The last week: a whirlwind!

I don't even know where to begin to start describing the time in between my last blog entry and now. When I last wrote I was in Orvieto, getting ready to head to Rome. On the train to Rome on Monday I finished my last final, so I have been done with schoolwork since then. I am finally a senior, and I'm glad to have made it this far with all the hard work I have put into everything. But I also have mixed emotions because this means that I only have one year left at St. Mary's, a place that I've grown to love. But I don't really want to dwell on that part right now. I am in Europe having a great time, and I am looking forward to returning home and starting my job at Whitewater State Park.

Now, for a brief synopsis, becuase that's really all I think anyone can handle, of Rome. I was in Rome for three nights, four days, and during that time I saw so much. Every night I was just ready to collapse! My first day in Rome I saw St. Peter's Basillica, Hadrian's Tomb, Bridge of the Angels, and the Spanish Steps at night. The highlight of the day was the Spanish Steps at night. There were tons of young people around our age there, and Rome had just won a soccer game, so they were doing lots of soccer cheers. Also, Nikki and I got to speak to some of the Swiss guards at the Vatican in order to pick up our tickets for the Papal Audience on Wednesday. Despite their ridiculous outfits, Swiss guards manage to be very attractive for the most part. Most of them are young, and it is required that they be single, fluent in at least four languages, be of a certain height, and be Catholic. So, in other words, they pretty much have to be perfect :-)

On Tuesday I went to the Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forums with a bunch of people from our group. We got a tour for the Coliseum and Palatine Hill, and I learned a lot about the history behind these ancient ruins. Palatine Hill is where the Roman emperors used to live, and the Forums are where the Roman government, worship, and markets took place. Also, the Vestal Virgins lived in the Forums.

On Wednesday we had the Papal Audience with Pope Benedict. There were tons of people there for this. We got there over two hours before the audience began, and we still had to wait in line for almost a half hour to get through security! There were people from all over the world there, and everything was spoken in Italian, German, English, Spanish, and Polish. Groups were welcomed in special announcements, so Saint Mary's got its name mentioned. Our group, being the group we are, actually cheered for the wrong St. Mary's college, as there was another one from England. So we actually ended up cheering twice. The ceremony itself got kind of long, as everything had to be said in so many languages. The Pope spoke about his recent visit to Africa and the Catholic Church's place in Africa. After the Papal Audience I went to the Pantheon, the oldest building in Rome that is still in use today. It was originally a temple for the worship of all Roman gods, but now it is a Catholic church, of course. Much architecture has been based on that of the Pantheon, including any building that employs a dome ceiling! After the Pantheon I went to go spend a little more time in St. Peter's alone and to look at the tombs of the Popes. It was very crowded for some reason, and I was kind of disappointed because many people were not respecting the holy significance of these areas. Also, there was a lot of set up going on in St. Peter's for a memorial Mass for JPII to occur the next day, and there was much confusion among the security guards, who all seemed to have different versions of where visitors could and could not go. Some were even turning visitors away from Mass, which really bothered me. Everyone should be able to attend Mass if they so desire! I even saw them turn away a nun! I hope my experience in St. Peter's is not representative of the experience of the majority of visitors.

On Thursday I went to the Vatican Museums with a few others. Once again, we had to fight the crowds. I guess April is just not the best time to be visiting Rome if you don't like huge crowds of people. The Sistine Chapel was really something to see and worth the effort it took to get there. I still really don't see why the Church needs so much treasure. I guess it all has to do with power. The more I learn about the history of the Church, the more I see why many people condemn the Church and why Martin Luther took the actions he did. However, I am Catholic, and I am not going to change this because of past mistakes of the Church. Almost every government and religion has dark things that happened in their past. The important thing is to learn from these mistakes so that they don't happen again. You cannot flee from an organization because it has made mistakes—that is the cowardly thing to do—you must accept your place within that organization and work to make it better. (Just a side note—I am not calling Martin Luther a coward by any means, but I just realized that what I just said could be read like that. Luther himself did not advocate splitting from the Church but desired to make public the flaws in the Church so that we may work to change them.) We cannot deny that the Catholic Church accumulated much of what they have in the Vatican through actions that do not live up to Christian standards. Since the Christian religion was at first solely practiced through the Catholic faith, all Christians have their roots in the Church. These are roots that we can choose to accept or deny, but the truth is that they are a part of all Christianity, and all Christians, Catholic or not, can learn from their Christian past through the history of the Catholic Church.

Okay, enough of my rambling. I am now in Munich, after arriving here at 6:30 a.m. on a night train from Rome. Eldon and I went on a walking tour of the city today, then checked into our hostel to get some rest. So far I really love Germany. It is so much more organized and clean than Italy! It actually reminds me a lot of Minnesota, and I can see why so many Germans chose to immigrate to Minnesota. Tomorrow we will be touring Dachau...another dark part of history that must be recognized nonetheless. For now I am going to get some much needed rest. That night train was quite the experience, just let me say that.