Nearing the End

Hello all!

I can't believe we only have two weeks of classes left. Twenty-five days from now I'll be in Richmond, Virginia for the first time in 4 months! It's been a pretty exhausting week after nonstop visitors and traveling. I definitely miss everything, but it's nice to have some down time in these last few weeks in Roma! This weekend I'm only going to Tuscany for one night, so it'll be a quieter next 2 weeks travel-wise. School-wise, it's getting to the end so I have lots of finishing up to do with projects, pieces of work, and papers.

view of the basilica from a vatican window!

Monday morning I got up at the break of dawn (actually, pre-break of dawn) to get back into my yoga routine. All the craziness recently has gotten me off track, which I HATE! I've only been doing a few minutes of yoga or meditation when I can fit it in, so I've made a goal for myself to get back in the swing of things for the last month. I finished the 2 hour practice around 7:30, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed over to the Vatican Museum. Dave and Becky are patrons of the Vatican, so they emailed and asked if we could get a tour of the museum early morning.

Our tour was at 8am inside the museum. We got these special pin thingys so that we wouldn't have to wait in the line that was already forming outside the museum. I met my mom, Becky, and Dave with the tour guide, and we were on our way. We got into this ginormous elevator - literally it was a small room. It was as big as liiike a nice sized bathroom I would say (I'm trying to think of a comparison haha), with benches all around for you to sit and rest on the way to your floor haha. We took a seat, rode up one floor, then started the walk down the long hallway to the Sistine Chapel.

the last judgement

I was so excited because I hadn't been to the Chapel yet!! The lines were always too long, and it costs money..I knew when my parents visited they would pay so I was holding out haha. Also, since we were going soooo early in the morning it wouldn't be too crowded. We walked down the hall while the guide told us about all the paintings and artwork along the way. So neat!! At the end of the hallway, we walked into the Sistine Chapel. It was stunning. There were only about 5 or 6 other people in the room, so we could see EVERYTHING. We walked over to a side bench and took a seat, staring in awe at everything around us while the guide told us some cool stories about the chapel, different meanings behind the frescos, etc. It was so neat!! My favorite thing that I learned that I didn't know before was that in the Last Judgement (the big fresco in front of the altar), there are no women in hell (the bottom right of the piece). This is because Michelangelo believed that Love was the epitomy of heaven and goodness, and maternal love was the ultimate love. Therefore...no women in hell! Niceeee.

something i discovered while looking up -
"god created the sun and the MOON"
(if you will)

Our guide went to make a phone call about the next area we were touring and left us to stare at the ceiling. We looked around for about 20 or 30 minutes, moving around the room and pointing out new things that popped out. It was gorgeous. As the time passed, more and more people started piling into the room. By the time we left, it was getting pretty packed! I'm SO excited because Dave and Becky left me a patron pin so that I can come back to the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel) for free whenever I want! And I get to skip the lines and just walk right in!! My mom told me I have to come every morning at 8am...I don't know if I'll be able to handle THAT haha but I'm definitely going to take advantage of this awesome opportunity.

We left the Sistine Chapel and walked through different parts of the museum. We got to see sooo many cool things! Lots of works by Raphael since he painted a good portion of the Vatican, including his famoous School of Athens ( Philosophy) - one of my all-time favorite frescos. After touring that part of the museum, we headed to a little cafe outside in the courtyard where we met some other tour people who were going to take us on a tour of the restorations of ceramics and sculptures in the Vatican Museum laboratories! So cool. We sat down for some coffee and got to talking, and by the time I checked my watch it was getting close to yoga-class time, so I had to go. One of the guides shuffled me and my mom through the sculpture part of the museum so that I could see some things (like Lacoon and Sons!!!!), but I had to rush out and didn't get to do the restoration part of the tour :( Oh well, my mom took lots of cool pictures, you'll have to ask her about it!

I left the Vatican and headed back to my apartment. On the way, I stopped and picked up my rolls of film I got developed (the accidental color ones from Morocco and Turkey) so I'd be ready for photography after yoga. I ran by the market to pick out some fresh fruit, veggies, and mozerella, dropped it off at home, then was off to yoga!

I had an exciting class planned about Ayurveda that would lead up to Sirsasana (headstand), and I got to the gym early so I could warm up some. Sam was already there, so we were playing around like we usually do before class trying different inversions. After awhile I looked at the clock and it was time to start class, but Sam was still the only one there! We decided to just keep playing with different poses and catching up since it had been awhile since we had talked, which was fine with me - it just means I won't have to plan next week's class! I had a really nice time with Sam. It's always good to re-connect with people, especially if they have a lot of the same interests as you. It keeps your thoughts and actions in motion in a positive way when you're able to share stories and experiences that others may not relate to (ooooh the life of a yogini). So that was really nice and rejuvinating:)

I left a little earlier than usual to get to photography early. I had 2 rolls of black and white film I needed to develop, as well as the 2 color rolls I wanted to scan into the computer. Serafino was chaotic as usual, so I developed with Mary and Jess most of class. Near the end of class, Serafino got his thoughts together and taught me how to use the new and improved scanner he just bought. He was excited to see how my pictures would turn out, so he kept checking in and helping me. I ended up staying late because I was learning so much! He taught me a bunch of photoshop tricks that I'm going to work on later this week with my new pictures.

pretty roma!

Unfortunately, I was supposed to meet my mom at my apartment around 5, but I left my phone at the apartment! I didn't get home until 5:40 or so, and my mom wasn't there. I figured she hadn't left yet since she hadn't talked to me. I checked my phone and saw some missed calls from Dave, so I called him back. My mom was missing! They said they dropped her off near the apartment about 20 or 30 mins ago. Uh oh. I got my things together and right as I was about to go look for her, our doorbell rang. She had gotten dropped at the wrong Metro stop (one past mine) and didn't recognize anything, but ended up finding degli Scipioni (my street) and somehow made her way to my apartment. Perfect! We packed up all my stuff that I was sending home with her in a big duffel bag, then headed to her hotel.

They were staying in a new hotel for Monday night, and it was GORGEOUS. It's called Hotel Eden - the second oldest hotel in Rome (built in 1889...100 years older than me!). We walked into their room and it was THREE STORIES HIGH (yes, just THEIR room!)!!!! They had the lower level with Dave and Becky's bed and the HUMUNGO bathroom (full bath, separate shower, and separate room for the toilet), then there was a spiral staircase to the second level where a little study was with my mom's bed, THEN you go up the spiral staircase to the third floor where you open the door to a private terrace!! Haha it was crazy crazy. My mom and I took some pictures on the terrace, then we headed out to their last dinner in Roma.

I was practically still full from Sicily, but we went to a really cool place near their hotel called San Marco. We ordered a few pastas, a plain pizza, and some rice balls to share. It was soooo good. They're known for their pizza, which was definitely the best of the best (and we only got a margherita pizza). They told me about their cool experience in the restoration labs and archives (they had an archives tour that afternoon while I was in photo class). Apparently the tour guide pulled out a random document from a random drawer in the archives to give them an example of something, and it was the death warrent that the Pope sent out for Martin Luther - pretty much one of the most important document in history (that was so important in the Reformation). CRAZY!!! Their stories from their tours are so cool - definitely ask them about it.

For dessert we split some panna cotta, gelato, and tiramisu with strawberries. Mmmmm:) I was a happy camper. We grabbed a cab back to the hotel, said our goodbyes (miss you already mommy!), then I grabbed a taxi back to my apartment. I hopped in the taxi and was surprised that 1) the taxi driver was a woman and 2) she had a British accent. I asked her where she was from and got her complete life story - London, fell in love in Rome, kids, divorce, etc etc etc. I probably said 8 words the whole cab ride while she talked nonstop. She was excited because I was the same age as her daughter and my mom was the same age as she was haha. KEWL. She dropped me at my apartment and got out of the cab to give me a big hug, said some blessing thing that I didn't really understand (her accent got to me), then gave me her card in case I need a taxi again. Haha quite an interesting experience.

I got to bed around 1 (insomnia has been kicking in recently), then woke up Tuesday early for yoga (bringing back that dedication!) and class. We met at Piazza del Popolo, where we were supposed to meet last week before it got cancelled. We went ALL OVER today to make up for our class last week - started in Popolo, then Spanish Steps, Trevi, then took a 30 min bus to Janiculo Hill. The class was extra long (about an hour longer) to make up for last week - next week's will be too. We ended our class right around where I went to dinner with Dad, Zach, and India one night, called Antico Arco (do you guys remember??). How neat! The view during the daytime was just as beautiful as the evening/night.

After class, I walked home the same way the Zach and I walked home that night after dinner. It made me miss him, boo! But the view was incredible, and it was such a gorgeous day. I was listening to my new "yoga sunshine" playlist, smiling away as I strolled back to the apartment. I wasn't going to painting today because we're doing portraits (I'm doing one of India!), so I asked him if I could do this week's on my own time since my registration for Miami fall semester was smack in the middle of class time.

I got home and registered for my classes WITH NO PROBLEMS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! I switched my major (for the 5th time, yes) to art - I was most recently a double major of art and PR - with a minor in Educational Psychology...I don't remember if I wrote about that or not. This way I'll enjoy all of my classes a lot more, and I'll be able to graduate in a year! That's one semester early (since I took a semester off), which is pretty impressive considering I've switched things around so much haha. I have to take 2 summer classes (that are both 1 week long all day in May but count as 3 credits - so worth it) but other than that I'm all on track. Yay!

antico arco restaurant!

After registering, I went to Piazza Navona to sketch some for my art history class. We have a visual analysis due of the 4 rivers statue, so I planted down in front of it and started drawing. A group of kids touring (probably 4th graders) gathered around and quietly watched while I drew, they were so cute. The longer the stayed there, the closer they got haha. After a few minutes, one was even resting on my shoulder to check out the sketch! ilovekids. SINS. They waved goodbye when they left, which made my day. Cutie patootie Italian kiddies.

The rest of the day I forced myself to do some work. I worked on my visual analysis paper for the sketch, and started looking up some info for my other big paper due. I don't know how I'm going to get back into school-mode in Miami with the close-to-zero work I have here, but I'll find a way.

All in all, a great start to the week of recouperation! Love and miss you all dearly and dearly.

PS my camera's still sandy and not completely working from Morocco BUT I'll work on getting it fixed ASAP so that these posts will have more pictures next time :)