We woke up extra early this morning in order to catch a bus to the high speed train station.  The bullet train made quick work of the long voyage through the countryside to Florence. As we arrived, the first thing we same was the Duomo, or the Florence Cathedral. This is probably the tallest dome I have ever seen and will see. It holds mass in the mornings until 1:30 and is a historical building for people to worship in. As we traveled we saw a bunch of different religious places of worship and the Statue of David. This statue is enormous and produces an entire Christin story in one statue.

The second part of the day was spent shopping in the streets of Florence. The vendors will literally follow you throughout the entire market saying “my friend come back”. All different people from all over the world had set up their stalls and were pushing product to the tourists. We stopped at a specific leather shop where a guy named Giovanni was selling the best leather on the street. The kind of quality that you would find almost nowhere else. I haggled with him a bit and finally got my mom a purse that she was looking for. Only cost me 100 euros but since she sent me to Italy I think she earned it.

On this day in Rome, as I walked through the city, I saw all kinds of races of people from all over the world trying to trade with pedestrians passing by. Some of the people chase you down for a half a city block just to tell you about their great prices on “real” goods. It seems in Italy they will sell anything on the street they can and when its counterfeit they have a little piece of cardboard with handles to walk away with so that the police don’t catch them.

After the walk we all met back at the hotel to prepare for our nighttime tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. The Museum was filled with all sorts of different paintings and statues of different religions ranging from Greek and Roman mythology to Christianity. We got to see many famous paintings including The School of Athens. At the end of the tour we finally saw the “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. Surprisingly, it was not as big as I imagined from textbook images and PowerPoint pictures. Overall, a great day for all.

Day Five, the day we walked through the Jewish Ghetto and saw one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. We toured the museum at first and we learned all about Jewish traditions and rituals but then we entered a small synagogue and learned about how they conducted praise. They take the Torah Scroll out of its case behind lock and key and read one part every service. After the small synagogue, we went to one of the four largest in Rome. The entire inside was decorated with Jewish history or sacred markings and relics. Just walking in the door and sitting down in the pews made an entire world of knowledge open to a person and seeing how it was decorated was stunning.

Today we also held a Model UN in class where we all picked a country to represent and we had to create resolutions to world problems. These problems included; Military, Immigration, Global Warming, and Poverty. We all stated our resolutions and how it work help with the issues and what we could do to help. Some resolutions were very controversial in which there were long debates over how they work but overall it was a great experience to learn about international relations in a UN situation.

Today, we took a tour through the winding city of Rome and saw some of its most famous pieces of art and culture. Our first stop was the Spanish Steps which in my opinion was not all that impressive. Next we came to the Trevi Fountain which was not functioning due to the restoration being done to it. Finally, we got to the Pantheon. I was talking to Professor Hesting about where to find souvenirs as he simply pointed around the corner. The magnificent building was awe-inspiring and made me wonder, how can someone build something so incredible and massive with no modern technology? Then have it withstand multiple wars and earthquakes. This building was a center for culture as it was literally a temple built to the gods. Overtime for cultural reasons, it was adapted to be a Catholic place instead of mythology.

We continued our journey through what seemed like a labyrinth of apartment buildings where you could see all different nationalities all trying to trade with the people of Rome and its tourists. Also, there are so many tourists in Rome that one might believe a new monument could be built just with only a piece of the combined income from the different nationalities visiting. Truly an economic center for tourism, the city of Rome brings in the serious money when it comes to tourism.

Today we headed over to the ancient Roman Forum and got to see the Coliseum as well as tour through parts of the uncovered old roman city. We walked down the path and immediately into the Forum.

As we kept on our path, we found the area where people would line up and ask senators for privilege to do something. As people got permission from someone of the government, they were then either allowed or denied the access to what said person had requested. If a person was allowed to do said action, they would proceed to the aisles on either side of the waiting line to find a stall that traded what the person was allowed to buy. Overall, we saw how people would trade in ancient Rome and what steps had to be taken in order to trade efficiently and correctly.

On our journey through the historical ancient city, we saw an overwhelming abundance of cultural idles and statues and tributes to the rulers and the gods. My favorite religious peace to hear about was the Coliseum! This place was not only for fighting and battle, but also for theatrics to reenact heroic stories and pay tribute to their gods. Pictures simply could not capture the Coliseum in all of its magnificence and glory. Truly a breathtaking sight!

Today was a great day for touring Rome. Bright and sunny all day. The group explored the US embassy and learned all about how the embassy uses its connections with the Holy See to expand its reach where they were not able to go before. Having relations with the Holy See give the US a further reach in its international affairs by using the power and reputation of the Church to be more involved all over the globe.

We also went to a morning “Bible study” led by the Pope. We got to be within 20 feet of one of the most powerful men in the world for a few seconds. As he rode around on his “Pope-Mobile”, we watched as he spread the word of Christianity and his grace to all. Occasionally he would stop and kiss a baby on the way, blessing them. At the end of the speech he gave he blessing to all people in attendance.

On Day One, we toured the Vatican and it was spectacular!

We walked into the Vatican square and we saw all different types of cultures and how they interacted. As we climbed the dome to the top of the Basilica, we climbed 40 stories and viewed countless religious moments captured eternally in mosaic displays. Climbing the Basilica was a great feat to accomplish especially after just getting off of the plane from Florida. After we descended from the Vatican’s dome climb, we attended a mass. Some of us were lucky enough to even receive communion from the bishop who was preaching.

After the Vatican tour, we finally had a little free time to rest for an hour. In our free time, we prepared for our first Italian dinner. As the first wave of tantalizing food arrived at our tables, our taste buds tingled with excitement and anticipated the fine cuisine tastes of Italy.

As we got to the Vatican, the surrounding area was filled with people from all over the world making trades and bargains. One very interesting part of Vatican square is that it is an interchangeable border. When the Pope is in the square it becomes the Vatican, but, when the Pope is not in the square it belongs to Italy.