome at 6:45am and we would get there around 9:30. My friend Emiley and I walked to the bus stop around 5am in order to catch the 5:30 airport bus. Check-in was a breeze at the Sevilla airport. They don't even enforce the liquids rule! I also carried on a sandwich and fresh oranges. Sometimes the EU is pretty great.

As with every cheap airline, we got to take a bus to our plane from our gate in Sevilla, and from our plane to our gate in Rome. It was a pretty rocky landing because it was a little foggy out, but we survived! Mom was waiting at the terminal for us and I can't even explain how glad I was to see her. It had been almost 7 weeks since the last time I saw her and I don't think I've ever gone that long without seeing my family! We hugged and kissed and then all three of us walked outside to figure out how to get to our hotel. We ended up taking a shuttle for €15 each and it took us directly to our hotel. 

Tiber River - 2 minute walk from our hotel.
It was 5 meters above average from all the rain.

The rain was holding off on us, but we knew it was inevitable. We checked into Hotel Giulio Cesare around 10:30am and our room was all ready for us. I decided to put on my rainboots that mom had brought and that ended up being one of the best decisions I've made on my trip thus far! We were all a little hungry, so we went to the concierge and asked where a good place was to eat lunch. He gave us the name of a pizza place and showed us how to get there on the map and we were off. Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the Vatican and the pizza place was on the way. When we got there, however, it was pretty vacant. We saw them chopping up fresh vegetables and making antipasta but we didn't see people! None of us knew any Italian, but Emiley and I could speak Spanish...it proved to be useful sometimes, but other times totally useless. This time was a useful time. A gentleman who worked there came to the door and I said to him, "Abierto?" He responded with "No, dodici trenta" which I knew to mean 12:30. Turns out the Italian word for "open" is "aperto" which was close enough to "abierto". So we decided to walk to the Vatican and just get a feel for our surroundings.



Approaching St. Peter's Square...



Words cannot describe how incredibly amazing it was to first see the walls of the Vatican, and then to enter St. Peter's Square. The grandeur of the architecture mixed with the instant spiritual warmth that we all felt was almost overwhelming. It took us a good few minutes just to let it all sink in. We were surrounded by massive columns that were shaped like welcoming, open arms, and they were topped with 140 statues of saints.

In the middle of the square was a tall monument, almost like the Washington Monument. I did some research on the mysterious monument (none of us could read the Latin inscriptions) and it turns out it was originally from Egypt and it's construction dates back to the 13th century B.C.! In 37 A.D. it was brought to Rome to stand in Nero's Circus which was held south of the basilica, some 275 yards away. In 1585, Pope Sixtus V ordered it to be moved to it's present location, a task which took 4 months and was done in complete silence on pain of death! As a pagan monument on the greatest Christian square, it represents humanity reaching out to Christ.

We took a bunch of pictures but didn't have time to go into the Basilica because we had to eat lunch and then make our Vespa tour by 2. That's right, we rode VESPAS all around Rome for 4 hours, and with the traffic they were having for the birthday celebration, there wasn't any other way to get around the city! We walked back to the pizza place and indulged ourselves to say the least. Mom and Emiley each had a pizza and I had a calzone. We decided to split a bottle of wine so we wouldn't be so upset if it rained on our Vespa tour. The rain was still holding off when we got back to our hotel, and our three Vespa drivers were waiting for us outside. We did some quick introductions, Italian style (kiss on the right cheek first instead of traditional left cheek for Spaniards), put our helmets on and we were off! It was quite an adventure to be speeding through the streets of Rome on the back of a little Vespa!

As we passed monuments and buildings, our guides would tell us what they were. My guide was also teaching me a bit of Italian...like the difference between "ciao" and "arrivederci". Our first stop was St. Peter's Square, from where we had just returned but we didn't care. The main guide explained the layout a little more to us and also told us where the Pope's residency was! He says sometimes at night if you see a light in the windows it means he's home. Unfortunately he was on vacation the entire weekend :( We snapped a few pics, met up with some of Emiley's friends from home who were spring breaking in Rome, and then we sped off again down the streets of the Eternal City.



We saw the Pantheon, but we couldn't go in because the President was about to give a speech there. We then drove to the Basilica of St. Ignatius, which ended up having an unbelieveable ceiling. It was painted to look 3D even though it was flat. The coolest part was the painted dome that truly looked like a dome! From there we drove to the Piazza Venezia.

Pantheon

 St. Ignatius...check out the 3D ceiling work!



The "dome" really wasn't a dome at all!

 The Piazza Venezia is a square with a gigantic marble monument dominating it. The monument is dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy. It was built on the side of Capitoline Hill and has been criticized for clashing with the ancient nearby architecture. On of our guides says the top of the monument is the best view of Rome because it's not in it. Another building in the Piazza Venezia is the Palazzo Venezia which was built in 1451 by Pope Paul II, and is one of the oldest civil Renaissance buildings in Rome. It was used as a papal residency until the 16th century. In 1916 it was acquired by the Italian government and became Benito Mussolini's headquarters and a place where he addressed his people.

Monument for King Victor Emmanuel II

Palazzo Venezia...balcony where
 Mussolini would give his speeches.

From there we went to the Trevi Fountain, or Fontana di Trevi. There were crowds of people snapping pictures and eating gelato (even though it was a little chilly out). The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 but began as a smaller, less flashy fountain in 1453. It is located on the site of the first pure water source found in Rome and is the oldest Baroque fountain in the city. An estimated €3,000 are thrown into it EVERY DAY, and the money is used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. Legend has it that if a visitor throws a coin into the fountain then they are guaranteed a return trip to Rome. Throwing 2 coins will lead to a new romance and throwing 3 will ensure either a marriage or divorce. We all threw 3 with our right hand over our left shoulder and made a wish...except mom. She threw 1 (she's going to return to Rome sometime in her life), but then realized she was supposed to throw all 3 at the same time so she threw in the other 2...hopefully that doesn't lead her to a new romance!

After Fontana di Trevi, we rode to the Colosseo. We didn't go up close, but we got some good pictures! We ended up touring the Colosseum on Saturday so I'll go into it more when I cover Terzo Giorno. At one point at the Colosseum I turned to Emiley and said thank goodness the rain has held off! She told me I spoke too soon, and at that moment we felt some sprinkles. It drizzled on us as we drove past some ancient gardens and up to our next viewpoint. When we got off our guide told us that this view was somewhat of an illusion...imagine that, more illusions in Rome. He said if you stand from the back wall St. Peter's Basilica looks gigantic, but if you walk all the way up to the balcony (about 100ft or so) then it looks really small...and he was right! It was the weirdest thing.

I tried to capture the illusion on camera but it didn't work as well.

The top pic is from the farther distance than the bottom pic.

You can drink from ANY of these fountains in Rome.
They perfected clean water a thousand or so years ago!

After that we walked over to the Basilica of St. Sabina which was built in the 5th century A.D. It is the mother church of the Dominican Order and the tomb of the first Dominican monk is actually in the center of the church. The simplicity of St. Sabina represents the crossover from a roofed Roman Forum to the churches of Christendom.

 Tomb of the first Dominican Monk                             

Ceiling in St. Sabina

When we left there we made a quick stop at the Villa Malta, which is home to the Grand Priory in Rome of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (a religious order in the Catholic Church). No one is allowed inside the villa except Knights of Malta and persons dedicated to the holy life. BUT anyone can look through the small keyhole in the gates, and what we saw was a perfect view of St. Peter's framed by cypress trees in the garden. Absolutely amazing.

Villa Malta...you'll have to Google what it looks like through the keyhole ;)

After that we drove to the ruins of Nero's ancient palace. In front of it (probably in the center of it back then) was the area for chariot races and other olympic games. Nero's palace was built in the 1st century A.D. and was mainly used as a party villa. Some archaeologists estimate it covered more than 300 acres in Ancient Rome!

Nero's Palace

From there it began to POUR. When I say pour, I mean we were drenched head to toe (except my rainboot-covered feet). The main guide decided it was time for a coffee break, so we stopped a small coffee shop and warmed up for about 15 minutes. When we went back outside it had cleared up a little, but we were all so wet that we were cold on the back of the Vespas. We all fought through it though and the next stop was the church of S. Maria dell'Orazione e Morte...

The Church of St. Mary of the Prayer and Death. The church was first built in 1575, but then rebuilt in 1733. Santa Maria was built by a confraternity that assumed responsibility for interring abandoned corpses in Rome. The church once had underground burial chambers extending to the Tiber where approximately 8,000 bodies were buried over 300 years. In 1886, the vaults were destroyed and redecorated morbidly with the old remaining bones...

All real human bones from a long long time ago.

After that interesting experience we went to one more lookout of the city...if you didn't know Rome is famous for it's 7 hills so it has plenty of great lookouts over the city. When our tour ended, mom and I went back to the hotel and freshened up for the evening. Emiley decided to go with her friends and met us back at the lobby bar later. The bartender at the lobby bar was hilarious. He barely knew English but would sing along to the American songs playing in the bar. He made mom and I Italian flag "shortinos"..."shots" in English. He layered Red, Clear, and Green liquers on top of each other and gave them to us free! They were pretty tasty too! Mom and I then ordered drinks and waited for Emiley and her friends to meet us.

Italian Flag Shortinos!

They got there about 10 minutes later and wanted to go out for St. Patty's Day. I wanted to too, but didn't want to leave mom at the hotel so she just came with us! We met some West Point boys who were also staying at our hotel and they came along too. They all went to the Drunken Ship bar but mom and I were hungry so we dipped out into Campo de' Fiori to find a restaurant. She had her favorite caprese salad and I had a carbonera pasta. They were both okay, the wine was much better. We found a new favorite: Montepulciano. Of course we also had tiramisu and it NEVER disappoints.

From there we went back to the Drunken Ship and met some British boys. One kept buying us cider, and I'm not one to turn down free drinks! Finally after about an hour mom said it was time to head home so the three of us (our other friends ditched out early) began to walk back. We were a little over a mile from our hotel and it was POURING DOWN RAIN. When I say pouring, I mean we were drenched in about 2 minutes flat. Did I mention we also didn't know where we were exactly and none of us had a map?! We kept asking people in the streets where the river was and we finally made it there, but we were still a long way from our hotel. Mom kept saying that I got us into a "scrape" but I've been in scrapes before and I wouldn't consider that one of them. I've also never ridden in the back of a pickup in Mazatlan, Mexico with a random Mexican driving...

I got us back to the hotel with my excellent orienteering skills and we were all so relieved to get the wet clothes off! Thank goodness the towel rack in our bathroom was also a towel warmer, it really helped dry our clothes. We went to bed around 12:30am or so and woke up the next day at 7:30 for a FULL day at the Vatican.

That's all for now as it took me a good 3 hours to write this. I'll post Secondo Giorno tomorrow so stay tuned...ciao!



Leia Mais…