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Day 18 (6/22/11):
Jackie wanted to visit the Colosseum this morning, and since I had already been, I decided to go check out the San Giovanni church instead. WOW!! I had no idea we lived just down the street from something so beautiful! There was so much detail in everything, and gold all over. Even the ceiling was heavily adorned with detail and objects that appeared too heavy to hang! I listened to one of the audio guides in the back of the church, and it was very helpful in understanding what the church was and learning more about the detail of the inside.
Across the street, I went inside a small building that I saw some people walking in and out of, and discovered the Scala Sancta (also: Scala Santa)! I had heard of this before from a colleague, but didn't know where it was in Rome. It is a rather large staircase that can only be walked up on one's knees. It is a Roman tradition that if you are a true Roman Catholic, you must climb the stairs on your knees in repentance of your sins. At the top is a chapel with some depictions of Jesus and Mary. There were several people on the stairs, slowly advancing after saying a prayer on each step. I didn't have much time, so I decided not to climb.
A short while later, Jackie and I met up at our apartment and walked over to Piazza Venezia near the city center. It is a GIANT building, and one that most Romans think is an eyesore in the center of their beautiful city. Personally, I have been using it as an easy-to-spot reference point for where I am :o) Inside, there is a large museum dedicated to the "unknown soldier", who is actually an unknown solider who died in war. A woman who's son was killed, but never found, chose one of the 11 unknown bodies to have ceremoniously brought to this location. It was very moving to see all the pictures of when the body was brought to the Piazza.
In addition, we could go to the top of the building and look at a full 360 degree view of Rome. It was really cool to be up there and recognize many of the things we have already seen/been to here!
After visiting the Piazza, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The sign read buffet, so we thought it would be similar to an aperitivo. We were completely wrong, but it was still delicious :o) We were each able to choose 3 items from maybe 20+ at a counter, so we each picked 3 different items, and shared. We had 3 different kinds of pasta, plus stuffed mushrooms, zucchini, and potatoes with sausage. While we ate our feast, we did our homework and prepared for class.
Class today went well. We learned about the imperfetto form, and when to use it instead of passato prossimo. I'm thinking of signing up for the intensive class, which will add an hour and a half fo speaking to my school day. It would be nice to be forced to speak more and get more talking time - the class we are in is so big, sometimes you could actually sit there and not say a word! We'll see what I end up doing…
After class, Jackie and I headed to Trastevere to meet up with a woman from our Italian class at home!! What a small world that we are all in Italy at the same time! :o) Lynn and her husband were staying at an apartment here, an generously invited us over to their rooftop patio for our own personal aperitivo. We had a lot of fun chit-chatting ("chiacchierare", in Italiano!) and eating wonderful cheeses, olives, and crackers, while drinking prosecco :o)
Afterwards, Jackie and I went to a "Tandem & Spritz" that our teacher was hosting! It's basically just a chance to "chiacchiera" with other people trying to learn a language. We were helping some people learn English, while they were helping us with Italian! We have a lot of fun there, meeting new people and chit-chatting in our various languages. It was a great night!!
Day 19 (6/23/11):
We woke up early this morning and headed straight to Ostia to go to the beach! It was a beautiful morning and early afternoon, and the water was the perfect temperature to jump right in and cool off! It was also nice to spend some time relaxing in the sun and catching up on my journal.
Once we were back in the city, we had to go straight to class. I learned today that next week I will have a new teacher :o( Her name is Jessica, and I'm sure she's great, but I really like Marlena, and it's going to be a bummer to not have her as a teacher anymore. Also, those of us remaining in the class (it is the last week for many people), are being switched to the 9:00 a.m. class! Next week is going to feel so different…
After class, Jackie, Sal, and I went to one of Sal's favorite restaurants near school. It's called Luigi's, and I have to admit the food was delicious! Jackie and I split two dishes - the swordfish and a pasta with lobster - and they were really good! We ate pretty quickly, though, since we needed to get back to the apartment and get ready to meet people for a "goodbye outing" for Jackie.
As we neared our apartment, we noticed a lot of commotion going on! People were everywhere, and several of the roads were blocked off. Then, we recognized the Pope's voice! Apparently, he had been at San Giovanni all day for Corpus Domini! Even though we already saw him, it would have been good to know that this was going on today!
We eventually were ready for the night and made it back through the crowds of people to meet up with some friends from school for the night. We had a great night out dancing and hanging out with our new friends! It's going to be so weird not having Jackie around in just a couple days… :o(
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