Today was the best day yet.  We visited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.  Call me strange, but this center is more exciting to me than anything else here in Rome.

Each room, funded by different countries of the United Nations, was like stepping into another culture.  The presentation moved me.  It was a discussion and PowerPoint dealing with the issue of world hunger and sustainable agriculture.

A lot of factors poured into the mix of solutions; soil quality, illegal fishing, climate change, poverty, arid land, you name it.  I used to have a cynical view of the UN, believing that it is mainly the powerful west trying to impose their ideals on developing countries and forcing them into a state of irreversible dependence and thus submission to these nations.

To my surprise, I learned that organizations like the FAO assist not primarily in providing food to those who need it, but to promote ideas that will assist these nations in procuring a stable environment for a healthy living.  Instead of impeding upon cultures, the FAO helps them thrive.

I want go into the United Nations now, or at least become one of the scientists who meets with the UN to contribute a new form of innovation.

We looked at a few churches after this.  They were a lot smaller than the Basilica, but much more reserved and ambient.  I liked seeing the staircase where St. Elise had lived humbly under, and I loved the statues found within the church of St. Lawrence.  Perhaps the most interesting thing we did between the UN and lunch is look through a keyhole into a whole other country: Malta! (not the island, somewhere within Rome that’s only a few blocks!).  It’s very interesting, being able to peer into another nation through a doorway.

Lunch was great today; we had American food.  Who knew burgers here could be as good as they have it back home?

The latter half of the day was found traveling to the Basilica of St. Maria Maggiore deep within Rome.  The crowded bus is starting to become less immersive and more uncomfortable!  St. Maria Maggiore really spoke to me.  This is where the supposed manger of Jesus was held.  I am not sure whether or not this is true, but there was a certain aura of holy respect centered among the place.  Even though I am not a Christian, I felt the need to pray inside this church.  Upon doing so, I felt a feeling unprecedented and unexplainable.  I never doubted the existence of a god, but I never regarded one as “present.”  I think I can conclude that the presence I felt was something that came from deep inside as well as something coiled around me from the outside, and these two things, both the same substance yet fundamentally different, came together in a powerful way…

…Now.  Away from the weird stuff, on the way back to the hotel we stopped at a nerd store.  In it there were Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy-based memorabilia as well as Celtic-inspired trinkets.  I freaked out in here; I wanted this place to be my new home.  I could spend all my Euros in here, but because we have another 5 days to go, I settled with getting a Gothic-style decorated box for my dad and a hand-mirror with a mermaid handle for my friend Emma.