Scavenger Hunt

I really feel like this whole semester is a Scavenger Hunt for everyone. Each one of us is looking for something specific in this Rome Program. There's people that are keeping their eyes open for the best bars, the best and/or cheapest alcohol, others looking for the quietest places to read all the books and to study, or searching around the city just to find the best way to go back to campus. There are some looking to find an answer to spiritual restlessness, some searching for their vocation, UDers out to find every single Saint's relics and famous churches... And of course we're all looking for the best places and ways to travel and get to everything we want.

There is just so much to do, and I keep thinking of how important it is to fear mediocrity and to battle it with passionate effort to make the best of each experience.

Going on with my little clever play on words :P, we did a Scavenger Hunt through Rome today. We all got into groups of 10, and were sent into the city using public transportation with a list of 80 + objects. Although the heat is still trying to get to us, it was really fun to run around the city with a sign saying "Noi Siamo Qui" (We Are Here) and to try to find everything we needed to.

Here are some pictures with captions of my team's findings:

Picture of the Swiss Guards

A Vatican Mailbox

Old Bridge Gelatteria (I don't know why my blog wont let me put this picture vertically)

A picture of a couple Kissing

A pidgeon

A Picture of a Fight (perhaps it is a little staged)

A boat on the Tiber River

The Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo

A nun.

Fountain in Piazza Navona

We were able to get 27 of the things on the list :D Which means we each get 5 euros for the CapBar on campus :).

ps) we didn't have the proper attire to go into a church so they gave us large white pieces of cloth. Maggie was told she needed two, and ended up looking like a walking sleeping bag inside the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

First Tours in Roma

Yesterday we woke up before the crack of dawn (my roommates kept complaining about some weird croaking noise that would not stop going, wondering who's alarm clock or music it was. When I finally heard a rooster in the distance and they both said "see? that's the annoying noise!") to get everyone on buses into the Eternal City.

So in we went, all 110 of us in two buses and we all walked in at 8 am into St. Peter's Basilica.

I had been in here before quite a few times, but this experience was unique. There were at least six priests giving mass in the small side chapels of the enormous church, and there were barely any other people walking around. So pretty much, anyone that gets up before 8 am to get there, is there for a reason and for the most part it is not a touristy one.

I got to see La Pieta surrounded by no flashes and no cameras, and no one waiting for me to finish see it, it truly was beautiful.

After about thirty minutes of exploring around and looking at small details I had never seen, we sat down for mass given by our campus priest, and other nuns joined us, all curious about who these 100 American looking kids were.

At nine am we met at the obelisk and split up into many groups to go into our walking tours, each led by a professor or an RA. I think I lucked out because my tour was the Art and Arch teacher (Art and Architecture in Rome is a course we take half on campus, half in the city), and she took us to many, many places.

Though I have been to Rome many times, it is certainly a different experience to walk with my peers who have not, and to be led by a passionate scholar.

We started at Piazza San Pietro and made our way to La Fontana del Tritone, La fontana di Trevi where everyone threw a coin back to return to Rome, the Pantheon, The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi which holds three of Caravaggio's most famous paintings, and then finished by seeing Piazza Navona before heading to Capitoline Hill. Though most of it was done in the hot, 30 + degree weather, it was very enjoyable and interesting. And our professor bought us all gelattos near the end :).

Today we start our first "classes" with a introductory half day and some people heading to get their Permesso di Soggiorno, or Permit to Stay at different times of the day.

And in the Afternoon we're heading to the Castelli Romani!

First Days

Once I stepped on the Due Santi campus I wondered how I would ever go back to the Irving campus. Due Santi is simply beautiful. It is simple: a place dedicated to study, to grow, to think and converse and of course to rest between trips.

It is beautiful: There is a great vineyard, orange buildings which match with the countless trees (which include olive trees and palm trees), no visible polution, fresh air to breathe (which I certainly always appreciate) , sports facilities (a clean pool!), and best of all the same unmistakable “UD air or feeling”.

My first days here were all about getting to know the staff what our job as Student Assistants is exactly. The RAs and professors (and even Dr. Osbourne’s daughters and the campus Chaplain) made sure we got aquainted and felt welcome. On our first night they took the four of us to an Italian Restaurant close by and we ordered many antipestos as well as five pastas to share. We had bruschettas and a plates of cured ham, and I fell inlove with the gniochelli with tartuffo, a delicious potato based pasta in a strong mushroom sauce.

The next night they also spoiled us after a day filled with preparation of all the dorms. They showed us the “forno” and the wine cellar. The forno is the pizza oven on campus, which can be used by anyone whenever they wish to do so by merely reserving it.

We made about five pizzas, all with different ingredients, including a bananna-nutella pizza which I loved of course :). The wine cellar was also really neat to see, and as a small trivia fact: it was used as a bomb shelter when this campus was occupied by nazi militaries in WWII.

Today, however, the peace and quiet that we had been enjoying as the only ten people on campus was broken. Half of us went early in the morning to pick up the other 106 students that will be sharing this beautiful place with us for the next four months while the other ones stayed to receive them and finish the final preparations.

Although the campus definitely feels different, it is a good different. The conversations now inhabiting Due Santi are all full of excitement... : of places we want to visit, things we want to do in Rome, the daunting 30+ books that are on each of our bookshelves (courtesy of the hard work of the SA’s :P) which we will read in their entirety, thinking of the speeches of Monsigneur and Dr. Haitley gave, urging us to live our faith to the fullest and not dare waste this semester with mediocrity..

There are so many of you I wish I could share these experiences with. Unfortunately I will have very limited time and access to the internet, so I hope this blog will allow me to share a part of this semester with you all.

We are going into the city very early tomorrow, to have mass in St. Peters! Ciao!

(little shout out to Lau and Mom who will in fact be going to the Irving Campus tomorrow)