When in Rome...

So excited to write this next blog… definitely just experienced my favorite weekend of Europe in the beautiful city of Rome.  SO much history there- I’ll try not to ramble on about every single thing I saw but instead hit the highlights that stuck out to me.

Woke up for an early flight leaving at 5:55 AM (vomit), but it ended up being totally worth it as it gave us an entire day to see so many things.  We just had chug a few expresso shots (coffee is NOT the same in Europe… Starbucks is going to love me when I come back to the states) to make it through the day.  The first thing we went to was the Roman Forum, where we walked around with a very unhelpful audio guide with a heavy accent but it was amazing to see nonetheless.  It was basically the downtown of Rome back in the day and is a bunch of ruins and ancient government buildings where they had public speeches, criminal trials, elections, etc and was built under the reign of Julius Caesar. 

The next stop was one of my favorite sites- the Coliseum.  It completely blew my mind being there and trying to imagine what it must have been like for the Christian martyrs who were killed here thousands of years ago.  Pretty disturbing and scary to think about a filled stadium of 50,000 spectators all cheering for your death, simply as entertainment for them.  It definitely challenged me to examine myself: Really- would I refuse to deny my faith in the face of death?  Of a terrifying, mocking, and cruel death?  I left the Coliseum grasping so much more the importance of abandoning our lives and will to God at all costs.  And how blessed I am to worship freely.

Our hostel, ironically called Hotel Beautiful, was NOT beautiful.  No air conditioning, tiny room with 4 girls in 2 bunkbeds, and the tiniest shower known to man.  Oh, and one of our friends got bed bugs.  I guess you get what you pay for.  But the location was amazing and the guy at the front desk would help us navigate to the places we wanted to see.  He loved my sharpie pen- guess they don’t have those in Italy!

The next morning we woke up early to beat the crowds to the Vatican, which is actually technically it’s own city.  Found out that it isn’t just the place where the Pope lives and gives addresses, but attached to it is St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel (which unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to get pictures of.  Has Leonardo Divinci’s famous painting with God and man reaching out to each other).  When we walked into St. Peter’s Basilica, we walked in just in time to sit in on a Mass and listen to the sermon.  The basilica was extravagant and had beautiful beams of light streaming in.  While everything was awe-striking, I pray that this is a place where people come in, all these tourists from all over the world who don’t know Jesus come in, and somehow come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.  That it wouldn’t just be a building with beautiful architecture honoring a man (but an amazing man at that who died for the sake of the gospel.)  That this wouldn’t be simply be a place of tradition, but that it would be a place where the true gospel is proclaimed and people come to know the Lord.  That people would hear the amazing news that we have been saved and redeemed by a God who humbled himself to death and paid the penalty for our sins, the penalty we deserved to bear, and that we no longer are under condemnation.  That there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation or earn the love of God because we already have it through the triumph of the cross.  We can’t sin less, or earn higher favor from God for trying to be a better person.  We are no longer slaves to that and His love is unconditional.   He is not a distant God who sits on his throne and judges us, but a God who intimately knows us and loves us and desires a relationship with his children.  May this message, the gospel, be proclaimed in this place.  But by far the most amazing thing was walking below the basilica to see the room under which Peter himself is buried.  I simply could not fathom it, and really still can’t.

One of my favorite things about Rome was simply the atmosphere.  Every night we would sit out at the fountains of one of the piazzas and just listen to the music, watch people socialize and eat just enjoy the ambiance of a typical Italian night.  Really chill time to just relax and reflect on the reality that we were enjoying a beautiful night in a beautiful city!

This next part was personally my absolute favorite part of Rome.  We visited the catacombs outside the city, which were underground tunnels where christians/christian martyrs were buried.  Something amazing that I didn’t realize was that the catacombs were also a place where Christians met in secret during the persecutions.  This was when the christians drew fish in the sand to communicate to each other.  The word FISH in greek is IXQYC which was used as an acronym that stood for Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior.  I learned a lot about the threat Christianity was to the Roman Empire and how amazing yet scary to think about what Jesus taught was something completely different than any other religion, than anything that had ever been heard- that it was growing so fast that the most power empire in the world felt threatened enough to take the extreme measures that they did in persecutions.  We got to see the bones (and even the hair) of a 13 year old girl who refused to deny Christ was preserved in the catacomb (apparently something about the humidity under ground preserving bones longer?).  Unfortunately the attack from barbarians destroyed most of the catacombs so not many can be identified.  It was so thrilling to think about how where I stood was where my brothers and sisters thousands of years ago met to worship together and learn together, and celebrate this amazing news that we have salvation through Jesus (but of course terrifying it must have been for them too.)

We went to Castel Sant’ Angelo after that where we didn’t know much about what we were looking at but it sure was cool! (Sorry I sounds super naïve and uncultured.)  It had a beautiful view of Rome on the top, with an especially great view of the Vatican.

We later saw the Spanish Steps, as well as the Trevi Fountain where I made a wish and threw a coin into the fountain.  Hope it comes true!

That night we ate in the area of Trastevere neighborhood, where we were suggested to go for an authentic, Italian meal in a non-tourist area.  It. Was. Incredible.  Exactly what you would think of when you think Italy: Delicious pasta, beautiful alleyways, accordians and violins playing genuine Italian music, the whole works!

Then of course we ended the Rome trip to a famous gelato placed called Giolitti, next to the Pantheon.  There were literally hundreds of people crammed in there trying to squeeze to the front to look at over 40 flavors of the most delicious gelato (and I had my fair share of gelato throughout the 3 days) my lips have ever tasted!  So fun and sooooo yummy.  Had our last night of hanging out in the piazza in front of the Pantheon just soaking it all in, not wanting to leave Italy the next morning. (And not to mention return to a week of 2 papers, 2 tests, and 2 presentations… oof!)  One of my most amazing weekends ever though, for sure!

Things I learned:

1) If you choose not to eat the bread they give you (because it’s not free), they charge you a service fee anyway.  We asked what that covered, and they said, “The napkin.” One of our girls asked, “What if I don’t use the napkin?” The waiter was not amused… Takeway: We’re cheap Americans and Italians don’t like that.  We probably should just suck it up and be cooperative with their expensive demands.

2) Don’t look at a postcard at a street stand and accidentally put it back in the wrong pile.  I got legitimately yelled at loudly and passionately in Italian (the dramatic hand gestures and all), which I actually received rather well considering it was on my bucket list to hear an genuine, angry and loud Italian

3)  There is Texas A&M graffiti at the exit of the Coliseum that’s apparently been there a couple years.  We took a senior whooping picture next to it... but it’s actually kind of embarrassing in my opinion.  It doesn’t follow our motto that “Aggies do not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do, or graffiti a world renowned structure.”

4)  3 gelattos a day keep the doctor away.

Coliseum

 C

Coliseum

aTm graffiti

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yummy gelato! Typical...

My favorite waiter in Italy! Such a precious man whose legit Italian!

Tortellini!

Pantheon

Mass service at St. Peters basilica