{"id":7181,"date":"2015-02-09T15:09:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T20:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=7181"},"modified":"2015-02-09T15:09:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T20:09:04","slug":"a-castle-a-gelateria-a-parmesean-bowl-and-a-few-piazzas-a-long-overdue-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=7181","title":{"rendered":"A castle, a gelateria, a Parmesean bowl, and a few piazzas (a long-overdue update)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve had two action-packed weekends and a two\u00a0weeks of classes since my last update! Time really got away from me, so I’ll split it\u00a0into\u00a0two posts.\u00a0Alas, here’s part one:<\/p>\n

One\u00a0highlight of the week before last was\u00a0going out with a friend on what would have otherwise been a dull Tuesday. We spent a little bit of time walking around St. Peter’s Basilica, but then meandered\u00a0down the street to Castel San Angelo. By the time we got halfway to the top of the castle, the sun was setting across from\u00a0the Tiber River. It was as magnificent as anything you could imagine. Someone was playing guitar, a young Italian man was playing with a dog, people were casually walking around without a care in the world, light from the setting sun and streetlights just turning on were reflecting off the water…and I was standing in a castle. When we reached the top it was dark outside, and we got to see the whole city lit up.\u00a0But more importantly, from the top of the castle, we spotted a crowd gathering around what\u00a0could only have been\u00a0Ed Sheeran — he was on tour in Rome that night!<\/p>\n

Okay, realistically, it was just a large group of tourists gathering to take a picture. But I like to believe it was my pal Ed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The view from Castel San Angelo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later that night, we had a dish called Cacio e Pepe at Sparta Roma in Trastevere. It’s tagliolini (a type of pasta) served in a bowl made entirely of Parmesan. And, yes, you can eat the Parmesan. Best believe I did. I also highly recommend the tiramisu! We had the pleasure of dining\u00a0next to\u00a0a Korean-Canadian student named Elvis, who has long dark hair, wore\u00a0a Misfits hat, and told us about how he’s traveling the world.<\/p>\n

Another exciting thing that happened two\u00a0weeks ago was attending the Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Church of St. Ignatius, Loyola’s patron saint. The church, like everything else here, was stunning (I’m quickly running out of adjectives). There were “fake” domes painted on the ceiling, made very convincing through optical illusion. For this reason I spent a lot of time looking upwards during mass…which is totally appropriate in a religious setting, if you think about it. The sheer size of the church, still with so much attention to detail and symmetry,\u00a0was unlike anything I’ve seen before.<\/p>\n

While many people went on their first trips, I spent last weekend exploring Rome.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a\u00a0friend (shout-out to Val!) helped me discover my favorite gelateria in the neighborhood: Il Pelicano. For the past week I’ve found a way to incorporate it into nearly every conversation. I’m telling you, it’s nothing short of divine. It’s not enough to say that the flavors are wonderfully rich and creamy. The gelato is dipped (dipped!) in chocolate (chocolate!!) and nuts, and topped with whipped cream.<\/p>\n

\"Rome<\/a>
Gelato from Il Pelicano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After we indulged in the divine, Val and I\u00a0were taken under the wing of an American student named Grace who attends a\u00a0nearby university. She guided us to Via Del Corso by way of the Metro, where we popped in and out of stores until finally we reached Piazza del Popolo at sunset. A guy was playing the electric guitar in the middle of everyone bustling around, a tall Egyptian Obelisk\u00a0towered over the scene, and it felt like we had just discovered this incredible secret that’s been hidden from\u00a0the outside world. Piazza del Popolo truly feels like the “People’s Piazza” – not necessarily a piazza for tourists, who\u00a0so many of the other piazzas seem to serve.<\/p>\n

We ventured to a lookout above Popolo called Piazza Napoleone and were rewarded with a serene view of the city. The clouds had parted just enough for us to see the sun setting directly behind the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. I could faintly make out the tune of “Stairway to Heaven” being played in the piazza below. “TI AMO” — “I love you” — was sprayed in giant black letters on a sidewalk. I reflected on how I’d started my day with absolutely no plan in mind, yet we hadn’t\u00a0gotten\u00a0lost for a single moment. And I realized that’s the secret\u00a0to adventure: If you don’t have any idea where you’re going, you can’t get lost.<\/p>\n

That\u00a0revelation\u00a0somewhat eases the pain of the fact that I also have no idea what I’m going to do for the rest of my life (yay college years!).<\/p>\n

\"Rome<\/a>
Sunset over Piazza del Popolo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next day, I ended up in Piazza del Popolo again with a different group of friends. This time, a man was entertaining children with a giant bubble maker, someone else was playing acoustic guitar, and people were sitting around everywhere, content, simply enjoying the moment. Behind the lookout on Piazza Napoleone we explored\u00a0Villa Borghese, a huge green and lush park. We wandered around for a long time, past a dog park, a zoo, and the National Museum of Modern Art. Throughout the Villa there were busts of many of the most influential people in history… Cavour, Machiavelli, and Marco Polo to name a few. We walked through a free museum that had no art in any\u00a0room except for one. This one displayed the art of refugees from all around the world. The artists scavenged tons (literally, tons) of garbage around Rome to piece together collages of\u00a0monuments in\u00a0this city. The art looks simple, but its message is\u00a0powerful: a humble ‘thank you’ to the city that has taken them in.<\/p>\n

Sunday, after finding out that the Keats-Shelley museum I’d set out for was closed, I treated myself to gelato and sat on the Spanish Steps for a while. Then I traipsed\u00a0through Villa Borghese (again) to the National Museum of Modern Art. My favorite parts were the cracked-mirror floor in the entrance and the massive statues in the classics and mythology section, particularly one depicting a mother smiling at her infant with the most joyful, uninhibited expression. I also spotted\u00a0a few famous works by artists such as Warhol, Cezanne, Monet, Clemente, and Magritte. I’m not an art scholar by any means, but I enjoyed being swept up in comparing the styles, color schemes, lighting, and contexts of all the paintings.<\/p>\n

This is where I’ll leave off and begin crafting a post about this past week – I’ll try to post more often so I don’t have to keep making ridiculously long ones!<\/p>\n

A dopo, ragazzi!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve had two action-packed weekends and a two\u00a0weeks of classes since my last update! Time really got away from me, so I’ll split it\u00a0into\u00a0two posts.\u00a0Alas, here’s part one: One\u00a0highlight of the week before last was\u00a0going out with a friend on what would have otherwise been a dull Tuesday. We spent a little bit of time … <\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}