lunedì, gennaio 29, 2007

Excitement and Insomnia, Part II

Okay, I'm back! And rather tired. Whew.

So the first morning, as you may have ascertained, my alarm did not go off. At all. I remember waking up and groggily thinking, "Wow, it's really light out for 7 AM!" before glancing at the clock and realizing, with a horrified jolt of reality, that it was 9:20. NOT the ideal start to the first day of classes! The day got better after that though. Music Appreciation was enjoyable, though my professor went around and had us talk about ourselves, including our musical background. Upon discovering that I play piano, one of the girls asked about my favorite song to perform. Stupidly, I said Chopin's Minute Waltz on the piano... there's a piano IN the classroom. So of course Riccardo (our hilariously random professor!) asked me to play a few measures. At first he actually said, "Just a couple mausures," or at least that's how it sounded... he literally had to spell the word for me to make sense of what he was saying! I love all our professors' accents. Anyway, so I went up and played a little, and only after I returned to my seat did I realize that Riccardo was probably an amazing piano player. I immediately began to shake, which, oddly enough, seems to happen after a performance far more than before it! Thank goodness for delayed fear. So now I'm known as the "Piano Girl" which is unfortunate because he expects me to be one of the musicians who can answer all his questions. I hope I can live up to it!

The rest of my classes were great, and right after Religious Studies I joined a few other girls for my first Italian Mass at a beautiful church right up the street. It was very peaceful. That night, though, I didn't fall asleep until 3:30, and I had an 8 AM class. It was really frustrating... I felt exhausted, but my mind felt extremely alert. The next night was even worse! I lay in bed from 12:30 to 5 AM, completely awake but thoroughly exhausted. I got two hours of sleep that night, because of yet another 8 AM class.

So the next day, Wednesday, I decided that in order to sleep, I had to wear myself out COMPLETELY. And I succeeded, in spite of harsh weather. I decided that it was my mission to find the Vatican, because one of my life dreams has been to see St. Peter's Square. I can't believe I'm living a mere 20 minute walk from it now! (The location of the Hotel Tiziano is fabulous. We couldn't have asked for a better place to live!) So we set off, wandering down Corso Vittorio Emanuelle II, crossing the Tiber, and turning left onto the Vatican amidst harsh winds, freezing rain, and the occasional burst of tiny ice pieces, or mini-hail. Stepping into St. Peter's Square, though, made the whole thing worthwhile. I felt overcome with emotion, and just stood and stared for half a minute. The rain had just cleared momentarily, and it was beautiful! At the very center there was a gigantic replica manger set-up, with lifesize statues of the wisemen and Mary and Joseph. It reminded me of the one by the Grotto at ND, though it was much larger... which reminded me of that one night when I decided to befriend the camel. I'm getting really sidetracked though! The point is, St. Peter's is beautiful, and HUGE! The outside is lined by enormous statues of all the Saints, and there are two big fountains on either side of the central obelisk. It was so humbling to just wander around the square, particularly because there were very few people around. I think the rain drove a lot of them away, plus it was around 5 PM so most were attempting to get into Mass. After wandering for a while and taking a few pictures, the rain began to creep back up. Upon exiting the Square, I felt a sudden gust of wind emerge behind me.

I was wearing a skirt.

Yes, you guessed it. In an enormous WHOOSH, my skirt flew up in front of me! I can't even convey to you the level of morifaction I felt in that moment, and I frantically attempted to push it back down. I glanced around me right away, because there were a good number of families, and to my further chagrin discovered a middle-aged Italian man staring at me and then grinning as soon as he caught my eye. I have no idea how far the darn thing flew up or what he saw, but it was awful! I told Shaina I need to pray an extra rosary, haha. So yes, my first visit to the Vatican will forever be haunted by that memory. Alas.

Later that night, after my evening class and dinner, a few of us decided to go in search of Giolitti's and the Spanish Steps. This time, I put on pants. We set out, armed with three brave little umbrellas, and wandered down past the Pantheon, across the Tiber, and into the middle of nowhere. Looking back, I sincerely believe we left the Rome city limits! Unfortunately, another wind/rain/hail storm overtook us just as we started crossing the Tiber River. It was freezing and awful, but we just kept going! We finally accepted that we had no idea where we were and started heading back, when suddenly, there in the distance before us, were the Spanish Steps, in all their immensity! We hurried over to them, climbed all the way to the top, and stood, slightly breathless, enjoying the city lights. And as we stood there, I remember thinking, "Of COURSE we find the Steps right when we're trying to get home! I love it. Wait... how DO we get home? Er...." Nobody really knew, so we ventured a guess and turned right down one of the streets. Wrong. Backtracked, waved at the Steps again, and went left. Still no sense of direction! So we started turning down random streets, following Ellen and Aly, our fearless leaders. They later informed us that they only had a vague concept of where we were, though they answered each persistent "Do you know where we're going?" with very convincing confidence. Eventually we found our way back to a familiar street, which led us to the Pantheon! The relief we felt was indescribable. We were cold and exhausted, but enthused by the adventure.

I had no trouble falling asleep that night.

1 Comments:

At 6:57 AM, Anonymous Anonimo said...

Sarah,

I'm enjoying the blog. Keep on writing.

p.s. bring home some food.

Uncle Mike

 

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