Our Saturday morning started bright and early when we met Jill downstairs for some early tours of the inside of St Peter’s Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo.

On our tour of the Basilica, we learned that there are actually no painted surfaces in the whole building! All of the art in there is either mosiac paintings, or sculptures. I thought that was pretty cool! I also thought that it was really interesting that every piece of art in there has a meaning behind it – even the shape of it! The Pieta is sculpted in such a way that Jesus’ body is laid out across Mary’s body in the shape of an “S” to evoke emotion in people.

On our tour of Castel Sant’Angelo, we learned that it used to be the home of the Pope, but was later confiscated by the Italian Government and turned into a police station. It was also where Catherine Medici was held in prison for many years, but later became the Head of France after marrying Henry II of France. Now that’s cool!

Today was a little different due to the fact that we had a good amount of free time to do some shopping, eat, homework, etc. After our last day of actual class at the university, we all took a trip down to the marketplace not too far from St Peter’s Basilica. There I got some souvenirs, and walked around a little which was really nice. Don’t worry! I stayed with some friends the whole time. I must have heard the words “stay with the group” at least half a thousand times before (and after) I left.

After our nice long break, we got to take a visit to the Sistine Chapel. And believe me when I tell you it was absolutely beautiful! I would have taken so many more pictures, but unfortunately my camera died while I was taking the tour. I did happen to buy some post cards from the gift shop though so I would be able to show you at least a glance at how stunning it was!

Before we took the actual tour, we had dinner at a restaurant right outside of the chapel. This place had some really good food, with a sort of buffet style meal while we sat outside under a shaded area. The view was beautiful, with a perfect spot right in front of the Sistine Chapel.

After we finished our delicious meal we started our tour of the chapel. One fact that I remember our tour guide saying is that if you looked at every single piece of art in there for at least one minute, your tour would be for at least 12 years. That right there gives you an idea of how much stuff was actually in there! Amazing, right?

The pieces of art that we found in there included the last Judgment by Michelangelo, and the School of Athens by Rafaello. Everything in that chapel was a true masterpiece.

After we were finally finished with our tour, we stopped for gelato where I got a Frappe, which is basically a milkshake made with gelato, and let me tell you… it was so good! I can’t wait to take my family to Italy someday and show them everything I saw. Maybe one day when all the kids have grown, we can pay the bill for a change 🙂

So today we got to go to the Jewish ghetto! We got to see a bunch of Synagogues, neighborhoods, and a Jewish history museum. Plus, we went to this AMAZING pizza place and had nutella filled calzones, and they were delicious! Definitely one of the best things I’ve had so far.

The Synagogues were absolutely stunning! Its amazing how much detail and precision can go into these churches just blows me away. Also the symbolism found in the church is extremely interesting too. They have a lot of mosaic art in the churches, and its really interesting how when you look in one of their synagogues, you can find Mary standing with Jesus almost every time. Now I know you guys are like “duh”, but the reason for this is because according to the Jews, Mary has a very special place in the church because not only is she the mother of Jesus, but because Jesus is fully God and fully human, and God is Jesus Father, this doesn’t just make Mary his mother, but also the wife as well.

I thought it was also really interesting to hear the history of the Jewish ghetto. The Jews have been persecuted so many times by different groups, and yet this religious is still standing strong. That is one of the reasons they built some of the biggest Synagogues in Italy to show the world that they made it through.

Today was super exciting! First off, we got to hear the Pope do a bible study in the heart of the Vatican City in front of St Peters Basilica, and see the US Embassy in Italy! So not only did we get to listen to one of the most admired people in the world talk, but also set foot on a total of three countries today! How amazing is that?!

It was so cool getting to see Pope Francis and especially seeing half of Italy there in the Vatican City. Seeing all the excitement build up so much that we literally saw two men beside us get on the others shoulders to get a good picture of the Pope as he drives by. Now that was a sight to see!

After the best world religions class I have ever attended and a short break, we met our tour guide, Jill, who took us to the US Embassy here in Italy. There we got to ask questions concerning the US and Italy, and also got to learn what the Embassy is all about. I think it was a really cool experience for me considering that I am so into politics!

I think that tomorrow we are planning to go to the Jewish Ghetto, which should be very interesting! I’m excited to see all the Synagogues and extremely old buildings.

So again, I’m gonna make this short and sweet because I got behind in my posts and want to do as many updates as humanly possible.

Today we went to the Pantheon,  to see the architecture and stuff. I definitely wasn’t as amazed as when we went to the Basilica, but amazed nonetheless. I think my favorite part about the Pantheon was that they made it so that the light hit each god in the building at least once a day. It’s so neat to me how smart the Romans were when building things like this.

We also walked past the Trevi Fountain, which was unfortunately closed for construction 🙁

We did however get to take the metro! It’s just like the subway in New York, but less crowded. It was the first time I had ever been on something like that, so that was pretty awesome.

Before I close up, there is one thing that I have noticed while in Rome, and that is that there are many immigrants and foreigners here. You usually see them on the street selling things like bags, and jewelry, and sometimes even handmade African animal carvings. There is a lot of diversity here; something I didn’t expect to see.

Well I love you guys, and I can’t wait to see you in a few days! I have so many pictures it’s crazy. We’ll probably be looking through them for hours on end. I think I plan on making a scrapbook when I get home so I can remember what a great summer I had!

So my next few posts I’m going to try and be as short and sweet as possible because I don’t have much time, but that leaves me with a bunch of great stories to tell you when I get back right? 😉

Today we got to take a tour of the Colosseum. This place had to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen. It was so amazing to see how something like this has survived though so much. The people in Italy didn’t even want it at first because they thought it was extremely ugly and it reminded them of the Romans. The Colosseum was the basis for the way stadiums are built today, which as really cool to me as well.

We also visited the Roman Forum, and the ruins. You know what is so amazing to me is the fact that so much history, art, and religion can be found in such a condensed area.

Lastly, I wanna wrap things up by saying that I miss everyone back home; especially my family. I love and miss you guys so much and I can’t wait to tell you about all the adventures I’ve had.

Day one… it seems like it’s always the hardest day because you’ve just gotten off the plane (which you got very little or no sleep on) and you’re trying to go right into things while doing your best to stay awake. And although we were all ready to crash by the time we got back to the hotel, we did enjoy seeing our first glance of Italy.

When we first stepped off the plane we all learned very quickly that to get from place to place in Italy you have to be assertive. Very assertive. You basically just say “mi escusi” (excuse me) while pushing your way through the crowd. You don’t stop for people to pass you because if you do, the line never ends! The use of personal space is virtually non-existent, which is why it is so easy for people to pick-pocket you. Thankfully nobody in our group has learned the hard way yet, but we are constantly told to be careful in crowded places.

After we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and had something to eat, we took a tour of Saint Peter’s Basilica, which was absolutely stunning! I can’t even tell you the amount of times my jaw dropped completely at the detail and thought that went into building this massive church! It makes you feel so small compared to the size of everything, which I just learned today is the exact intent of the designers. The people entering the church are supposed to feel small compared to the God that they come to worship, which I thought was really cool.

You know, I didn’t realize how many sets of stairs there were in Rome! It makes sense though considering there wasn’t the luxury of elevators back when these buildings were made. We had to climb a total of 320 steps just to get to the top of the Basilica. When you’re walking it seems like the staircase never ends! You’re basically just going up a spiral staircase for a good 15 minutes or so looking at what looks like the same set of stairs over and over again.

I think my favorite part of Vatican is how it is so unique among any other place I have visited. Not only is it the only county that literally feels like it’s about the size of my suitcase because it’s so small, it is also the only country whose borders interchange with Italy. I learned that this happens whenever the Pope is speaking in Vatican, of which he is the head of state and also the spiritual head. When this switch happens, a small part of Italy surrounding Vatican is then transformed into part of Vatican. I know this because our tour guide once got arrested for crossing Vatican borders. Long story short, the police took her to the police station (literally a block away from the Basilica), and when she called her lawyers, they informed that it was in fact Vatican. True story.

By the end of our tour, we stayed in the Basilica for mass lead by a Cardinal in the church. It was amazing to see the way things worked. It did make it hard though because not only was I getting distracted by the amazing architecture, but the whole service was in Italian, but I did pick up on some key words throughout the service which helped me to understand a little bit of what was going on. Although the service was amazing, I thought it was funny that while we were sitting down, you could look around and see that the whole group was struggling to keep their eyes open. Our lack of sleep was catching up to us by the end of mass, and we were ready to hit the sack.