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| Rose petals falling on me at Pentecost |
It is hard to image that another whole week has gone by! This last weekend we decided to spend our first free day without classes by taking a break from touring Rome and instead enjoy a relaxing day at the beach. To do this we got our first lesson in how to use public transportation in Rome - we first had to buy bus tickets and then figure out which one would take us to Termini, and then once there we then bought our train tickets and again had to figure out which train to take us to the beaches of Nettuno. Once there we had to walk a little ways to find a free beach area, but it was so worth the trip. The Mediterranean is so beautiful and warm, and Nettuno was a really interesting change from the more crowded, fast paced nature of Rome with being so relaxing. We then spent the next couple of hours playing in the water and taking lots of photographs of ourselves and each other and ended our trip with playing a game of volleyball with a local woman.
Then on Sunday we got all dressed up nicely and went to the Pantheon for Pentecost and we were lucky enough to get a spot standing right next to the ropped off area underneath the occulus. While standing still for several hours was a little difficult, and I couldnt understand the service since I am not Catholic, and dont speak Italian or German (as the guest speaker this year - it rotates every year), this experience was totally worth it. The music was so amazing to hear with their voices just carrying and echoing through the Pantheon, it was defiantely one of those spiritual moments that you can just feel and experience with your whole body. And seeing the rose petals falling from the occulus, was beautiful. There are local fire fighters that climb up on the top of the dome and then just throw what must be hundred and hundreds of rose petals down onto the people below. It was so magical just watching the rose petals slowly drift down towards us. This is defiantely one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen.
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| Matt giving us an impromptu watercolor lesson |
During the week, we spent our time in walking tours to see some medieval churches, the Roman Forum, and the Coliseum, sketching at Piazza Farnese, and documenting our piazza's for studio. I think my favorite place that we visited this week for classes was the coliseum, just because it was so amazing to think that we are inside a building that has been so important to Rome for so many years, and we are standing in the same place that thousands and thousands of ancient Romans once stood. Besides thinking about the history, it was amazing to think about and really analyse the architecture of the coliseum. It is incredable how similar the Coliseum is to our modern day stadiums. As for today we are getting ready for leaving early tomorrow morning on our weekend trip to visit Paestum, Atrani, Amalfi, and Ravello. I think that this will be one long, but really amazing weekend!
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