Day 37 (7/11/11):

I had a great walk to school today! It's so wonderful that I'm here in Rome and able to experience all it has to offer! What a great city :o)

At class today, we started Level 3!!! We mostly did a review of passato prossimo and all the exceptions/changes to the form. We also reviewed some other things we had learned from Level 2, but I'm hoping that means we will be learning something new tomorrow. At intensive we separated into pairs to talk about our countries. I was paired with Karen and we had already done something similar with each other, so instead we chatted about other things and got to know each other better. It was fun!

After school I grabbed a quick panino and walked to the church of Santa Maria della Concezione. Underneath the church is the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks, and I heard from multiple people that it is a "must see" here in Rome. Once inside, you're in this single hallway with side chapels, and everything (I mean, everything) is covered in bones or made out of bones. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of the same bone all stacked up to build walls, or beds, or places to stand. Then there are designs made out of individual spinal bones nailed to the walls and ceilings. And in each side chapel there is at least one, but usually more, full bodies of a monk in the hooded robe either standing or laying somewhere in the scene. In a way, it was a little creepy to be staring at all these bones. On the other hand, though, it was fascinating and really made me think about life and death! The last room has a sign in it that reads, "What you are now we used to be, what we are now you will be." Wow.

After the crypt, I went upstairs into the church to see what it looked like. I was standing at one of the side chapels when a man came up to me and said, "Come with me. I'll show you something special. You look like you should see something special." A little nervous, I trusted my gut and went with him through a doorway in the back of the church. I'm glad I did! The man works in the church, and took me to the back part where I saw: a 100 year old giant bible, where Pope Urban the II (?) would give mass, where St. Francis slept, the cell of Saint Crispin, and some other pretty cool things. I felt so lucky that he wanted to show me all this stuff!

After the church, I went home for a bit before meeting up with some friends from school at a place called "Friends" in Trastevere. I heard it had a really good aperitivo, so a bunch of decided to meet up there. The food was good there, but the drinks were even better! I got a "fruit cobbler" for my first drink, and it was similar to a sangria, but with mashed fruit instead of chunks in it. My second drink was a Pimm's cocktail that tasted like ginger ale. Both were very good! After Friends, we walked to another cute little place in Trastevere and sat outside for a while, enjoying each other's company. It was another fun night in Rome! :o)