When in Rome: Day 1 & 2
When people say that all roads lead to Rome it is hard to believe, but once there we realized it might just be true. Rome is a city where people kept building on top of each layer of the past creating multiple street levels and a rich history. As we journeyed from the train station to the monastery where we stayed, the streetscape would change from modern buildings and metro stations to ancient ruins and glimpses into the past.
Our first day started at 8am when we got on a bus and continued as we took a train to Florence then another one to Rome, arriving in the city at the perfect time to eat lunch together. At lunch we met a small dog friend named Sebastian and spent some time giving him love before getting back to business.
After lunch, we walked to the monastery, checked-in, and promptly met out front to begin our exploration of the heart of one of the largest empires, the Roman Empire.
The first thing we did was walk to go see the Fountain of the Four Rivers. The piazza that this fountain is in was a circus course in the past, which can be seen in the shape that the new buildings take along the border of it. It was fascinating to see such a large fountain and sculpture piece sitting in the middle of an otherwise open space and everyone had to look up in order see the top of the obelisk that sits in the center of it.
We did not stay at the fountain for long as we had so much to see this day, so we moved on to the next stop. That next stop was the Il Gesu Church of Rome, which was the first Baroque church. This is extra special because on the ceiling interior, there is a fresco painting by Giovanni Battista Gaulli that is so illusionistic that you can’t tell where painting ends and architecture begins, it is as if the inside of the church is opening to the heavens. This was so significant that the church’s magnificence changed how the Jesuits were seen. We then continued on to see multiple other churches this same day with other beautiful paintings as well.
As we got closer to the end of our first day in Rome we had one more place to see: the Pantheon. The Pantheon is located in a busy urban area and if you did not know what it was, you may walk right by thinking it is just another old Roman building. On the inside of the Pantheon is much hidden beauty, and to enter the building you walk through a set of doors which are the original Roman doors and extremely rare to see, so that was quite special on its own.
The first thing everyone notices when walking through the doors of the Pantheon is the iconic concrete ceiling. The ceiling has coffering that gets smaller as it goes up and a hole in the center which lets in sunlight. There are twenty eight columns of the coffering and five layers. Some people believe that the oculus in the roof is the sun or moon and the coffers represent the days of the calendar and moon cycle.
Finally, once done at the Pantheon, our first day of exploring and learning together was done, us students separated from the professors to bond and discover hidden parts of the city in our own ways.
Our second day of Rome, the Saturday, started with free time which we all used to go see a museum or other building of our choosing. Before we left for the trip, our professor Wladek gave us a list of museums and buildings that we were to pick from and visit at least one. Some people went to museums and others went to churches depending on what else they were doing during that free time and what was most intriguing. This free time did not last forever as we had another long day ahead.
Our first stop after free time was the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel where we had a guided tour and saw many iconic paintings. These paintings varied from School of Athens by Raphael to The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement by Michelangelo. All of us were excited when we got to see these masterpieces with our own eyes because we had spent the past weeks studying them and looking at them on our screens. The tour of the Vatican was only about an hour and then we headed to St. Peter’s Basilica.
St. Peter’s Basilica is the tallest building in Rome and you are not allowed to build anything taller than it. It is also the biggest church in the Catholic and Christian world standing at 192 meters long. The church is much larger on the inside than it may look on the outside and due to being built during the Baroque period, is heavily decorated with rich marbles and gold, there are almost no surfaces left undecorated within.
At the end of our visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, day two of Rome was officially over and once again students and professors parted ways. Some students went for pizza and waked around the city, and others went for dinner and drinks. Overall, the first two days of our trip to Rome were a success in both the learning and experience departments, and all of us students were becoming much closer friends already.
That’s all for now, stay tuned to read about the next half of our trip to Rome!!
– Scarlett Ambedian