Roma

This is a bit late in the posting (like, a few weeks), but I had the pleasure and blessing of going to Rome for Spring Break. And it was amazing. I don't know what more to say, so I'll leave it at that.

...yeah, just joking. Ben might kill me.

I only had the tiniest amount of time to be in this fantastic city, in that awesome country, so I can only say a little bit. Somebody who's been there for, say, a semester (e.g., Jeff) would have some pretty cool stories to tell about it.

I'd been pining for Europe for a long time. Even being in the nation's capital, there's something so...young about it. There's something awesome being in the Pacific NW at any time of year, but especially in the spring or summer when life is abundant and you can just feel the pulse of something bigger than yourself. The pulse of old European cities is a bit different, as it's less the life of the trees or wildlife and more the life of human history that's so suddenly and inexplicably tangible and sensible to you. I had experienced that in Paris (not so much in Berlin; it's a young city) and was eager for it in Rome. And Rome did not disappoint.

Everywhere you go in Rome, you will find a) a Piazza, b) a Church, and/or c) ruins that have an aura of awesomeness exuding from them. The alleys (comprising a rather large portion of downtown Rome's streets) are all made of cobblestone. You feel connected to so many centuries of history and humankind merely by walking down the street. If you have a history professor or an archaeologist telling you about the history of the city, you start wondering how many ruins are actually directly beneath your feet at any given moment; the city has layers to it. You are walking on thousands of years of history with every step. I might just be weird, but it was so incredible...there was a never-before-experienced connection with humankind going on during that trip (slightly exaggerated? perhaps, but not much).

Being a Catholic kid from the Catholic University of America, I can't get away with not mentioning the churches. There were lots of them. Several of them don't look all that different from the other ancient buildings surrounding them. In fact, if it weren't for the little Vatican insignia on the facade of the building, I doubt that I would have known they were churches. Some of them don't really display their insignia all that prominently. You could very well walk into what you thought was an apartment and, whoa, jeez, it's a church. But they're beautiful inside. They're not the places I'd pick to have a quiet moment to pray or reflect or go to Mass. They're a little much for that...maybe? Maybe it's just that I got more out of being a "pilgrim", in a sense: Connection to humankind, once again, on the Christian and Catholic front in a special way this time. Walking in the parishes where saints celebrated Masses, trekking along paths that St. Paul might have been dragged along before his martyrdom, going up the stairs (imported from Jesusalem) that are apparently the stairs Jesus ascended when brought before Pilate. Hard to explain, I guess. It was a good experience for the faith, too, suffice it to say.

Speaking of which, got to see the Pope twice. I swear they just like to show off how many languages they know. He's gonna be coming to Catholic in mid-April, too, so it's been a semester chock-full of Benedict XVI.

We were at a hotel near a small square called Campo di Fiori...the place becomes an awesome marketplace during the morning, selling spices and fruits and pasta and various other comestibles (and Grappa...which I hated). It was awesome to be able to go to a pastry shop, buy a croissant-like thing with Nutella in it, and then go buy a blood orange and/or some other piece of fruit and have the total cost not exceed 5 Euro. That was awesome.

The first half of the week was spectacular, weather-wise. You could wake up to a pleasantly brisk morning breeze and by noon it would be in the 60's. Wednesday marked a huge change in weather, with rain and cold (and all the weather typical for winter in the mediterranean) making an appearance.

I saw some of the major sights during that week: The Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Victor Immanuel I Memorial, Sts. John Lateran, Peter, and Mary Major, Villa Borghese, Piazza Garibaldi, the Arch of Titus, the Forum, the Vatican Museum...other things, too. A lot, a lot, a lot, but there is so much more to see. I will just have to go back and spend a few weeks there.

I went to Assisi on Friday. It was a bit crazy, because we had to be back by 8 PM to go to dinner with the group, so we woke up rather early to get to the train station. We switched trains in Foligno without a hitch, and got to Assisi mid-morning. It was so beautiful. The city is essentially built on a hill, and you take a bus up to the main part of it. The Roca Maggiore (a castle) is perched on the top of the hill, and watching the mist parting to reveal the castle and the rest of the amazing town was breathtaking. The grass was greener than Dublin pubs on St. Patrick's day. We had the privilege of snow and sleet and rain while there, but it was beautiful. The town and countryside is just so...pure. I can't describe it. Photographs are pending...one of my friends who is without facebook took the majority of pictures there. But it was so awesome to be in the city in which St. Claire and St. Francis once lived and where their bodies now rest...yeah. Just really cool.

While I was there, we went to several pubs run by Irishmen. This is because hard liquor was something that other nations introduced to Italy: Italy is known for wine, not for stout or whiskey. I found myself speaking with a passable brogue on numerous occasions, leading some other tourists to ask me which part of Ireland I'm from. These people were Italians, so it wasn't like authentic Irish people thought I was from Ireland, but that's okay. I also spoke in the brogue without the influence of alcohol. I don't need alcohol to do strange things. But man, some good chianti with some good pasta while looking at the Tiber River...yeah, hits the spot.

I was also introduced to fried artichokes and oxtail stew. The former was fantastic. The latter was interesting, at least.

so that's what I was doing for the first week of March. It's a bummer I didn't get to see those of you folks who were in Oregon for the Machuca's wedding...I raised my glass to all of you (especially Ian and Cynda) as we flew back to the US of A. The cherry blossoms are in bloom here in the District and I'm thinking of you all. I didn't really take great pictures while in Rome...but several pictures were taken of me.

This is us atop the hotel...it was pretty sweet, especially during the non-cold mornings and nights:


This one is at the bottom of the Spanish Steps...as you can tell, we are very cool:



This is at Scholar's Irish Pub. Not my fav, but it was cool to hear some live music:




Mmmmkay. time to go be preemptive in my schoolwork so that the last two weeks of school don't slaughter me. Take it easy, champs. Peace!