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.

The sea and a symphony

I just thought I should give a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately. I am now in Orvieto, a small village built on a plateau. I arrived here today after spending four nights in Follonica, a small resort town on the coast. In Follonica our hotel was right on the coast, and our rooms had balconies that looked out over the sea! While we were there we took most of our finals. I still have one more to take tomorrow, but after that I am all done with school work for this semester…yay! There wasn’t much to do in Follonica other than spend time on the beach, so it was a really good place to be with minimum distractions for finals. My daily schedule went like this: wake up, go for a run on the beach, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, study a bit for my upcoming final, take my final at 10:30, spend a couple hours relaxing on the beach, study for a few hours for the next day’s final, then go to dinner in the hotel at 7:30. I loved spending time on the beach, and I actually got a tan! Also, the dinner at the hotel was wonderful. We had a choice of what we wanted, and I usually chose seafood. I can’t imagine a better place to take finals. In fact, I think St. Mary’s should take all of it’s students to the beach for finals each semester.

Today in Orvieto I did a bit of exploring, and when we went to the cathedral we were pleasantly surprised to find a symphony orchestra practicing. We found out that they were offering a free concert at 5:00, so we decided to go. I just got back from it, and it was amazing. The setting inside the cathedral was perfect, and the acoustics were great. When we arrived at 4:40, there was standing room only inside this huge cathedral. It turns out the band conductor used to be the conductor for the New York Symphony Orchestra, and he is world famous. What a day to pick to come to Orvieto! Then, as we were walking back to our hotel, a marching band came right by us on the street. They were citizens of Orvieto in an antifascism group. So, all in all it was a very musical sort of day.

I will be staying in Orvieto tonight and tomorrow night, then we depart for Rome, where I will be staying for three nights.

Pictures from the weekend

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025821&id=173301949&l=8e3989f475

A busy, yet relaxing weekend

As I mentioned before, I went on the Amalfi Coast tour this weekend. On Friday we spent the day in a small fishing village called Positano. While there I got in a good couple hours laying on the beach reading my book, even though it was overcast and not very warm. I have discovered that I really love the sea. I love the sound of the waves rolling in, the feel of waves washing over my feet, and the far-off horizon of water. Ashley and Bailey were there as well, but they went out for lunch, and I decided to just stay by the water. It was nice to get some alone time, something that has become quite the rarity on this trip. The downfall of the day was that it started getting really windy and raining heavily in the afternoon. It definitely wasn't the ideal day to spend on the coast, but I am grateful for the time that I did have on the beach.

Yesterday we spent the day in Capri, a small island off the coast of Italy. Capri is sort of a jet-set vacation destination. Some really famous stars have villas there, including Mariah Carey, so it is quite the expensive place. It was a nice place to spend the day though because it is beautiful and really clean without too many tourists around. We rode a ferry from Sorrento, where our hostel is, to Capri. It was sunny, but, once again, it was windy and cold. I really wanted to swim in the ocean for the first time during this trip, and I brought my swimming suit along. It wasn't looking too good for swimming as we made our walking tour to the beach. Even with jeans and a windbreaker I was freezing! However, once we got to the other side of the island it warmed up a lot, and the beach was sort of blocked from the wind. I decided I would brave the cold and jump in. After all, I have jumped into Lake Superior in October in the rain, so what could be colder? So Bailey and I changed into our swimming suits and jumped in. The water was cold, I will admit, but I've definitely been in colder. The water was really clear and blue, and, once again, it was just beautiful. It was very cold once we got out of the water, but I was still glad I did it. That was the highlight so far of this trip!

Today we go to Pompeii, which lies inland in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. It 79 A.D. Mt. Vesuvius blew up, and the lava covered Pompeii. The houses and buildings were preserved exactly how they were in that time. Later archaeologists discovered the city, and now you can go on tours of the old buildings. I hadn't really heard too much about Pompeii before this trip, but the more I hear about it, the more excited I get about it.

Pictures!

I just put up some pics from my birthday. If you'd like to see them, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025711&id=173301949&l=88b64cbf2a

Update

Since it's been so long since I've had Internet, it's hard to know where to start with this post. Tomorrow I leave for one last weekend trip, this time to the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and Pompeii. This is another Florence for Fun trip, so it will be like the one I took to Interlaken. The part I am most excited to see is Capri, which is an island off the coast of Italy. I've heard that it is just beautiful. I am just hoping for good weather, as the forecast calls for rain.

After I get back from my weekend excursion, I will only have two more nights at Villa Bonelli, then the whole group heads out next Tuesday for Follonica, Orvieto, and Rome. During this time Bob will administer our finals to us, but we will not have classes other than that.

On April 2nd I am completely done with my study abroad program, and Eldon and I have finally got all of our necessary train and plane tickets and reserved hostels for each night. It all seems like quite the whirlwind right now, so I am looking forward to having this weekend just to relax and get away.

Last Italy Editorial

This is this month's editorial for the Cardinal:

It’s hard to believe that it has been another month in Italy, and soon my time here will draw to an end. It will definitely be hard to leave, even though I really do love Minnesota. As I reflect on the time I’ve spent in Europe, I cannot help but come to the conclusion that everyone should study or travel abroad at some point. Not only have I had some of the best experiences of my life in Italy, I have also learned so much about being a citizen in today’s globalized world. My time in Italy has been a series of many “live and learn” moments, and each of these moments has given me confidence.
Before travelling to Italy, I had never been outside of the United States. I will admit that I was pretty scared and lost when I first arrived at the Minneapolis airport. I now feel confident finding my way through airports and train stations, and I know I can go into a foreign city where I don’t speak the language and find my way around. If I had not had the opportunity to study abroad, I don’t know how I would have gained this confidence.
It has recently come to my attention that Saint Mary’s intends to significantly change the Florence study abroad program to allow students to study a greater variety of subjects with a more diverse group of students and to live more independently while studying abroad. I agree that these changes will improve the SMU Florence program as a whole.
However, along with these positive changes comes a negative side. Since SMU will no longer operate its own program in Florence, students will only be able to apply $2,000 of their SMU scholarships to studying abroad in Florence. Previously, students wishing to apply their scholarship of more than $2,000 to study abroad could choose between the SMU programs in Florence and London. Now it appears that the only choice for these students will be London.
Studying abroad would not have been possible for me if I had not been able to use my full scholarship from SMU. It saddens me that other SMU students may miss out on this valuable experience because of monetary issues. I sincerely hope that the university will continue to realize the value of studying abroad and make this opportunity available to as many qualified students as possible.