The day started off great, as the internet had gotten much better now that another school had left the hotel. Suddenly, I could now look up information for Mr. Hesting’s class in a matter of seconds, and it helped us all put together the last touches on our Model UN resolutions.

We learned that in the United Nations, things called resolutions are passed, which are similar to guidelines in that they recommend a solution to an issue that has been brought up by a committee, but the solution may not be enforced. This is because most resolutions are non-binding. However, for the sake of the discussion, we assumed they were binding agreements. Each country proposed at least one resolution to the UN, and the countries would discuss on it and vote for or against it. I (United States of America) went first with Rélynn (India).

We proposed an immigration reform amendment that would help solve illegal immigration on the India-Bangladesh border, and help make it easier to apply for temporary work visas in America. We both did a great job and Mr. Hesting was very pleased, and our resolution was voted in unanimously. The rest of the class went and there was more discussion, more votes, and more debates. All in all, I feel like it was a successful activity. Then we studied on Judaism in World Religion for the time we had left. It was important that we did that as we were to go to the Jewish Ghetto that day.

After lunch and some downtime, we all started walking down to the bus stop to get to the historic ghetto. Once we saw the Tiber Island, we got off and crossed onto it. As it was the only island in the Tiber in Rome, it was important so that bridges could cross from the old city to Trastevere. Across the island was the Jewish Ghetto. It was the last ghetto in Europe before they were reinstated by the Nazis.

It was first commissioned by Pope Paul IV in 1555, and was still used to contain the Jews until the 1880s. The size of it was extremely small and walled in, and was often affected by disease and flooding. Inside, the Jews were allowed only one house of worship, so they build one large building and put five synagogues in it. Then when the ghetto was destroyed, they made a great synagogue as a testament to the world that they were still there.

Most of our ghetto tour took place at the Museo Ebraico. Our museum tour guide Ursula showed us the Torah scrolls and covers that were saved from the ghetto, and showed us the two synagogues on the museum land. The first one was small and basic, and regularly used for worship. After that one, we went to the Great Synagogue of Rome. It was much larger than the other synagogue and ornate like a cathedral, with a ceiling that had all the colors of the rainbow and the four trees God mentions in the Hebrew Scriptures. That being said, it was still smaller than most all of the churches we had been to. What is amazing is that this building, which seated around 600 worshipers and was smaller than an average size church, was 1/4th of the size of the ghetto, which contained as many as 9,000 Jews at a time. Yes, the ghetto was that overcrowded. Unfortunately, there were no cameras allowed in either of the synagogues or the museum.

When we left the museum and the ghetto, we crossed over the river to Trastevere, which literally means “beyond the Tiber.” The streets were very narrow in this area, and there was no semblance of any of these buildings being planned. As we wandered through we stopped by a few churches, like Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, San Francesco d’Assisi, and Santa Maria in Trastevere. Santa Cecilia was in what used to be the home of a Roman woman named Cecilia, who was a martyr. We then walked by the church where Saint Francis of Assisi once stayed (hence the name), and after an espresso break, we went into Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is quite possibly the oldest church in Rome. It had painted ceilings and a nun playing the organ the whole time (see picture).

Then we went to a pizza place for dinner. The pizza was delicious. Once we were done, we had a Nutella calzone for dessert, and walked along the Tiber, which had a riverside market. It was there we watched the US Men’s National Team advance to the Round of 16 with a 0-1 loss. Once we finished walking through, we all returned to the hotel to catch up on work and get a good night’s sleep.
Santa Cecilia