Man's Real Best Friend... Maps

Not a whole lot happened during this past week, hence the lack of posts. Monday through Friday I was busy with school and various meetings so I didn't have a chance to venture around the Eternal City and see all the sites. However, I have adapted quite well to this new way of life; a life without washers and dryers, a life without a dishwasher, and, most of all, a life without a Dining Hall. Although these factors are more inconvenient than you may realize, it has been great experience. Having never really cooked before (or washed my clothes in a sink), I've been thrown into the deep end in a sink or swim situation... and I've done quite a decent job swimming. You could even call me Michael Phelps. I've basically cooked every single meal here except for maybe one free dinner and one lunch. Grilled prosciutto or mortadella and cheese sandwiches have become my specialty for lunch, while pasta and meat have become my staples for dinner. I bought some ground beef and made my own burgers, then used my leftover beef for homemade meat sauce. I've had chicken and pasta, eggs and pasta, steak and potatoes, and more. On top of that, I'm managing only to spend about 40 euro (probably less) a week on food taking advantage of bargain supermarkets and hitting up the open air markets for fruit (still don't do veggies).

But enough about boring day to day activity... this weekend I actually did get to see a lot of Rome. We had been talking about wanting to see this "Bone Church" that we had heard about, so I grabbed my best friend (a map) and planned out a little route that would allow us to see much more in that area. So, on Saturday, Sean, Phil, and I visited five churches, including the Santa Maria Maggiore, the Castor and Pollux monument, and the Four Fountains. The churches were absolutely incredible, each one vastly different than the other. The Santa Maria Maggiore was massive with art and sculptures bordering every surface. All of the ceilings are incredible, and I think they are my personal favorite area of the churches besides maybe the altars. We went to the Piazza della Repubblica and went into the Santa Maria degli Angeli, part of the former Diocletian Baths. This one had grand open spaces and larger than life sized murals on the walls and a beautiful arch by Michaelangelo. Following those two churches, we went to Santa Maria della Vittoria, containing the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, which was the worth the visit all by itself. Sean and I both enjoyed this one because it had so much going on all over the place, we just didn't know where to look. Finally, we visited the main event and our reason for the entire journey, that we called the "Bone Church" (really named the Chiesa Immacolata Concezione). Below this church was a cemetery/crypt that must've contained thousands of bodies worth of bones, which were used to make art and create various designs and things I couldn't really explain if I tried. No pictures were allowed but I did sneak a few (albeit poor) shots through the space between the buckle and material of my hat. It was really awesome and more than a little freaky, but I'm glad we went. So after feeling holier than thou visiting so many churches, we headed back home and called it a day.

On Sunday, it was whole different story. We all planned to go to the Via Appia Antica (Rome's ancient road) and ride bikes all around the area and explore. However, things did not go as planned because the area we were going to was outside our map's jurisdiction, meaning when we got off the stop we couldn't find the right bus so just decided to walk to the road. After walking about 30-40 minutes we asked some people for directions and they kept pointing us onward so we thought we'd be okay. But once we had walked probably 3 miles to a metro stop we knew we weren't supposed to hit, we knew things weren't as they should be. So we got on the metro to go back home defeated, but Sean noticed one of the stops said "parco appia antica" so we got off again, and headed back the opposite direction. Once there, we finally caught a break and got on a bus that took us to the road. Finally making it to our destination, we were very relieved and just wanted to start scoping everything out. There was a sign that said "Appia Antica" that pointed left so we followed, not knowing that if we went right it was the road too, and it was the direction we wanted to go. We walked about a mile or two down it and realized we weren't seeing things we thought we would so we turned around and walked back to the bust stop and went home. Ultimately, we did get to see much of the ancient road, but I definitely want to go back and see it again, without the miles upon miles trekked and the pent up frustration that was ready to overflow all day. All of this wouldn't have happened if had I my best friend, the map, didn't betray me.

Oh, and something I forgot to mention... on Friday I received a message from a friend of mine who has been backpacking all over Europe with a friend of hers for the past five weeks, and Rome was their final destination. However, their first day here they left to go to a market for 45 minutes, and when they came back much of their valuables had been stolen. Someone had picked the lock to their room and cut off the lock to their lockers and took my friend's passport, credit cards, and other valuables. Needless to say, they were frightened and asked if they could stay with us a couple of nights. I said yes, so Friday and Saturday night they stayed here and we got to hang out a bit in the evenings. It was great to see a familiar face from UCLA and catch up a bit. They are now staying in an all girls, ex-convent hostel so I don't think they could get much safer.