This summer, 2018, students who were SPC early college, dual enrollment, early admission and/or collegiate high school studied in Italy! High School student Calvin Finley shares his daily journal entries on his experience studying abroad:

“The first place we went after arriving in Rome was St. Peter’s square. We got there just in time to see Pope Francis address the crowd for his Sunday Angelus. He also gave a blessing and acknowledged various groups of people that came to see him, such as cyclists from Paraguay. Witnessing and listening to the Pope was surreal because he is the largest religious figure in Catholicism and I was standing within a few hundred feet of him. I am very excited to see and listen to him again on Wednesday, as he will do more blessings and speak in English for a little bit. Later on, I got to walk around Rome a little and try some new food. I ate a tomato and cheese crepe from a local restaurant and then walked around town a little more to explore.

Monday: On Monday, we started off by going to the Colosseum and Roman Forum in the morning. I was amazed by the sheer size of the Colosseum. It is stunning that something like that was made thousands of years ago and is still standing today. The stadium was used for public entertainment, having fights between gladiators and animals from around the known world. This was used to gain public support for the government/emperor because the shows were free. The Roman Forum had multiple temples, public areas, and monuments. One of the most memorable parts of the forum was the Temple of Caesar, which is where Julius Caesar is buried. The layout of the area allowed me to see so much no matter which direction I was facing, but that could be said for many areas of Rome. Monday evening, we walked around as a group to try authentic gelato for the first time. I did a comparison with similar flavors between two shops. First, I tried cream, lemon, and vanilla lime at Old Bridge. Then, I had cream and lemongrass at Lemongrass. For me, the cream flavor was better at Lemongrass, while the lemon flavor was better at Old Bridge. I had whipped cream at both shops, but one was not better than the other, they were just different. I look forward to trying more flavors soon and seeing more of Rome.

Tuesday: On Tuesday, we climbed all five hundred fifty-one stairs to get to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. Although the climb was tight and short in some places (at least for me because of my height), it was well worth it because of the view. The breeze made it cool all the way up at the top, and I could see places such as the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Square, Apennine Mountain Range, Italian Unification Monument, Sistine Chapel, and dozens of other residential and religious buildings. The size of the basilica shows the power and influence the Catholic Church had during the Middle Ages. It was able to gather enough wealth to fund the project through taxes, donations, and indulgences, while having enough workers to construct the building. This was due to the control the Church had over people’s lives because it united them philosophically and spiritually, while restricting what information was released to control what people thought. Later that day, we went to Castel Sant’Angelo, which was originally built by Hadrian as a tomb for himself but was eventually used by popes as a fortified place to stay. The castle was decorated with beautiful statues and paintings at one point, and still is in some ways today. Castel Sant’Angelo shows the connection between religious and political power in previous centuries, with the papacy being the leader of the Catholic Church and a target by foreign armies.

Wednesday: Wednesday morning had us very close to Pope Francis, as he rode around the crowd in St. Peter’s Square before addressing and blessing us in many different languages. The standing and waiting was somewhat painful and tedious, it was interesting to see the wide variety of cultures that come to see the pope. We went to the Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarters, which houses a United Nations agency whose goal is to end world hunger. We went through three separate rooms that are capable of holding delegates from hundreds of countries. In a center room connecting two buildings, there was a large circle on the ground listing the seventeen sustainable development goals agreed upon by members of the United Nations. FAO connected all of these goals to their quest to end hunger and malnutrition. There seems to be less red tape in this organization that in national policy, which is a good thing in many ways because it allows for the eradication of hunger faster. I appreciated that so many states came together to end one of the most lethal and horrible things on the planet. FAO uses technology and agricultural sciences to improve water, soil, air, and more, while collected and analyzing data to help manage and teach farmers. This use of data was most interesting to me, and it is done at an international level, largely without borders, which is a sign of positive cooperation between countries.

Thursday: On Thursday, we toured the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The former had what seemed like thousands of works of art collected from Rome over the past two thousand years. There were mythological figures depicted in statues in a courtyard and many halls. There were both Roman and Greek gods, showing the mixing of the two cultures and similarities between the two. Specific gods, goddesses, and heroes could be identified by their unique symbols, such as Hercules carrying and animal pelt/skin. There was an entire hallway with giant paintings of regions of Italy that are as accurate as any map today. Most of the paintings portrayed Christian figures, as nearly all of them were commissioned when Rome was under Christian rule. Prominent saints and characters in the Bible went from wall to wall and all over the ceiling. One thing I thought was interesting was the way some things on the ceiling were painted with shadows so that they looked three dimensional when seen from below. I also saw the difference between Medieval and Renaissance styles of art, and the emotion that arose out of the latter. The Sistine Chapel had just as much variety as the Vatican Museum, but it was painted by only Michelangelo and six others. Both areas on Thursday showed the power and influence of the Catholic Church. They created and collected innumerable pieces of art, and basically forced one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance to work on a project for them. One painting showed a conflict between Muslim Ottoman Turks and Roman Christians, presenting the unity and passion religions can bring to populations.One piece of art that I like a lot was in the modern art gallery in the Vatican Museum and was by Salvador Dali. The painting was used as a basis for one of his masterworks, “The Ecumenical Council”, which is shown at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The final version was painted when Dali worked according to nuclear mysticism, which is the combination of math, science and religion. The version in the Vatican Museum shows three figures that made it into the final version. The figures represent the Holy Trinity of Christianity, with the top one with no face being the father, the one on the left made out of moving atoms being the son, and the translucent one on the left being the holy spirit/ghost. The title and content of the final painting was inspired by the election of Pope John XXIII and his efforts to reunite parts of the Church. I have liked Dali’s art for many years and was excited to see one of his works in Rome.

Friday: On Friday, we traveled to the Jewish neighborhood of Rome, which formerly served as the Jewish ghetto for over three hundred years. While walking throughout the neighborhood, we saw only remnants of the horrible conditions thousands of people were forced to live in because of their heritage and religious beliefs. On the street next to some buildings, there were small gold plaques in the floor with information about Jews who had been taken during the Holocaust, saying whether they were assassinated or survived and returned. The highlights of the day were the Jewish Museum of Rome and the connecting Synagogue of Emancipation. The museum held countless religious artifacts showing the symbols, garments, rituals, and beliefs of Judaism. For one assignment in world religions, I wrote about the Meil Fiano, which is an embroidered cloak used for decorating and protecting the Torah. The synagogue was massive and elaborately decorated, with a large ark for the Torah on the altar. A contrast between the Jewish synagogue and the many Christian churches we saw while in Rome was the decorations. Although both religions put lots of effort and funds into the meaningful decorations, Christianity depicted people and religious figures, while Judaism opted for ornate trimmings and intricate symbols.

Saturday: We walked around the city center of Rome on Saturday, visiting iconic locations such as the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Italian Unification Monument. The pantheon is probably my favorite example of Roman architecture. It was constructed in the 2^nd century C.E. as a Roman temple but was turned into a Christian church in the 7^th century so that it wouldn’t be destroyed. The two most prominent tombs in the building are for King Victor Emmanuel II and the artist Renaissance artist Raphael. There is Christian artwork all around the structure, with a large altar at the back. I like the Pantheon because of its size: it is the largest oculus and largest unsupported dome in the world, and it has been extremely well kept over almost two thousand years. The Pantheon shows the relationship between Christianity and paganism over the years, and how the two religions had balance for some time, but eventually the latter grew and erased much of the former. I enjoyed exploring a new part of Rome, seeing the interaction between many cultures, and learning about popular Roman structures.”-Calvin Finley, SPC high school student, Italy 2018