O, Well, When In Rome. . .Go On

Do as the Romans do? It's an old expression. -- Veronica Mars

Oh! I've never heard of it. -- Ron Burgandy


Roma! I'm back and ready to tell you guys all about it. It was quite the running adventure. Myself, and yes, 6 girls, did Rome in 3 days. It was enough time to get a good effect, not enough to get the full effect I suppose. I will explain my favorite parts shortly, but here is the run-down of everything I saw:

Day 1

- St. Peter's Square
- Vatican Museum
- Sistine Chapel
- Vatican Guards (as seen to the right)

The Vatican Guards wouldn't let me take a picture with them; I wouldn't know why :) The Sistine Chapel was indeed quite the sight to see. You weren't allowed to take pictures, but I didn't use my flash; so that is okay, right? I got in trouble for taking pictures twice. The photo below is of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment," a work he completed some 30 years after(1541) he completed the chapel ceiling in 1512. You can also see one of the many ceiling depictions of Jonah and the large fish, or whale, in the central part above. It was a very cool experience. You enter after going through the Vatican Museum and immediately the mood changes, as guards mosey around shushing the crowd and yelling, "No pictures," to college kids trying to sneak them. I spent an hour trying to take it all in, walking the length of the chapel, straining and craning my neck to feel the power of the Bible in story-board format.

Day 2

- Portese Porte (famous market, bought myself a euro-coffeepot!)
- Circus Maximus (the Romans marching above, something we stumbled upon)
- Palatine Hill (where the rich used to live)
- Colosseum!
- Arch of Constantine
- Arch of Titus
- The Pantheon
- Della Palma, Gelato di Roma (indecisive overload, seriously over 100 gustos!)

Yep, I was absolutely exhausted after day 2! The theme of this day was definitely, things you think about when you think of Rome. Very cool to be wandering around shops, and then op, here a ruin, there a ruin. I didn't really have a favorite this day, but have since ordered Gladiator from Amazon, the Colosseum inspiring me to pay international shipping fees. So, it's got that goin' for it :)

To the left is me standing by the Arch of Titus, the entrance to the Roman forum, the old sector square and markets. This pictures gives you an idea of the grandeur of the city--so much size, so much history!

Day 3

- St. Peter's Basilica
- Vatican Day procession (of some sort, Pope not seen unfortunately)
- Roman Forum (including Julius Caesar's grave)
- Mamertine Prison (where Paul and Peter were once imprisoned)
- Trevi Fountain

Here I am in the Mamertine prison, near the Roman forum. Although, it may be more legend that Peter and Paul were once prisoners there, it was an atmosphere reminiscent of prisons they actually were in--dark, cramped, mildewed. It was cool to see an atmosphere Paul wrote some of the letters of the Bible in. In the picture you can see the post they were supposedly chained to, and a basin of water, used to baptize new followers of Christ. I was a fan of this low-tourist "attraction," even splashing around in the basin a bit, still containing water :)

Currently Liking:

1) Book--"Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller. Good reads centering on our relationship with Jesus, and how the Bible isn't a "formula" to follow.

2) Music--"When in Rome" by Nickel Creek. Sorry, had to say it :)

3) Movie--"Catch Me if You Can". A feel-good classic.

4) Sport--Fútbol. Champions League is currently going down, with teams like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Roma, Arsenal, shall I go on? Barcelona, Manchester United...even for me with my limited knowledge of soccer, this is exciting stuff. I watched Barcelona take down Celtic on Wednesday night with some of the guys--very fun!


Prayer Requests:

1) Praise, traveling with 6 girls proved to be very blessed by God. I was able to get enough alone time away from them that I didn't really get frustrated once.

2) Prayer and Praise, making friends with the guys is coming along.

Buena!

alé

A Gentle Lioness

No te preocupes (don’t worry), I’m still in Spain. It has been two weeks since my last post, and it looks like I will try to blog about once every 1 ½ weeks. My weekdays look very similar, but I will be traveling a lot during the weekends, so most of my updates will cover my travels on the weekends.

This past weekend, a week ago now, I journeyed to Sevilla, Spain—another southern, Andalucian city. It was decently similar to Granada, while it also had several evident contrasts. Maybe the most pertinent difference, or impertinent for me, was that Sevilla has several (I saw three) Starbucks. Our group was pretty excited about that. I stuck to the standard 1 Euro café con leche (coffee with milk), rather than paying 5 Euros to be back in America. The Starbucks is also representative of the fact that Sevilla is much touristier (a word, fun) than Granada. We heard a lot of English in the streets; even most Spaniards we encountered spoke decent English. In comparison, I am very glad of my choosing Granada as a program location; I will come away from Spain much more cultured, espero (I hope).

Probably the most renowned site to see in the city is the Cathedral of Sevilla. It is actually the third biggest cathedral in the world, behind the one in Roma and Londres (London). It definitely lived up to its size, with cavernous Gothic navels and plenty of golden-papered ornamentation. The nighttime picture is in a plaza, the tower in the background is la Giralda, which is a bell tower juxtaposed to the corner of the cathedral. Maybe the most prestigious site we saw was Christopher Columbus’ tomb! O, you know, the guy that discovered Haiti? The word from the culture class at CEGRÍ was that a DNA test had proven the remains to actually be him, discrediting all speculation that it is a farce. So, at least part of Columbus is in the church. Qué chulo! (how cool!) Here we are in front of the bronze sarcophagus of 4 heralds bearing the coat of arms of the 4 nations united under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella, constituted the kingdom of Spain:



Another attraction in Sevilla is the Guadalquivir River where kayakers/canoers can be seen all day long with their coaches yelling at them in all sorts of languages from motorboats. Why Scandinavians and the like come all the way south to practice, I’m not sure, but would guess it has something to do with the weather. We enjoyed brisk January days, averaging about 64 degrees all weekend :) The water is also crossed by several cool looking bridges, the Puente del Alamillo seen here with its white boomerang figure. * Notice the fisherman with his ginormous fishing rod.

Overall, it was a pretty fun weekend, and my first travel experience outside of Granada! I am glad to have visited Sevilla, but am also glad to be back in Granada. I chose to stay in town this weekend and relax; especially since I leave for Italia next Saturday for a week-long stay, should be good. The picture here is of me in the gardens near Plaza de España. Alexis described the pose as one of a gentle lioness. The Plaza across the street, where the very first and last picture-bookends were taken, is a recently built area, in the 1900's. A scene from "Lawrence of Arabia" was actually filmed in there, so it is at least a 50 year old structure. It's old looking nature makes it hard to tell when it was built. In the middle of the semi-circle plaza is a fountain surrounded by murals of all the big cities in Spain. I got my picture by the city of Granada, claro.

Currently Liking:

1) Book--"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakaur. A fantastic, thrilling read. However, not the best book to read while feeling "alone" in a foreign country.

2) Music--"Sunrise" by Norah Jones. This is like my European theme song!

3) Music--"See the World" by Gomez. Like the sound, the title is pertinent :)



Prayer Request: I ask for prayer in the area of fellowship, especially with the other guys on my trip. It is proving a little hard to get to know them, as classes and meals take up a lot of the day, until 8:30pm for some; and also, everyone travels to many different areas on the weekends.



Muchas Gracías,

alé