Introducing the 2021 Spring Romers

On Thursday morning, into our community room walked twenty-six eager, yet jet-lagged students. They caught the staff a little off-guard because when we were going through the covid testing, border control and baggage claim it took us about two hours but we were also arriving on a weekend. The students zipped through and arrived around 10am to the Residence. Tim greeted the students on the street, Katy and Margaret checked them in and gave them their keys and I showed everyone to their apartments. 

The students then had some time to grab lunch,  unpack and settle in before orientation began that afternoon. Orientation takes two days but is split into multiple short talks so you can absorb as much information as possible. We also led them on a tour of the neighborhood and showed them where to get groceries. We provided the students with group dinner and group breakfast that next morning but after that they are on their own! 

Amidst all the orientation talks, we took the students on Friday afternoon to see the grandeur of St. Peter's for the first time. Again, we were greeted by an empty square and no line. It's almost like watching a little kid on Christmas when these students step foot in the Basilica for the first time. They spent about an hour wandering about with craned necks taking it all in. They had time to explore on their own and visit the various side altars before we gathered together again for the 5pm daily Mass at the main altar. My favorite comment of the day was the disbelief that they could come back to St. Peter's as frequently as they wished. And twice a week throughout the semester we will be attending 8am Mass at the St. Joseph altar. 

Students were given the chance to stay in the city and wander around if they wished. Tim brought a group of them to the phone service store to buy SIM cards and Margaret and I brought back a few students to the Residence. Tim being sent on a different task was the perfect excuse for us to start preparations for his birthday dinner. He didn't want a big deal made out of his birthday so we were just going to do something as a staff. I was trying to setup a movie in the Sala for the students while Tim's cake was baking in the toaster oven in my apartment and long-story short, thanks to some technology problems, I missed my timer and the apples on the top of the cake were a little-bit crispy by the time I could come to the rescue. Margaret made a Friday-friendly cheese quiche and I brought my apple torte and then we made Moscow Mules! Then we proceeded to play another competitive game of Phase 10. A good way to celebrate turning 23 in Rome, considering that we can't dine-in after 6pm. 

The next morning I led an optional walk/run to the bike path for some students. The weather was really nice and since you don't have to wear a mask while exercising, we could breathe some fresh air! That was the best part. The bike path begins about a 6-7 minute walk from our Residence, right at the train station. It goes on for a while, so a perfect place for running. There is a great overlook where you can see the dome of St. Peter's which is about a 20 minute walk from the train station.

Following that, all students gathered in the community room for our final presentation of orientation: transportation in Rome. And the best way to learn how to get around the city is to practice so the whole group is divided into teams of 5-6 people and are sent out on a city-wide scavenger hunt. They are usually gone for anywhere from 7-9 hours. There are twenty plus tasks to accomplish and you get points every time you use a form of public transportation. For those who don't know, there are four types of public transportation in Rome: bus, train, tram and metro. It also meant the staff had the day to ourselves. We had scheduled a lunch with our assigned seminarians and deacons from the NAC. It was a great time! And I finally got to have some Carbonara, which is my favorite type of pasta dish in Italy. Lunch was followed by some delicious tiramisu. We said goodbye to the seminarians and look forward to our first group event with them this coming weekend. There's a great catch-all store near the restaurant, that we frequented when I was a student, called Tiger. We all had a few things we were looking for and everyone walked away happy. Some of our purchases included: string lights, a cheese grater, watercolor pencils, and Margaret finally found a milkfrother, so we each have one now. After that, I went back to my apartment to take a much needed nap and got caught up on some personal things and then had a good Gilmore Girls session on my balcony, wrapped up in my blanket with my brand new twinkle lights. It was a really nice reset day. 

On Sunday, most of the students joined in on our optional trip to Sancto Spirito, which is a Church two blocks from the Vatican that is taken care of by the Divine Mercy sisters and offers Sunday Mass in English. After that, the program treated everyone to gelato at Old Bridge on the other side of the Vatican walls and then we recommended a great place to get sandwiches. It was the same place we had ordered from on our first night in Rome. 

Margaret and Tim then led a group of students back to the Residence while I took the opportunity to go visit a few of the sites in Rome proper. The students got to see them all during their scavenger hunt adventure the day before, but I was desiring a trip to see the Bridge of the Angels, Andre de Valle Basilica and Piazza Navonna. So I took my sandwich with me in my purse and set out on foot to just explore. It is still crazy to me that I have been gone for so long but just happened to walk past the St. Andrew the Apostle Basilica and instantly recognized it. It had been one of my favorites when I was a student; a group of about 5 of us discovered while seeking shelter from some heavy rain, we walked inside and were blown away. Sadly, I kept walking into Churches and they would have Mass going on so you can't visit. I guess that was my poor planning when setting out on an adventure late Sunday morning. I will be back! 

But I was able to go into the Church of St. Agnes, in the Piazza Navonna, which usually has pretty limited visiting hours, because I walked in with five minutes left in Mass. I took a seat in the back and waited for it to end and then was able to visit all the various side chapels. I had been asked by a friend to visit there and pray for her and her soon-to-be-born baby girl as St. Agnes is her patron saint. So I did that and lit a candle for their family. If anyone else has a particular devotion or favorite Church here in Rome where they would like me to pray for them, please let me know and I would be more than happy to do so. Gives me a reason to go and discover more Churches, I am all about it! 

But then it was back to Balduina because I was teaching a Cooking Basics class for the students at 6pm. They are responsible for their own meals here and some of them have little to none cooking experience, so we talked through a couple of simple menus and ingredients to have on hand and then we prepared two different dishes: a simple pan chicken with roasted potatoes and then also a spaghetti bolognese. We had some audience participation and a great time was had by all. I did the class in the Sala which was a challenge since it lacks a kitchen so we were using the burners on the tops of toaster ovens so it was a little bit of a long process, but everything turned out great eventually and all the students got to try some of the food, along with focaccia bread and wine to tide them over while everything was cooking. A second class has already been requested. 

After cooking class, Margaret and I figured out who won the scavenger hunt by tallying up all the points. We planned to announce the winner at the next group meeting. And then it was off to bed, it had been a long and productive day and we had an early morning tour the next day. 

Monday morning rolled around and that meant the beginning of classes for the students. First up, Art and Architecture, which was my favorite class when I was in Rome. Every year the first tour the students go on is the tour that begins at Piazza del Popolo at the twin churches, which in ancient times would have been the entrance to the city of Rome. From there, they proceed to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and end in the Piazza Navonna. Sadly, it was umbrellas up as there was some light rain throughout the three hour outdoor tour. But it truly reminded me of my semester in Rome, so it was kinda nostalgic. 

In the afternoon, the students had their first class for Intensive Italian. They have it for several hours each day of their first full week in Rome to try to get a handle on some of the basic phrases and grammar. That evening the students participated in a "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" party. The day before each room was assigned one of the three categories: appetizer, main course, and dessert. The room who was assigned main course would be the host room but they didn't know what room they would be going to until 15 minutes before the party begins. They seemed to really enjoy it!

While the students were busy doing this, I had been hanging out in Margaret's room. We had three student birthdays in the span on two days, so we were making birthday cards and got some flowers for the one girl student (plus two plants for ourselves) and chocolate for the boys. Around 7pm, we decided we better get to making our own dinner. We decided to make gnocchi! I haven't made it since we were taught it at our own Italian cooking class in 2018 and Margaret had never even had gnocchi, so we googled a recipe and got to work. There are a few improvements we would make next time, like adding more flour than the recipe calls for as the dough was still a little sticky, but the end result was AMAZING! We will certainly be making it again, it is a slightly time consuming process, we didn't eat until about 9pm, but it was worth it. It is simple to make, you just have to wait for the potatoes to cook, which took longer than we anticipated. And we made a wonderful pesto and tomato sauce to accompany it. 

Tuesday morning the students once again had Intensive Italian with Miss Ott, but the RCs were free so we went on a scouting trip to Castel Gandolfo, about a forty-five minute train ride from Rome, home of the Pope's Summer Residence and a beautiful lake. We are taking the students there on Saturday and none of us had ever been, so we went to check it out. We only stayed for about two and a half hours, walking around and then grabbing a nice lunch together. I will talk about this more in the next post once we go with the students. 

We got back just in time to metro and bus back to the Residence, pick up a group of students and then practically retrace our steps while leading them to the Station Church of the day. Each day during Lent, Station Masses are held at a different Church inside the city of Rome. That day it was held at the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana, which is recognized as the oldest spot of Christian worship in Rome. What a great place for the students to go for their first station Mass of the semester. We had about 7 students with us, but met up with a bunch of other students on the train ride home. They had been out celebrating the 21st birthday of two of the students. Then back to the Residence, where we played group games for the remainder of the night. The students taught me a game called Werewolf which is a slightly more complicated version of Mafia. 

The next morning I got up a little after 6am to catch the bus to make it to 7:15am low Mass at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, which is the Fraternity of St. Peter's parish in Rome. It was one of my favorite places to frequent when I was a student, specifically during Holy Week. It was such a peaceful start to my morning, but there was no time to sit in a cafe and enjoy a cappuccino afterwards because I had to rush back to my apartment to host a staff coffee party with Sean Patrick Lovett who was coming to give his first of two lectures to the students. He is known for his work at Vatican Radio and now works for Rome Reports. The students spent the afternoon in Italian class and the RCs prepped to host their own small group over for dinner.  I made lemon garlic breaded chicken and linguine. After dinner I introduced my small group to the game, Decrypto.  Mercy and Sully taught it to me over Christmas and since then, it has spread like wildfire through our extended friend group, it is so much fun! I highly recommend trying it, the best way I've come to describe it is a combination of code names and taboo. 

Coming up in the next update: our visit and tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum, more Church adventures and our visit to Castel Gandolfo. And sadly some new covid restrictions that are supposed to begin on Monday. But for now, we are taking fully advantage of the weekend ahead of us!