Class was interesting today: not my favorite to debate on issues which have no solution. We debated on abortion, gun control, and Hilary Clinton. For lunch, I had a chicken dish with carrots. After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a moment before going out shopping for the day. I am not much of a shopper, so I didn’t buy any Italian designer clothes, but I walked back to the hotel with Ms. Boyle and ended up buying a stash of souvenirs. I practically want to take Italy home with me! I am going to miss it so much.  We are eating an early dinner tonight and spending the rest of the evening on a tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

I have seen way more Hindus in Rome than I was expecting. It is interesting that other religions still make the effort to travel to Rome even though it is so highly influenced by a different religion.

The Vatican Museum can be equated to a nightmare, but not necessarily a bad one. For example, the hallways are so intricately designed and in your face, and just when you think you step out of one room full of designs, you enter another room full of different colors and patterns. It’s like one long hallway, but its color scheme and decorations change every 50 meters. I thought it was comical how so many artifacts are from Egypt. It seemed like every time the Romans wanted something cool, they would just to to Egypt to steal it, then bring it back for their own decorations.

The inside of the Sistine Chapel was different than what I was expecting. It was… smaller. I watched a movie on it in sixth grade, so my memory may have been slightly exaggerated. It was incredibly detailed and symbolic, but the ceilings were not as high as I thought, nor was the length as long. We were not allowed to talk or take any pictures, so the only thing I have is my memory. I thought it was incredible how detailed the human artwork was. They looked so three dimensional and intricate. It was like every human that was painted had some significant story behind it, or some specific reason for being painted. I also thought it was weird that no matter how long I stared at this, I could not figure it out: Where does the wall end and where does the ceiling begin? The place had an almost dome-like feature to it.

Mr. Hesting gave us a little history lesson while inside: Michelangelo did not want to paint the chapel, because he hated painting to begin with. Yet, the Pope told him that he would either paint it or do no work at all. I learned that the different colored cloths were later painted on over the private parts because the Pope disliked the imagery.

Michelangelo did this because of how angry he was to have to paint it, being a sculptor. It was basically a slap in the face. All the long hallways which seemed like a beautiful nightmare were actually a form of intimidation to the people who were waiting to see the Pope because of how amazing they were. I can totally understand the tactic because it really felt like I was hallucinating at some points during the tour.