My time here in Rome is flying by! We’ve reached the halfway point now as I write this. I am excited about the prospect of being back with my friends and family for the summer and all the exciting plans that are starting to formulate, but the thought of leaving will also be sad. Even though I will be back in the fall, you start to get settled in one place and it becomes home and then you have to readjust to the pace of life in the States, etc. So, I will be savoring all of my time here for this last 5-6 weeks!
My last post took you up through Easter Monday and so now we are launched back into the orange zone that we got to briefly enjoy the four days leading up to Easter weekend. In a normal semester, students attend classes at the “Institute” which is a building owned by religious sisters just outside of the arms of St. Peter’s Square. You physically couldn’t be attending classes closer to the Vatican. The building boasts a fantastic view of the dome and into the square from its rooftop, which we will take advantage of once it is a little warmer.
But anyways Christendom hasn’t been able to have classes at the Institute since the fall semester of 2019, because the spring 2020 students were sent home so early and last fall (fall 2020 students) the sisters didn’t rent out their building due to covid. But I am glad to say that as of Easter Tuesday, we’ve ended that streak and have been able to have classes at the Institute again. We are here on Tuesdays and Thursday for Mass at St. Peters followed by theology class and then whatever Mondays and Wednesdays that Professor Magister (art history professor) has a lecture class instead of a tour. Since I am in the TA for the Art History and Architecture course, I stay at the Institute on those days and Margaret and Tim each have a day for Theology.
I usually still go to Mass on Tuesdays and Thursday though with the students and then will grab a coffee with Margaret if it’s Tim’s day at the institute. On Tuesday morning, we were gifted the most beautiful view of a rainbow above St. Peters on our way into Mass. We have been so lucky to get the Tomb of St. Peter altar every week so far and I hope I never lose that sense of awe that we are having Mass in front of the tomb of the first Pope!
There wasn’t much on the agenda for the staff that day, so Margaret and I went back to Balduina, grabbed a cappuccino and croissant and enjoyed the fresh breeze blowing in from my patio. My apartment gets cleaned on Wednesday which means I usually spend Tuesday cleaning it myself, doing my laundry and cleaning out the fridge and making my grocery list. I had a lot of cheese and tomatoes to use up, so I pulled out chicken from the freezer and made a chicken bake with a few types of cheese, garlic cloves, roasted tomatoes, and rice. It was really good, and I had leftovers for days!
I got the chance to have a long facetime with Emily that night catching up life and her pregnancy and then going over various chapters of the weekly devotional we’ve been doing together. If you are looking for a good reflection and thought-provoking journal prompts, I highly recommend Emily Wilson’s “Awaken my Heart”. We have both loved it!
Wednesday started with and Art and Architecture midterm at the Institute so I reported for duty. It actually gave me a chance to catch up on blog writing for about 40 minutes before students started finishing the exam and we ended up talking for the next half and a hour before their next lecture. We had some hilarious conversations; they never cease to make me laugh. Next on the schedule was the second of a two-part lecture series given by Sean Patrick Lovett. Last talk address inside information on Rome and its founding, and this talk was more focused on the happenings at the Vatican. I sat in the back of the classroom and it was a good lecture.
Back to the Balduina I went, only to discover that my apartment had not been cleaned because the schedule was off a day due to the Easter Monday holiday. Wednesday night we had a group dinner followed by game night for the students. That evening for group dinner we decided to do a deli bar and the students could make their own sandwiches. It was a hit, and we had a lot of variety, I was a fan! Afterwards we attempted a giant game of Mafia. I think all but like three students joined in which meant we had 27 players. It was a tad bit chaotic, but everyone had a great time and the Mafia won, which was a feat, I think. They only killed off one of the four Mafia, so I was victorious hehe. I actually hate being on the Mafia team, way too much pressure and having to keep a poker face but I had the whole staff convince I was a townsperson so that alone was a win in my book.
Thursday morning, we once again went to St. Peter’s for Mass and then all the staff went to the Institute for a brief staff meeting. Then Tim and I ended up staying and chatting with Margaret throughout the entirety of theology class and then making our way back to Balduina. I went grocery shopping finally because I was having a group of students over for dinner and then went up to Tim’s apartment for lunch with him and Margaret. We had leftovers from the deli night the evening before. We also started a new puzzle of Venice, but the pieces are awful and not good quality, so I got fed up quickly. I wonder if any progress has been made on it since. We completed the edges by the time I left. On Thursdays we have two hours of “office hours” where the staff is in their rooms if anyone has any questions or concerns or just wants to swing by and chat. Two of the guys who live in my building came up and hung out for almost a full hour and a half until I eventually had to politely kick them out so I can finish dinner prep before I hosted a room of guys over. But it was a great conversation, and I am enjoying getting to know the students better!
For dinner I had the three guys who live below me up for Taco Night! They brought drinks and dessert and we had our feast a good old American meal. They came up just in time for us to make drinks and enjoy the sunset. They were complaining that I am only one story higher than them and yet my view is so much better. One has to make a lot of food to feed three boys. I made a pound of ground beef and half a pound of chicken and there was nothing left just the extra toppings which consisted of lettuce, shredded cheese, tomatoes, red onions, rice, corn and beans, it was delicious and made a great salad the next day. Our dinner conversation was a long chat about RA life back on campus and what could possibly be done to improve it as well as the relationship between SAC and RAs, can you tell that members of both were present at dinner.
Friday was a long day. It started with a three-hour art and architecture tour of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, it’s baptistry and then the Scala Sancta that I had visited on Good Friday. It was nice for the students because they aren’t tested on the material for that tour, so they are just able to sit back and listen instead of trying to furiously take notes awhile also taking it all in. It was my first time going to John Lateran this semester and I was so glad I decided to tag along, it’s such a beautiful basilica and I don’t think I have ever been in its baptistry before, so that was cool.
After the long tour everyone was very hungry. I was invited by a group to grab lunch with them and then we had picnic in the park near St. John Lateran. Although it was Friday, we were inside of the Octave of Easter so you can have meat. Half of the group got Burger King and half got pizza. I was standing in line for pizza and then was given a fry by one of the girls and all of a sudden knew I was in the wrong line, so I got a crispy chicken sandwich and fries instead. It had warmed up about ten degrees from that morning and we found a sunny spot in the grass, so it was a really enjoyable hour-long picnic.
The students had Italian that afternoon, so we headed back after about forty-five minutes. It was Tim’s weekend off, so when I got back, and Margaret wanted to do something because she was bored. So back into the city I went, on a shopping adventure. We were on the hunt for sundresses but with little success actually. We went to H&M and both bought a pair of earrings and a clearance item and then we wandered down to Mangos and looked around. We then realized it was getting late and we were hosting an event, so we decided to start making our way back. We had been saying all afternoon that we wanted gelato so while we waited for the bus we hopped into Lemongrass (a cool gelato chain in the city) and saw an advertisement for a frozen coffee drink. Sadly, they weren’t serving it anymore, but the girl offered to make us caffe gelato milkshakes, oh my gosh guys, it was amazing, and I will be going back!
The girls had texted us asking if we could push back the event which worked in our favor because we wanted to buy some snacks, so we took the 913 bus instead of the 990 since it goes nearer to the grocery store and grabbed wine and chocolate for girl’s night. We decided to quickly pop into OVS as well since it is next door and we wanted to get face masks since we were planning a spa night for just the two of us the next evening. And we finally found some sundresses we liked as well! We bought ended up getting dresses that are this pretty shade of mustard yellow, just different styles. Mine is a knee length tiered dress and Margaret’s was this beautiful patterned maxi dress. Can’t wait for it to warm up a tad bit more so we can wear them around the city.
I had actually planned a different girl’s event for that evening but due to a scheduling conflict, it had to be postponed a week, so we decided to do a movie night instead. Earlier that week there had been a great debate about live action Disney movies on the girl’s chat, so everyone wanted to watch the newer Beauty and the Beast movie. Margaret and I had fun putting together a charcuterie board with some leftover ingredients from deli night as well as our addition of chocolate and strawberries. Ever since working for the catering company, I absolute love making creative displays with food, my hosting abilities have greatly improved now with fun snacks to match my energy for waiting to have people over. It had been a few years since I had seen the movie, and I just love the soundtrack!
Saturday was another jam-packed day. In the morning we had the opportunity to go to Mass at the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Travestere. I was so excited about this for two reasons: First, she is my mom’s patron saint is Saint Cecilia. She is her confirmation saint and then also born on her feast day. And secondly, this Church is usually a tough one to get inside because of limited hours and that has escalated because of covid, so when we heard of the opportunity to attend Mass with Fr. Glasgow, we shifted our schedule already to make it happen! It was so beautiful, one of the girls from the Angelicum played the flute as a communion meditation and the Church was full of leftover Easter flowers.
After Mass we had the opportunity to go down to the crypt to pray in front of the Saint’s relics and then actually go through the underground ruins of her house. The Basilica was built on top of the house of St. Cecilia and her husband St. Valerian. Her story is a beautiful one and definitely an example of perseverance. How much we can learn from these simple saints. After we stuck around in the Church courtyard and talked to Father and some students from the Angelicum. One of them, AJ actually graduated Christendom with me, so it’s been nice seeing him around Rome, we are often at the same Mass on Sunday. I definitely want to get to know more students at the Angelicum, it’s nice to hang out with other Americans.
Up next, Dr. Wunsch’s cappuccino tour! Since Dr. Wunsch is not able to come to Rome himself this semester, I had texted him asking if he wouldn’t mind sending me his list and notes from the cappuccino tour that he takes the girls on every semester so we can lead the trip on his behalf. Since we were out in Travestere, I decided we would first go to San Euchastio’s near the Pantheon. It is his second favorite one in Rome, I got a frozen coffee which was really good. I will be going back, that’s for sure. It was now lunchtime and everyone was hungry so we made our way to Piazza Navonna and grabbed some delicious sandwiches and several took the opportunity to walk into St. Agnes as it was open.
Margaret had to head back to Balduina to meet a delivery man for our event that evening so I led the group back towards Ottaviano so we could go to the original Castroni Caffe as our second stop but I accidentally went to the wrong one at first so we had to walk a few blocks further to the original one. Only to arrive and have the bar counter be closed. So, we split up so the girls could go shopping at Castroni. I took the few girls that remained with me to SciaScia which is Dr. Wunsch’s favorite coffee shop in Rome but the owner Scia wasn’t there sadly.
The bus took forever to come and I was so ready to get back and have a short break talking with Margaret before our next activity of the weekend: a Tuscan wine tasting experience! Since we can’t physically visit a winery right now, we did a virtual tour of a winery in Tuscany and they had shipped up all the wine and food to accompany it. Instead of being broken up into groups by room, I switched things up and assigned people to random groups. Everyone had a blast and really liked the wine. Our room was in constant laughter. The wine tasting itself was about an hour and a half but I stayed to hang out in that room for an additional hour just talking with a bunch of people.
After that Margaret and I had planned for our spa night and just some girl time the two of us. We had bought these self-care kits from OVS which included a hair mask, face scrub, and face mask. We didn’t want to deal with showering, so we only did the face scrub and face masks. Mine was aloe and cucumber scented, it was very refreshing. We brought my bed out into the living room to elongate the couch and used my mini projector to watch Dear John. It was a really nice way to end a hectic day.
Sunday morning was back to our routine of some extra sleep and then off to Trinita for 11am Mass. It was a quiet afternoon and then we had an optional group dinner potluck on Sunday night. Lots and lots of pasta, but it was all very good. When you are a student living on a budget, I don’t blame them for making pasta and it goes a long ways too.
And another week comes and goes. We are hoping that sometime this month restaurants will open up again. And then hopefully in May we can go on our pilgrimage week trip that we pushed back hoping the regions would open. Fingers crossed! Say some prayers that the students get to experience Assisi and Florence, it is usually a great week that we get to spend with the students.
Ciao,
Nicolette
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