Arrivederci a Roma!

It's hard to believe, but it is my final week in Rome! This will be my last blog update in Rome as I imagine the next few days to be very hectic. It is now Tuesday and on Friday after turning this journal in, taking my last thermodynamics quiz, purchasing my last minute souvenirs, writing a final paper, and packing my life into two pieces of luggage, I am out of this beautiful city that has been my home for seven weeks. Right now, I'm feeling those inevitable mixed emotions. I have had a wonderful time here and I have learned more than I could have ever imagined. It is always difficult to leave someplace where you've developed strong bonds with other people and created lasting memories. But home is where the heart is and I am very excited to return to the ones I love. :-) So as Friday nears, I bid farewell to the many things I have grown to love and appreciate during my seven week stay in Roma: GELATO, inexpensive and delicious pizza, open air markets with fresh produce every morning, living blocks away from the Pope, my beautiful apartment on the lively Via Candia, the beauty of the city at night, its history, and of course the Italians - their culture and their passion for life and one another. I feel so fortunate for having had this opportunity and I leave here with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

...with that said, I say arrivederci a Roma!




This isn't to say my summer is over yet! There are still plenty of more adventures in store for the coming weeks and I will continue to update this blog as they progress. I still have a week left in Europe, so stay tuned for next week's update (hopefully if my hotel provides internet access) with pics and adventures from my vacation time in Cinque Terre and GREECE!

A visit to the outskirts of Rome

As big as Rome may seem to the passing traveller, it is surprisingly much more bigger than what most people think. There are about 20 different municipalities in Rome and the center is only one of them. Today we took a tour to the periphery of Rome with my history class to get a feel for the "real" Rome.


Parco Giovanni Palatucci
A city hall park built off of the aqueduct. It is located by the Misericordiarum church which was our next stop. On Sunday afternoons after church and on days of rest, Italian families take time to relax and spend some time at parks such as this one.


Misericordiarum Patri Dicatum
We spent a good time visiting this truly modern church. Recently inaugurated in 2003, it is already considered a historical monument. Its construction is a real masterpiece in engineering and architecture, but it still contains spiritual and liturgical aspects. Its shape is meant to represent a boat for the "boat of the Church" that ploughs the sea of the third millenium. The 3 arches are the sails that represent the Holy Trinity. The highest sail represents God's protection over the Christian community. In fact, although the church is widely covered in glass, the sunlight never enters directly into the church except for a particular moment in the afternoon.



The altar takes a nonconventional stance and situates itself to the west where the engine of the boat lies to represent the eucharist as the engine driving the boat of the church.



Silver Bvlgari liturgical objects made just for the church of the Jubilee

Next stop was the neighborhood of Corviale. It is considered to be one of the "bad" parts of town. Althought it is the Roman ghetto, it seems like nothing compared to the ghetto in Los Angeles. For the most part, it is an area where impoverished families live.


A quick picture of a large public housing building. I have never seen a building that housed so many people! The council housing authority manages this building where 5,000-7,000 people live. However, they do not maintain the property very well or invest in many improvements. This is probably due to the fact that the rent is so low (about $50 a month). Just recently, there has been talk of modernizing the area and making it a bit more livable.
Still, it is far from being anything near the dangers of the streets of South Central L.A.

On Top of the World

Another weekend, another adventure.

Kirstin and I finally lived out our long awaited trip to Paris, France. It was a short 3 night stay. Insufficient time to explore and learn, as I expected. But I figure it's better than nothing. It was more of an introduction to the amazingness of the city. It is by far my favorite city. It is absolutely beautiful, it has so much history, there is so much to see and do, the people are awesome and their language is beautiful! I can finally truly give thanks to Mr. Villeneuve for 4 years of high school French. I'm surprised I managed to retain what I learned 3 years ago...maybe because I fell in love with the language. Anyway, it was fun practicing again! And I hope to go back one day soon...

We arrived late Thursday night after another RyanAir experience. I made a friend on the plane this time. His name was Julien and he was Parisian. We spent a good deal of the trip conversing in four different languages. He also explained his anti-American sentiment to me and I agreed with his reasoning for the most part. He was of course talking about the typical American tourist who makes no attempt to allow the experience of travelling help them become a more cultured and open minded person. After that conversation, he let me listen to his French music on his CD player. No Manu Chao, but cool enough!
When we got into Paris, it was cold and almost raining. Kirstin and I had only light jackets since we've become accustomed to the heat in Italy. We walked around for a good while disoriented and looking for our hotel. We finally got there around midnight, grabbed some food at a late night sandwich shop, and got some rest for the the following day. We woke up to a gloomy morning, but we didn't let that discourage us from following through with our day plans. One of the best things about Paris is their public transportation system. It's extremely reliable and they have several lines that connect you to all parts of the city. We took advantage of it and proceeded with our day of sightseeing.


L'Ecoute
In front of Eglise Saint Estache is this giant sculptured head created by Henri de Miller.


L'Amour des Jeux
Paris is a candidate city for the 2012 Olympics. Several buildings and monuments are decorated with these signs of support.


Kirstin and I spent some time exploring the Louvre. We quickly discovered how huge of a museum it is.


We saw the statue of the Venus of Milo - a depiction of divine beauty.


Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in all of her enigmatic splendor.


Delacroix's La Liberte Guidant Le Peuple

After viewing countless other artistic masterpieces, we took a stroll outside to the Jardin des Tuileries.


Jardin des Tuilerie adorned with sculptures and its very own ferris wheel.


Relaxing by the pond.


Despite the gloomy weather, the jardin still preserved its charm.

We strolled around the city for the rest of the day until it became night time. One of the things that people always told me about Paris was that it doesn't get dark until really late. I finally experienced this phenomena for myself, and they were right! The sun stays up well through the day and evening up until about 11pm. That's when we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to see the city at night.


This is quite possibly my favorite picture in my entire collection. Once nighttime hits, Le Tour Eiffel lights up at the top of every hour and sparkles for ten minutes. It's almost magical..


A great way to end the day..on top of the world.

We woke up early on Saturday to take advantage of our last full day in Paris. Luckily, the weather changed for the better and it was much more sunnier and warm.
Our first stop was at the Notre Dame Cathedral.


In the square in front of it was a man feeding birds. He let me have some bread, and I gave it a try. The birds actually perch on your hand to eat the bread. I loved it!


Front view of Notre Dame - a Gothic masterpiece.

Aftewards, we headed over towards the Champs-Élysées.


Avenue de Champs-Élysées with the famous Arc de Triomphe at the top. The area is decked with designer stores and five star hotels.


Where else can you find such an enormous Louis Vuitton suitcase? Of course this is normal in the Champs-Élysées.


I have never seen Kirstin with a bigger smile than this.

So here's a funny story. Kirstin and I are walking to the Louis Vuitton store just to check it out. This older Asian man approaches us as we're walking and asks us if we speak English. We say yes, and he proceeds to talk to us in a thick accent. He asks us if we can buy a Louis Vuitton wallet for him if he gives us the money. Kirstin and I are looking at each other thinking that this is some kind of scam or joke, but before we can really consider anything the man pulls out 300 euros from his pocket and shoves them into Kirstin's hands. Then he shows us the wallet that he wants us to buy him and quickly explains that he can't buy another one because he has already purchased 3 and that is the maximum they would allow him to buy. We are still really confused, but the money is already in Kirstin's hands and the man seems to have no problem with it nor will he take no for an answer. He told us that he would wait for us at that spot while we go into the store because he didn't want the attendants to see him again. Oh and I forgot to mention that we were about a block and a half away from the store! It all happened so quickly that we didn't have time to say no, so instead Kirstin and I beging walking to the store a bit worried. Not sure what we were worried about...we just found it very strange that a little man had just shoved 300 euros into a stranger's hand and let us walk away while he waited for us to return with a new wallet. Being the honest people that we are (although it would have been vey easy to outrun the old man, pocket the cash and have a very nice dinner), we went into the Louis Vuitton store and completed the transaction. When we came outside, we found the Asian man and he appreciatively took his 300 euro Louis Vuitton wallet. All I wanna know is where do these people come from and what are they thinking trusting random strangers with 300 euros?! I mean he was lucky that we're nice people and all...or maybe we're just the crazy ones. Oh well, at least we can laugh about it now.


After hours of strolling through the Champs-Élysées, we reached the Arc of Triomphe.

I don't know if it's a good idea that we were lucky enough to be in Paris in time for the soldes, but we definitely took advantage of them! July is one of two months in Paris when stores are allowed to have sales. The government mandates only two months of sales per year - one in the summer and one in the winter. Stores can't mark down prices whenever they feel like it so when they do, they do it big! Shopping in Paris was an experience in itself and I absolutely loved it.

That evening, Kirstin and I had a nice authentic French dinner. The food was delicious, especially the Creme Bruleé! The restaurant owner was very nice and friendly, and he also owned a club on the Champs-Élysées. So he arranged a taxi for us and got us into this chic club complete with glasses of champagne. It was good times!

The next day before heading back to the airport, we paid a visit to the Musee D'Orsay. They offer free entry on the first Sunday of each month, so we were lucky to be there that day. It was another huge museum were we were able to see several works by artists such as Van Vogh, Monet, and Renoir.


This was our final view of Paris taken off of the Seine River from the Musee D'Orsay.

We finally said goodbye to the most beautiful city in the world and took off back to Rome for two more weeks. Here's to another great weekend!