Basilica di St. Agnese

Today I went to my first site visit for my class The History of Catholicism, we went to the Basilica di St. Agnese.

Saint Agnese was a Roman, Christian martyr of the first years of the 4th century. She died around the year 304 during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian just a few years before the legalization of Christianity under Emperor Constantine. Her martyrdom took place in the stadium built by Emperor Domitian (today the Piazza Navonna). In Piazza Navonna there is also a 17th century church dedicated to Saint'Agnese. Although this is a little brutal and detailed, for her prosecution St Agnese was supposed to be burned. Legend has it that she would not burn because her hair grew so long that it covered and protected her entire body. Instead of being burned, she had to be beheaded. For this reason, the symbols of Saint Agnese are fire and a sword. Her head still remains in Piazza Navonna today but the remains of her relics and tomb is in the Basilica di St. Agnese.

In addition to seeing the actual tomb of Saint Agnese, we also went into the catacombs underneath the church. Although I was with twenty-six other people, the catacombs still creeped me out a little. It smelled extremely musty and was very dark. The walkways were very narrow and on either side they had dug out shelves called "Loculi" where dead people were buried. After people were put inside of these dirt shelves, they were sealed with either cement or tile which was wrote on describing the person and when he/she died.

It was very interesting to look at the Latin written on the tile covering the tombs. I saw the symbol of Christ, a dove and an olive branch multiple times. The symbol of Christ in Latin almost looks like an uppercase P with an X written on top of it. The dove symbolizes the soul going to everlasting peace and the branch symbolizes victory. Therefore when it is written on a tomb it represents "victory over death."

Right after we left the church a wedding was actually about to start and we were able to see the bride and groom. I can't imagine getting married in such a beautiful church, it was neat to see. I have really enjoyed visiting the churches in Rome. They are by far some of the most interesting places in Rome, not only because of their extravagant beauty, but because of the stories behind them.

Week One of Core Classes

This week our school semester started for my program. Im enrolled in Ancient Roman Civilization, The History of Catholicism, and Women and Art. Each class has site visits in which the entire class travels to parts of Rome or cities in Italy. Sometimes they are during the actual class time and sometimes they are during the weekend.

My Ancient Roman Civilization course mainly focuses on the material remains located within the walls of Rome to examine the history, politics, economics, religion, social structure, public services, and various aspects of daily life in the city, from its beginning to the fourth century AD. Along with a few temples and the Colosseum, we will be visiting Pompeii at the end of November.

The History of Catholicism course begins with the foundations of Christianity in the teachings of Christ and St. Paul. We trace how the Catholic Church was formed as an organization and turning to central religious institutions such as the papacy and the monastery. So far this class has been my favorite. On Wednesday we studied scripture from the book of Matthew about Saint Paul. We also talked about the history of Rome and beginning of Christianity. In this class we will be visiting multiple churches and tombs, one of which including the tomb of St. Peter (which is accessible by special permission only).

My Women and Art course will be based around the Roman-born Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. It is designed to consider not only the life and career of this woman artist in its historical context, but also the impulse the study of her experience has given to women’s studies in the field of the history of art. This course includes a site visit I am especially excited for. It just so happens that this year an Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition will be held in Milan including almost sixty pieces of her work. (Which is extremely rare because her artwork has been dispersed throughout all of Europe) In a few weeks my entire class (around twenty-five people) will be traveling to Milan for the day to visit this exhibition.

I am still in the same Italian language class that I was in before my week break to Greece, but this is now a continuation course. The first course has already been completed and now we are starting a new one. Almost like we took Italian one for the first month we were here and throughout this semester we will be taking a less intense Italian class that be similar to Italian two.

Overall, I have enjoyed every one of my classes and also really like my professors. Each professor is very different from the other but they are all very enthusiastic about what they are teaching which makes the course even more interesting. The UC program is very intensive and has been known to be very difficult but judging from this past week I think I'm going to really enjoy this semester!

Yeia sou!

Now that I am safely back home in Rome, I can give a thorough description of my adventures in Rhodes. Since there are so many, I will only mention my absolute favorites.

I have to start off with my favorite topic, food. I would have to say my favorite dish of the week was the first night I was in Rhodes. We went to the restaurant called "Jason Inn" and the dish I had was called Chicken Souvlaki. Chicken souvlaki is pretty much a chicken kabob but had a seasoning that I had never tasted before. The chicken was cooked well and it had a faint hint of something sweet but spicy at the end, almost like cinnamon. My plate also had fried potatoes, carrots sautéed in butter that melted right when I bit into them, flavorful rice and fresh salad. The girls I traveled with (Maeg, Jessica, and Claire) and I managed to get thirty percent off of our meal and complimentary refreshment drinks! I started to fall in love with Greece that very moment. One thing about the island of Rhodes is that the Greeks LOVE California girls. Its very rare that people from the United States travel to Rhodes because it is so far away, but it is the perfect get away for Italians. Every time we told people we were from California the Greeks' eyes would get as big as saucers and assure us it was their dream to travel to California. The locals in Rhodes for the most part were very hospitable, generous people who wanted nothing more than to just sit down and have a conversation with us.

Secondly, I have to talk about my favorite city. Lindos by far takes the cake. I talked about it a little in my previous blog but a small description doesn't do it justice. Lindos is a little town pressed up against a hill consisting of nothing but lovely white buildings and houses. The city overlooks a harbor of white sand and clear, turquoise water. This is where I had my first hand experience living as a Greek, riding my donkey all the way to the top of Lindos. I rode my little donkey Georgio (pronounced as Your-go in Greek) up the cobble stone streets of Lindos overlooking the Aegean Sea. What more could I ask for?

Fortunately, I was able to do something just as exciting the following day. I went parasailing for the first time. My friends and I had been eyeing our fellow tourists parasailing day to day and we decided to finally go ask a few questions about it. After speaking with the man who signed people up, it sounded like parasailing was a bit pricey. We also only had three people who wanted to go which is a difficult number to accomodate to go all at once. After walking away and thinking about it for a little I decided this was really something I would like to do. After talking to Mauricio(the man in charge) for a little he was able to let all three of us go at once for a good price. He also mentioned that if I come back next summer I would be able to work for him and his company to rent out parasailing and jet skiis to tourists. So mom if I'm not in the states next summer, you'll know exactly where I am :) Anyway, we continued on our parasailing adventure. If you haven't heard of parasailing before, it is almost like skydiving but after you are closer to land and have already pulled your parachute. You are harnessed into a parachute and a speedboat pulls you as the wind lifts you to a decent height. It all happened very quickly, all the sudden there was a boat to pick us all up, we were harnessed in, and up up and away we went. The view was breathtaking, you could see the beautiful, clear Aegean Sea underneath my dangling toes and the entire west side of the entire island. To say the least, a sight I will never forget.

Just to top this incredible day off, after we went parasailing we all laid out on the beach and I suddenly spotted something very familiar. A big white volleyball. A few of the locals were playing by the water, and being the true Mascari that I am(I'll give credit to my dad for this one) I walked over and asked if I could play. More excited than I expected the locals George and Michael warmly welcomed me to play with them. My friend Maeg who was also at the beach with me saw us and also joined in. We had a good game going for about an hour, which definitely made my day.

Overall, the Rhodes island trip was a success. Fun activities, good food and great company. The island was one of the most naturally beautiful places I have seen in a long time. It was nice to experience a different culture, but I have to say my favorite place is still by far Roma. Although Rhodes was very relaxing to visit, I found myself missing the craziness of Rome.

Tomorrow I start my first official day of my semester. I have my Italian language course at 9 am and Ancient Roman Civilization from 11:30 - 1:30. I'm looking forward to beginning all of my classes and meeting my new professors. I will blog an update later this week about my classes and as they say in in Greece yeia sou! (pronounced YA-sue meaning hello and goodbye!)

A day in Lindos, Grecian style

First off I'm on a computer that costs a whole euro for just 20 minutes of internet, therefore my posts will unfortunately be a bit short, but to the point. Today is my fourth full day in Greece. I love the island and the beaches are absolutely gorgeous. Today we traveled to the city called Lindos and I did something I can safely say was a first for me, I rode a donkey. We only paid 5 euro to ride all the way up the mountain along the side of a hill over looking the ocean on a donkey! I was laughing the entire time thinking to myself, am I literally on a Greek island riding a donkey?? Our days have consisted of a lot of beach trips, a little bit of hiking, a lot of walking around cities, and a lot of eating and meeting the locals. Tomorrow we will probably embark on another adventure to a different part of the island. We might go to a place called the seven springs and hike a little bit. Yesterday we went to a beach called Kalithea which had a beautiful cove. The cove had rocks jetting out all over with a ton of chairs and umbrellas along all the rocks. Kalithea also had a little restaurant right on the beach and we ordered a few appetizers(one including calamari that was amazing)and drinks and watched the sunset. Although I have loved every second of our Rhodes adventure, being away from Rome has made me miss the city more than I expected. It will be nice to go back to the wonderful city of pasta and wine, but for now I will continue to enjoy the sunny blissfulness of Rhodes.

Rodos!

Rhodes has been amazing so far! Yesterday we went to the beach and had pita bread and hummus for a snack afterwards. Last night we went to Rhodes town and looked around at all of the shops. We ate at a little hole in the wall place that had gyros for 2 euro. It was my first time having a gyro and I can safely say it was the best Greek food I've ever had in my life. It has chicken, onion, tomatoe, french fries and a type of garlic cream sauce all wrapped in warm pita bread like a wrap. Today we went back to Rhodes town and shopped a little then found a little cove and swam in the water for a few hours. Tomorrow we are leaving for Faliraki which apparently has the best beaches on the island. We want to go snorkeling or to Lindos after we check into our hostel. Lindos has some of the island's ruins which would be really fun to see. The hotel owner at the hotel we are currently staying at mentioned that there are donkeys people can ride up the hill to the city of Lindos, might have to check that one out!! Overall, Rhodes has had gorgeous water, scrumptious food and welcoming people. Tomorrow shall be another part of our adventure that I'm looking forward to!

Its all Greek to me!

Yesterday I took my Italian language final for the course I have been enrolled in for the past three weeks. Although the exam was a little difficult, I now have a break from school for a week!! I will be leaving for Greece tomorrow morning at 10:15 am! The island I will be going to is called Rhodes(in Greek it is called Rodos). I'm going with two of my apartment mates and another girl in the program, I figured four was a good travel number :) For the first half of the week we will be staying in Rhodes Town which is located on the northern tip of the island. Transport to other parts of the island is very accessible in Rhodes Town so we are planning on traveling to different cities in the island like Lindos which contains a lot of the island's ruins. We are also planning on hiking Mt Attavyros which is a challenging 2-3 hr climb to the island's highest point (1215 m)!

For the second half of our stay in Rhodes we will be staying in Faliraki. Faliraki is a very popular area in Rhodes because of the beautiful beaches. There are seven different beaches located in Faliraki. I've been researching the best spots to snorkel in Rhodes and we hopefully will find a good deal to rent gear and explore the blue, clear Aegean Sea.

I will be gone for a full week and returning next Sunday. I believe both places we are staying at have internet so hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures and update my blog while I am in Greece. I can't wait to explore Rhodes and begin yet another adventure!

In the Footsteps of Michelangelo

Yesterday I finally made my way to the Sistine Chapel (Capella Sistina in Italian). I knew the Vatican Museum(which contains the Sistine Chapel) was going to be ornate, but I did not expect to see such an extravagant collection of art. It took around three hours to make my way from the beginning of the Museum to the actual Sistine Chapel. I couldn't possibly list all of the galleries or art pieces I saw inside of the Vatican Museum but I will mention some of my favorites.

One of the galleries inside of the Vatican Museum is called Museo Pio-Clementino wich contains Greek and Roman sculptures. I recently took a Greek Mythology class at UCSB so it was really exciting to recognize some of the Greek God sculptures and know the stories about them. The first Greek sculpture I recognized was of Athena with her famous helmet and aegis (a cape worn in ancient times to display the protection provided by a high religious authority).

Another gallery that stood out to me was the gallery of maps. The gallery of maps consists of topographical maps of Italy. It remains the world's largest pictorial geographical study. The gallery has an enormous ceiling covered with paintings of maps. The walls were covered in individual painted maps ranging around twenty by twenty feet in dimension.

Out of all of the galleries I went into, my absolute favorite were the Raphael Rooms. I have fallen in love with every Raphael painting I have seen, whether it is inside the Vatican Church or inside the Vatican Museum. The "School of Athens" was much more enormous than I imagined, the painting covered an entire wall. To imagine the time and dedication it took to complete such a masterpiece is amazing to me.

After three miraculous hours of seeing famous works of art, I entered the Sistine Chapel. Uncontrollably I felt myself take in a gasp of air. My head immediately fell back as I starred wide-eyed at the ceiling. Every corner of the chapel was completely covered in artwork. The "Last Judgement" which I had seen numerous times in my text book and in brochures was right in front of me. It was surreal to be standing where Michelangelo had once been. I starred, starred, and starred some more. I couldn't get enough of the artwork surrounding me.


Needless to say, the Vatican Museum did not fail to impress me. My first time going through the Vatican Museum will be a memory I will never forget. After our visit to the Vatican Museum, the group of friends I was with and I went to our favorite gelateria called Old Bridge. We all sat down in a park eating our gelato, silent with amazement from the artwork we had just seen. It is refreshing to be surrounded with people who appreciate and respect the artwork in Rome just as much as I do. Artwork is something that is timeless. To think I was able to see paintings that were created hundreds of years ago is baffling. I plan on returning back to the Vatican Museum throughout my stay in Rome because I simply could not fully appreciate everything in one trip. Once again, another experience that influenced me greatly. Living in Rome has been nothing short of extraordinary, I can't wait for what else the city has to offer.