February 26-28

This past weekend, a majority of the Loyola students on our trip (including myself) took a trip to Belgium. In my case, it was a last minute decision due to the fact that I was unsure of what there was to see in Belgium.

In retrospect, there was a lot. 

After putting on our parkas and packing our cold weather accessories, we flew two hours to Brussels on Friday night and walked a bit to try and find our hostel. Our room and the hostel in general were much nicer than I expected. We got lucky and didn't have to share a room with strangers, always a plus. 

We got settled in and set out to grab something to eat and some drinks afterwards. We wanted to go to a bar called Delrium which was supposed to have over 2000 different varieties of beer (which is crazy and sounded awesome) but I'm pretty convinced that we went to the wrong place. Either way, it was a lot of fun. The only downside was that it was a lot harder to find something good to eat than it is in Rome...I guess I wasn't too surprised by this. 

The second day I woke up with plans that were unclear and a craving for some Belgian waffles. Our destination for the morning was the Grand Place, a magnificent square composed of extraordinary looking buildings. After admiring the architecture, we were on the lookout for waffles. We found a small store with all of the topping options displayed in the window. I chose chocolate and strawberries. 

It was just as good as it looks.

Waffles in hand, we walked back over to the grand place to get some photos and enjoy the view one more time before moving on. 

Photo: Waffles in the Grand Place

At this point, probably because we stopped for the photo op, Meg and I lost the group and weren't able to get in touch with them because our phones don't work without wi-fi outside of Italy. We made the best out of this situation and stopped in a café, where I had the closest thing to American coffee that I've been able to find in Europe thus far. 

After we finally found the group, we established that we'd be venturing to Brugges, another city in Belgium. In Brugges (also the title of a movie), we walked around and came across a lake and I took advantage of yet another photo op.

We continued to the main square of the city, which was bordered by more beautiful buildings. We stayed there for a bit, enjoying the atmosphere, before getting on another train. We were headed to Leuven, another Belgian city,for the night. One of Loyola's abroad programs was stationed there, so we got a chance to catch up with some friends. The earliest train back to Brussels was at 4am, so we had no choice but to stay up all night, which turned out being pretty fun. 

After a long, adventurous  weekend, we returned to home sweet Rome.

January 31

This was a very special day. On this day, I met Anna and Pepe, my host parents, and moved into the apartment that I will call my home until May. 

We all waited in the lobby of the school in anticipation for the moment that our host parents would arrive to pick us up and bring us to our new homes. I would be rooming with another girl from Loyola named Meg. I had heard very good things from multiple people about our host parents and their home. 

Anna arrived at the school and after saying hello, we loaded our suitcases into the car which Pepe would drive back. Being that Italian cars are as tiny as they are, there was no room for Meg and I. For this reason, us two and Anna took a 15 minute walk back to our new home. 

Our home is located in the Centro Storico, or Historical Center of Rome. The school, also known as the Catholic University of America in Rome (CUA Rome) is located in "Trastevere" (tras = across, Tevere = Tiber river), which is across the river from what used to be the confines of the city of Rome. Now, Trastevere is just another neighborhood in Rome located south of Vatican City. So, in order to get back home from Trastevere, we simply descended Gianiculum hill, on which CUA sits, and crossed one of the many bridges over the Tiber. 

Our walk with Anna was very pleasant despite a light drizzle. Anna speaks a good amount of English, but she was excited to hear that I speak a little bit of Italian (or at least understand some). 

We got settled into our home and at around 8:30 we ate dinner. It was nice to finally be moved in and have a home cooked meal. 

January 30

This was supposed to be the day of the scavenger hunt, in which we would ideally traverse the city in groups to see who could take a group picture at the most sites/landmarks. However, I had walked over 30,000 steps, the most I have ever recorded. To put that in perspective, the goal is always 10,000. I hadn't achieved that until the first day of my trip on my journey to (and throughout) the airport.

But today, many of us were tired. We managed to make our way to a couple of the sites, the most notable being the Trevi Fountain (where we tossed our coins in and made wishes of course) and Piazza Spagna, which is unfortunately under construction.



 

Photo: Panoramic of the Trevi fountain.



Photo: As the caption on the photo notes, I checked the Trevi Fountain off of my list of places to see. This definitely doesn't mean that I'm not going back.


Photo: (From left to right) Marco, me, Sydney, Sarah, Irene, and Meg sitting on the fountain. This was the only group photo in front of a monument we took all day.
Spoiler:
We didn't win the scavenger hunt.


Photo: Piazza Spagna/ the Spanish Steps, currently under construction.

January 29

Today we had the opportunity to meet an Australian priest who is associated with our program for 7 AM mass at St. Peter's Basilica. This meant waking up at about 5:30 so that we could have breakfast before taking the metro over and going through security. When entering the basilica, we were able to walk through the "holy doors" which are only open during Jubilee years.

Wikipedia tells us that, "..in Christianity, the tradition dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII convoked a holy year, following which ordinary jubilees have generally been celebrated every 25 or 50 years; with extraordinary jubilees in addition depending on need. Christian Jubilees, particularly in the Catholic tradition, generally involve pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome. The Catholic Church has declared the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy for 2015–2016."

I don't quite understand how it's decided that we need a Jubilee year but it's pretty cool that I'm here to experience it. After entering the church, we were given a few minutes to look around before being escorted downstairs to a tiny room, very close to the tomb of St. Peter, where we would have our mass. I can't really explain how amazing it was to be able to celebrate mass in the most famous basilica in the world. (I didn't fact-check that but I give you all permission to attribute that quote to me)








Photo: This is what St. Peter's looks like from a distance before the sun rises. If we're being realistic this is probably the only pre-sunrise picture I'll take all semester.




Photo: Still St. Peter's although the dome isn't visible in this picture. By the time we got through security the sun had risen.

Photo: As close as I could get to the main altar of the basilica. The area was blocked off. Didn't take more pictures inside because there was too much to see. I'll be back again.

Photo: Proof that I was actually at St. Peter's since everyone knows I don't like waking up early. Mom and Dad-- maybe John can explain to you what a "geotag" is.

Extra proof that I woke up early: my scarf tag is sticking out and my eyeliner is smudged across my face.

Later on this same day, my friend Irene (pronounced ee-ren-ay, not eye-reen) and I decided to take steps towards acquiring our residence permits. We took the metro to Piazza Barberini, bought a stamp called a "marca di bollo" (I don't know what it is either) for 16 euro, as was required, and walked a bit to find the specific post office where we would purchase our "permesso di soggiorno" (residence permits-- are you keeping up?). After waiting for a bit and painfully handing over 140 euro in cash, we received receipts with our scheduled appointments for the fingerprinting portion of the process. What's VERY unfortunate is that mine is at 8:30 in the morning on Friday, March 11th. (Hint: the morning after my 21st birthday). I think we have to get our pictures taken too-- I'll be sure to make copies of that one.

January 28

Today, we said goodbye to Assisi and prepared to return to Rome, where we would be staying in another guest house for the weekend before moving in with our host families.

Photo: Edited version of a photo I took from Rocca Maggiore in Assisi. 

We were all more than ready to get settled in with our host families and not really looking forward to having to pack our things, carry our luggage for another temporary stay in a guest house, but at least we would be in Rome. 

The guest house was owned by nuns, who seemed strict and only spoke Italian. However, they did prepare a nice breakfast for us every morning and gave us a place to stay for a few days, so it wasn't that bad. Before long, we settled in and were on our way to a pizza dinner. The pizza was very good, but I think I also discovered my new favorite dessert, consisting of a waffle bowl, cream, strawberries, and chocolate syrup. Not sure what they call it here but I have to have it again.

January 27

We ventured to Perugia, another city not too far from Assisi. The name of this town sounded extremely familiar to me, probably because Perugia is also the name of the entire region of Italy. We convened in the Piazza Italia, where a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II stands. 

Photo: Statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of Italy. 

We then got a chance to see the National Gallery of Art, which contained works from the before, during, and after the  Renaissance. The paintings within the gallery were all beautiful and I was able to appreciate each of them for their aesthetic value upon my first look. Additionally, the professors who joined us for the trip were able to provide some background information and other facts, allowing me to better understand the historical significance of each. 

After the gallery, we stopped into a local pizzeria for lunch. 

Photo: If you order a pepperoni pizza in America and the waiter brings you this, you'll probably send it back and repeat your order. If you order a pepperoni pizza in Italy, you should probably know that "pepperoni" means "peppers". It was very good.

After lunch we visited the "Casa Romana", a typical home of a wealthy ancient Roman family. The floors were tiled intricately with different patterns for each room. This was very cool to see. 

After a long day, we returned to Assisi for a wine tasting at a local "enoteca", or wine store. Most of us had already been acquainted with the owner, Alessandro--probably his best customers all year.

We were able to try three different wines--one white and two red. Each wine was paired with either cheese, meat, or bread with olive oil and truffle (kind of like mushrooms but so much better). 

 

After the wine tasting, we returned to the guest house for more food and more wine, and by the end of dinner we had all had too much to eat and in the case of a few, too much to drink. This was evident when one of the more shy girls from our program volunteered to say grace and couldn't help but share not only her thanks but also the fact that we are all "very lovely" people. 

January 26

(This post and a few of the following are short because I'm almost a week behind on my posts)

Today we took a convoluted trip to the TIM store to figure out our phone situation. Our guide, Aurora, didn't exactly know where the store was so we ended up walking quite a distance from the bus stop although we could have stayed on the bus and gotten off right in front of the store. It took a long while for everyone to pick a plan due to the fact that we were all relying on Aurora's translation as to how each plan worked. At the end of the ordeal, I picked a plan with 2 GB of data (I'm hoping I don't use it all using my Maps app while trying to find my way around) and 1000 minutes so that I can call Mom and Dad for $0.15 a minute which will be well worth it.