La vita e' bella, veramente!

Hey everyone,


It's beyond official now--I'm a complete and utter disaster when it comes to blogging! In my defense, I've been doing so much I can hardly keep track of everything in my head, much less write it down for other people to read every few days....Well, I'd better pick up where I left off last month, then! I went to Dublin, Ireland, the weekend of February 19-21 to see Megan Reece and Meagan Drone, my best friends from the piccolo section of the Notre Dame Marching Band. I had the BEST time--we gallavanted around the Irish countryside, toured ruins of ancient castles and monasteries, went to a *real* Irish pub, and I reveled in not having to pay for two nights of hostels :D I can't wait for Meagan and Megan to visit me in Rome!!



The following weekend I stayed in Rome, as the next week was a vicious onslaught of midterms; I'm very glad I chose not to travel outside the city, because, well, there *is* a reason why we're all here--to experience Italia and its people, and improve our grasp of the Italian language. You know, I bet I could have gone this whole semester speaking only English and grudgingly speaking Italian in class, like most of the American students studying abroad here; it would infuriate the locals and waste my two semesters of Intensive Italian, of course, but it's possible. However, that is not how I operate--if I'm going to be away from my family and closest friends for four whole months, then there's no WAY I'm wasting this time! Therefore, I've set a practical goal for myself: become as proficient in speaking and understanding Italian as I can before May 9th rolls around. So far, I think I've been doing a pretty good job of fulfilling that promise to myself. For instance, my piano lessons with Stefano Scarcella, my instructor, are an hour outside the city, where hardly anyone speaks English (including Stefano), so improving my Italian skills has practically been forced upon me. Two hours of speaking nonstop in Italian during my piano lessons has done wonders for my comprehension and speaking abilities! Stefano has noticed the improvement, and our conversations get more and more complex as the weeks go by. Then there are conversations with shopkeepers and waiters, people waiting for the buses, people on the buses, people at Mass, people walking down the street.....honestly, some days I feel like I speak more Italian than English. Which is awesome, because that's the whole reason I wanted to study abroad a year early--to learn the language even faster, and to experience all there is to see as soon as possible.


Surprisingly, the most exciting part of this semester so far doesn't even pertain to traveling; ever since Lent began on Ash Wednesday, I have attempted to attend the daily Stational Liturgies held at different churches across the city each morning. One of my friends from the North American College (a seminary here in Rome) informed me this morning that the tradition of the Roman Stational Liturgies has been in constant practice for 1500 years! And most of the churches haven't changed, but for a few that were destroyed in wars and stuff...anyway, the NAC has organized a series of 40 stational liturgies at 7am each morning--these liturgies have been held at churches as close to my appartment as St. Peter's Basilica, or they could be an hour across town, like yesterday's station Mass at the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura. This entails me waking up at even more insane hours in the morning (usually 4 or 5am, depending), and while this endeavor has deprived me of much-needed sleep, the spiritual awakening and nourishment that has resulted from this daily pilgrimage far outweighs the physical discomforts.

Sooooo this morning, I was a teeny bit late for the Station Mass at San Martino ai Monti, a basilica founded in the 4th century (okay, more like twenty minutes late, but shhhhh); a word of advice: never listen to directions given by little old Italian ladies, haha. Alas, everything turned out well in the end; San Martino was a gorgeous church, and after Mass they opened up the Scavi underneath the building for us to tour. Apparently the complex under the basilica was where the Council of Nicaea was planned, as well as the site of mass burnings of Arian literature (the Arian heresies were quite troublesome for the early Church). While in the Scavi, my good friend Fr. Avram (long story for another blog post) coerced me into introducing myself to the Bishop of Pittsburgh, who had said the morning's Mass--he was super kind, which was quite a relief; one doesn't just walk up to a bishop every day, it's pretty darn intimidating! Anyway, after touring the Scavi, Fr. Avram and I began walking towards Piazza Venezia, where we would split off--me to JCU in Trastevere for my 9am history class, and he to the Pontifical Gregorian University. While on our way to the Piazza, we happened upon the ancient basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, or St. Peter in Chains; this church is quite famous in Rome, because according to legend, the Empress Eudoxia (wife of Emperor Valentinian III) gifted the chains of St. Peter's imprisonment in Jerusalem to Pope Leo I, and when he compared them to the chains of St. Peter's final imprisonment in Rome, the two chains miraculously fused together. The chains are kept in a reliquary under the main altar in the basilica....it was so cool! Near the altar is Michelangelo's fantastic tomb of Pope Julius II, which has a truly magnificent sculpture of Moses--due to a mistranslation of the Old Testament, he is depicted as having horns protruding from his head, instead of "beams of light..." it was kind of amusing seeing such a dignified figure with two stubby little horns poking out of his head. After exploring St. Peter in Chains, I had less than half an hour to get to class--we were only just approaching the Roman Forum, when we stumbled upon another church; this time, it was a little parish church secluded off the noisy main street. Normally, when I think of a parish church, I envision a small, simple, comfortable place of worship; however, every inch of Santa Maria ai Monti was completely covered in glorious Baroque frescoes and precious marble....Rome never ceases to astound me. Due to our quick little jaunt inside S. Maria, I had about twenty minutes to get to my European History class, but I didn't mind--we strolled alongside the Forum and all these ancient ruins until we parted ways in Piazza Venezia....somehow I managed to cross the ridiculously busy streets without getting hit by a car or moped, and get to class early! What a morning. :)

Tomorrow morning officially marks the beginning of my spring break--my roommates Anne and Katie and I will be in Sicily from Friday to Monday, where we will stay in Palermo and in the beautiful seaside town of Cefalu'. We're coming back to Rome for a little breather, and then on Wednesday we will fly to the great city of Istanbul (Constantinople!!) and return to Rome on Palm Sunday. Even though I went to Sicily last weekend, I fell in love with the island and desired to see much more of it than just Palermo....call me crazy, but I can't help it! Istanbul is definitely the part of spring break I'm most looking forward to--the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Great Bazaar, cruising the Bosphorus, the museums of ancient civilization, Greek Orthodox churches and gorgeous Byzantine icons.......I think I'll be in heaven for those four days :)

Okay, I think I've bored you all enough with this exhaustive update (and I haven't even mentioned half of what's gone on since the last post). Thanks for being such troopers, I honestly will try and be much better at updating from now on!

Vi amo,
Laura