While this week's classes did seem to drag on because of a make up day we had on Friday (since we have Fridays off), I had two really awesome classes around Rome. I went to an open market in my Italian language class, and for my Religion class, I visited St. Peter's Basilica and took a tour of the necropolis. Both were super cool.
So, as most of you know, I have always been super against learning a foreign language. It's not that I think that people speak English wherever I go, which is basically true, but my problem is that I can't learn a language in a classroom for 3 hours a week and actually do anything with it. Even though I didn't plan to take Italian while I was here, since I did already finish my requirement for UVa and have taken about 7 years of Spanish with the proficiency level of about a 2nd grader, I ended up deciding to try it out. Learning a "second" foreign language is a lot easier than the first. Now, I'm not saying that I am fluent in Spanish or anything but learning Italian has been a lot easier in the beginning than Spanish since I have some ideas of conjugations, articles, sentence structure, adjectives/adverbs that are completely different than in English.
I actually have really enjoyed my Italian class because it's actually useful in my everyday life here. Plus, yesterday we took a "field trip" in my class to an open market to go shopping for food and just speak the language. It was really cool. There's nothing like being thrown into another language and forced to adapt to make you actually speak the language. Now, I'm not saying that people don't understand English here because there is always someone who does, but it is so much nicer of a gesture to at least attempt to speak the language. I now know how to ask how much things cost, tell someone that I want something, and ask for more/less. It only took me what five years of Spanish before I could do this? haha But, I really do think I am improving and maybe on my way to living here for some period of time later in my life? ;) So, here's hoping I learn more this semester!
Although I live right next to the Vatican, I had never gone inside anything. My roommates and I usually just walk through it to get to another street or look at the top of the Basilica from the balcony. So, I was really exited when my religion class was having our on-site class at the Vatican. My class got to go in through the side entrance and not wait in any lines or pass security, no big deal. Thankfully our tour guide was American from Idaho or something so that we could understand everything he said without having to focus our complete attention on every word. The necropolis is so cool.
Essentially, after Constantine became a Christian he decided he wanted to build a monument (St. Peter's Basilica) over Peter's grave in honor of his martyrdom. But, his gravesite was on a hill. Constantine fixed this by adding dirt to the site so that it would be even ground (they say he even carried the first 5-6 buckets). Once this was completed, they started building the monument over the gravesite. Within the last 100 years or so, Catholics and archeologists began digging up the area underneath the Vatican to find the gravesite underneath it. How something like that could be there for so long without being discovered is beyond me. So, one of the popes allowed for this to take place (right around the second World War, nonetheless) in search for the grave of Peter. Then, about 50 years ago, they finally found the bones of Peter. I will admit I'm not much of a history/archeology buff, but I loved hearing these stories about Peter and reflecting of the lives of early Christians. And even though I've always been partial to Paul, it was amazing to see the bones of Peter and hear stories about his life and death during this tour. Even though it was more of a historical tour than anything, I couldn't help but really reflect on what God was able to do through one man, through Peter. I was blown away by the thought that Christianity has become what it is today because of a few simple fisherman who trusted God. I'm sure that wasn't the point of the tour, but that was what really affected me. If only Christians now had the faith and trust in God like the church of Acts, how much more could we impact the world. "Not a sermon, just a thought" haha bibliography- radio announcements from Mclean Bible.
But overall, the dragging on of classes was broken up by the awesome site visits in my classes. Everyday I wake up being amazed that I'm living in Rome for the next three months, and I can't wait for more adventures!
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