On Travel and First Impressions

Night is fast approaching on our second day in Rome. Miraculously considering my state of health to this point and the definite potential for jet lag, I am only just beginning to feel tired at 9:30 PM. This means my body has successfully transitioned into Rome time. Sadly, my tongue does not follow such a natural transition as I was reminded today trying to order pizza at lunch (my pointer finger had to take over and was able to relate my desire with surprising accuracy). Italian classes will begin next week, until then we finish settling in and transitioning...oh yeah, and attending a Papal Mass which will include the ordination of several new bishops! Let me tell you a bit about the transit and transition of these last few days.

Mark Lanari (my roomate for the semester) and I were dropped us at the Minneapolis airport by his father. Living up to that wonderful axiom "Better Safe then Sorry", we had Mr. Lanari drop us off at around 10:00 in case there may be a line at either the check-in or security. When we walked into the terminal, there was no line. 2 minutes later we were checked in and 3 minutes after that we were through security. By approximately 10:05 we were ready to board our 1:45 flight. So we wandered the terminal a bit... I had forgotten what a delight the moving sidewalks can be. Of these, Mark and I endulged for well over an hour traversing the Lindbergh Terminal from end-to-end. After a quick lunch, we met with the rest of group at the gate and commenced waiting. It seemed that all of us were giddy about getting on the plane, but tired of being asked whether we were excited to go to Rome and what we were going to do there. So we read and chatted a bit until our plane boarded. The two hour flight to Atlanta went by smoothly as I talked with the surfer/sailboat merchant seated next to me. In Atlanta, the two hour layover flew by (no pun intended) as we boarded the plane and took off nearly on time.

The 10 hour flight from Atlanta to Rome had the potential for nothing but misery. To begin, I had woken up that morning, the morning I was to at last leave for Rome after a summer of waiting in perfect health, with a sore throat, clogged sinuses, and a headache. What's more, that morning had begun at 3:00 AM as I purposely awoke early in an attempt to ensure that I would be able to sleep on the plane. What a fool I was. As John Lodoen and I discussed at length after the flight, it is simply not possible for anyone over 6 feet tall to get comfortable in a coach seat of an airplane. Our legs are just too long. And so, on the overnight flight, I did not sleep. The in-flight movie was a chick flick starring Jane Fonda and Lindsey Lohan. The pasta I had for dinner was not very pleasing to the palate (the wine with dinner, by comparison, tasted great!). Yet, by some grace of God, frustration never set in. I was on my way to Rome. Who cares if was a little uncomfortable at that moment. But then, to top off the flight, I had a moment that was a little more than a little uncomfortable. Shortly after we began our final descent, I was hit with a sudden toothache. In a matter of seconds, I went from having no pain to holding my hand to my mouth to gripping the armests and clenching my teeth. Tears came to my eyes. It was absolutly brutal. I am still not sure what happened, perhaps the increase in pressure from my sinuses and losing altitude made something pop, but I have not been in such great pain in a long time. Thank goodness it slowly subsided and has not so much as hinted at returning. The first thing I wanted to do when I arrived in Rome was definately NOT visit a dentist.

We were passed through customs by a man who gave our passports a cursory glance as we held them up while walking by (Prego!). After waiting a maddeningly long time for our luggage, we finally made our way out into the terminal where the rest of our group was waiting. The bus driver complete with sign and a very limited English vocabulary directed us to the Mercedes-Benz bus across the street. We all settled in as he skillfully backed the bus from between two other buses onto a street packed with cars that were each about the size of one of his tires all while animatedly on his cell phone (I wanted to applaud). Onto the highways and then streets of Rome we flew, marvelling at the plethora of little motorinos zipping about. That drive into Rome was exciting. I can only imagine what it would have been like had I not been sick and tired of being sick and tired.

The hour long drive actually went by rather rapidly. As we parked alongside the Bernardi campus, our home for the semester, we were met by Thanos, the campus director, and number of seminarians who had arrived the day before and were ready to help us carry to its final destination. For those of you who have stayed at Bernardi, go ahead and skip this paragraph; it will be boring for you. The Bernardi residence in the north central part of Rome was originally a private residence before being purchased by an order of Spanish nuns in the early 1900's. With vocations decreasing, they were forced to sell the place and the University of St. Thomas picked it up in 1999. It is directly along the Tiber river 10 minutes NW of the Piazza del Popolo and 20 minutes NE of the Vatican (how perfect is that for a Catholic Studies Program!). It contains four floors, a rooftop terrace, and a basement. Two floors, one for men and one for women, house students in dorm style rooms. The third and fourth floors house Thanos's room and a pair of guest rooms. The terrace wraps around the upper floor and has a beautiful view of the city. The main floor and basement include a couple meeting roooms, offices, chapel, computer room, library, laundry, and dining room.

Truly, it is an amazing blessing for us to have such a place near the middle of Rome. It is like our little island in the midst of the chaos of another culture. And chaos is the proper word to describe Rome. It is busy. Traffic is a constant. Driving does not follow orderly patterns as it does in the U.S., but seems to be based simply upon how do I get from point A to point B without hitting anyone else. The streets have developed since around 600 BC and as such follow no predictable pattern. Yet at the same time, the place is beautiful. The architecture is amazing. I find myself noticeably more excited simply walking around than I would most anywhere in the United States.

That walking around happened mostly today (Thursday). Wednesday we had a short orientation from Thanos, a tour of the campus, Mass with our chaplain Fr. Carola, and dinner. A number of people went out to toast our arrival in Rome, but I was completely wiped out and went to bed by about 9:15. Today, I am glad that I did. I feel 200% better. We began our day with a trip on the Metro over to the heart of Rome where our school is located. The place where we will be studying is the Pontifical Univeristy of St. Thomas Aquinas (more commonly known as the Angelicum or just The Ang). It is a Dominican university founded in 1580 by Pope Pius V. The focus of our coursework is on the interaction of Faith and Culture, and all 25 of us on the Catholic Studies program living at Bernardi will be taking the same group of classes on this theme (with the exception of the two Masters' students). Our introduction to the Ang included a tour of their incredibly beautiful chapel designed by Bernini (who also designed many of the famous sites around Rome). The classes I am actually very excited for as it sounds like we are going to be diving into some interesting topics like the Church and European politics in the first half of the 20th century.

After our intro to the Angelicum, we split up and found our own way back to Bernardi. The walk which can ordinarily be accomplished in 40-45 minutes we rushed through in about 2 hours. Shannon Barr, Melissa Hackenmueller and I got our first of what will be many views of some of the big tourist attractions like the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Piazza del Popolo. The afternoon was composed of another, very detailed, orientation to Bernardi with Thanos. When he finally finished, it was 20 minutes to 6:00 and we had not yet been to a Mass. A sheet posted on the bulletin board with Mass times at various churches around Rome listed a Mass at 1800 hours at Santa Anna, next to the Vatican. We had 12 minutes to make the 20-25 minute walk. About 15 of us took off from Bernardi alternately running and walking through a steady rain following one of the Masters' students who had been to Rome during the summer and was pretty sure she knew the way to Santa Anna. We lost a few stragglers along the way, prayed the Angelus on the run as 6 o'clock hit and we were still not to the Church. At about 6:05 we arrived soaked and panting to find a number of old ladies, just as you can imagine at any Church in America, praying the Rosary out loud and each at their own pace. The Mass didn't actually start until 6:30. It was in Italian and I understood only a few words, but could still follow along perfectly well. Christ was there. It was beautiful. We were late for our dinner at 7:00 but quite content. After all, we were in Italy, where a schedule is more of a suggestion.

Well. This has been quite a bit of boring regurgitation. We'll see if I can improve that in the future. I am off to bed. God Bless you and thanks for reading.