All Roads Lead to Rome

10/12 - 10/19

Oh Rome, where do I even begin. After our week in London, we flew from Heathrow to Roma, ready to start our month-long stay in the boot that is Italy. And let me tell you, the country delivered.

Fake designer bags lined the sidewalks and the warm sun shone down as if through a filter, grainy and soft. For seven days straight we walked, taking the buses or metro only a handful of times. The city is spread out but walkable, so we’d set off for entire afternoons searching for old ruins or art museums and walking until our feet pleaded for a break. From the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain, down tiny Italian streets lined with smart cars and Vespas we wandered, taking in the tope and light pink color palette that is Italy.

The three classes we’ve been taking are on hold for the next month while we’re here in Italy so we can focus solely on Italian art. What’s great is that our professor for the month, Dr. Carlander, believes in what I like to call ‘experiential learning.’ Translation? We have class once or twice a week for an hour or two, and the rest of the time we go on excursions to museums or walk the city on giant art scavenger hunts, searching for different pieces to absorb and experience. We sit in parks with our sketchbooks and watercolor for hours on end, feeling like real art students as people pass by and stare at our work.

For the first time in my life, I’m learning how to appreciate art, how to sound art-smart and describe it in its proper terms. After two crazy packed months, I appreciate the pace of life here in Italy. Still busy, but a self-inflicted busy because I can’t sit still, because there is so much city that I want to explore. My adventurous heart got the best of me after visiting the Pantheon one of our first days in Rome. Our leaders tossed us a map and practically pushed us out the Pantheon, begging us to get lost and explore the city. We obliged, of course, and found our way to the Trevi Fountain to get our bearings, walking a good chunk of the city in one afternoon. Rome isn’t what I expected it to be and, after re-adjusting my radar from England to Italy, I’m embracing the Italian life one hundred percent. Carbs and gelato, life for a week in a lived-in city. Some would call Rome grimy, I like to call it lived-in. It’s all about perspective, right? A few bits from my week:

Our classroom here in Rome is actually an old theater. An Italian filmmaker has owned it for the past 30 years and every morning before class he gives us a little speech, leaving us with a nugget of advice and an old saying about film or beauty or being yourself. We only half understand it through the language barrier, but he has some pretty great quotes that we made sure to copy down for future reference. His best to date? “Make sure to never become wives. I’ll still work here, like a cigar turns into a chicken” and “have you found an Italian lover yet?” (He expressed deep concern when we were lacking in the Italian lover department.)

Location: My room is on the fifth floor of Hotel Amalia, meaning I get to walk 110 steps up to my room from the lobby and 110 steps back down. I’ve boycotted elevators here in Europe (except when taking luggage into or out of hotels), so these stairs offer a mini-workout multiple times a day. Mini workouts and lots of walking mean I don’t feel bad eating gelato everyday, which I’ve been doing…and will continue to do for the duration of our stay here in Italy. I’ve been looking forward to Italian gelato for a looooong time, and this next month is going to be a good, good month. Our hotel is a quick two-minute walk from St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican, as well, which means I somehow ended up at St. Peter’s late every other night, enthralled by her grandeur and majesty. I spent time in conversation and time simply soaking it all in, staring at the magnificent church and remembering the thousands of years of history beneath my feet, deeply grateful for the opportunities swirling around me in this season of life.

We’ve been visiting churches like nobody’s business here in Italy, taking in the artwork and architecture of each building. There’s so much going on in so many of these churches that my mind goes all ADD, eyes flickering every few seconds to the next stimulus. Gold cherubs, swirled tope marble, pastel ceiling frescos. The churches are beautiful and intricate and nothing like American churches.

Seeing the Sights: Our week in historic, ruin-filled Roma was packed with excursions. St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, Capitoline Hill, the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, Circus Maximus, the Baths of Caracalla, the list goes on and on. We walked, we saw, we ventured, we conquered.

Did I mention that we heard the Pope (the one and only Pope!) recite a prayer in six different languages? Yup. He’s a boss, and it’s really cool that I can now say I’ve seen the Pope.

This is our life for a month, eating pizza and pasta at every meal, wandering the city for miles on end, questing in churches and commenting on the Corinthian columns and detailed reliefs. This month revolves around frescoes and ruins, around intricate relief work and mosaics.  I’m learning to appreciate space and beauty, to enjoy the meandering pace of Italian life and awake my inner artist from her sleep.

Some pictures from our week:

The group!

The Colosseum

Art in the park

Trevi Fountain

Sitting on the Spanish Steps at dusk after a good, hearty Italian meal, I felt full and content, enjoying the comfortable hum of conversation bubbling around me. I allowed myself to get lost in my own jumbled thoughts for a few moments, just enough time to breathe and hear myself think. This trip is a beautiful whirlwind of countries and cultures and schoolwork, of sights and laugher, of conversation and crazy memories I will be talking about for the rest of my life. I’m swimming in a sea of gratitude and thankfulness, for the little things in life, like the cheap light up balls vendors sell lighting up the night sky above me, to the big things in life. God’s overwhelming love, His unfailing grace, His unending faithfulness. The way he protects and strengthens me. The way His plan is so much bigger and so much better than any plan I could imagine. And the way he works things, on his time, and pops them into my life unexpectedly. I am a work in progress. I’m praying for God’s will to be done in my life, and I’m witnessing it unfold.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transparent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. -Sara Ban Breathnach

Dawn fades to dusk and another day is gone, leaving me with joy and thankfulness and another 24 hours worth of memories. I’m stocking up these adventures like gold coins, scratching my prose of thankfulness on page after page lest I forget one detail, one funny quote or the random gelato flavor I tried that day (lavender and white peach, anyone?). Each day here is heavy with the scent of God, an undercurrent strong and silent. It’s been a struggle to find quiet time on this trip – there’s always something to do or some place to explore, and my wanderer’s heart has trouble sitting still when I know Europe is out there waiting for me. I could use extra prayer and encouragement to put God first in that sense, because I know how important it is to be in the Word everyday. But God is so gracious, and I’ve been able to experience Him a little differently the past two months. When you travel, especially for an extended period of time, you get to see God in the eyes of a new culture. Our God in America is the same God of Europe, but sometimes He looks a little different. Before I left, people told me that religion was dead in Europe, and I wholeheartedly agreed with them. But being here for a few months, and traveling with a group of Christian students who regularly ask tough theological questions on the metro or around the dinner table, and experiencing many different religious traditions, I’ve see God, I’ve experienced His goodness and His faithfulness tenfold. Do I believe God is alive in Europe? Yes, yes I do indeed. Absolutely. Positively. Unequivocally.

Here’s to jumping overboard into a sea of grace and gratitude everyday, to appreciating every moment and always being on the lookout for a chance to pay it forward.