And It Comes to an End...

They say all good things must come to an end. I just finished my last final of the semester at my study abroad program in Rome and I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I am ecstatic to be done with school. I was slammed with work the past three weeks; I guess we had to make up for the whole lot of nothing we'd been doing since we got here in order to get credit for the classes back home, but getting hit with a mountain of work when you are used to going on vacation every one of your four (or self-proclaimed five) day weekends is nothing short of marathon. Trying to smush an entire semester's worth of information into your brain two days before the final, hah! Its so impossible, its actually comical. I can't wait to go home and see my family and dogs, sleep in my own giant bed, and upgrade from a bathtub to a washing machine, but I will miss Rome. 


After living in Rome for a fast four months, I still can't say I've even come close to seeing half of the art and culture the city has to offer. There are so many museums, so many paintings, frescos, sculptures, monuments, churches, buildings, and ancient ruins in Rome- and so many more being cleaned and rediscovered or dug up every day, that it just may be impossible. Its like what they say about New York, there are so many restaurants that even if you ate at a new one everyday for your life, you couldn't eat at them all!


I was lucky enough to be able to take Baroque Art in Rome, High Renaissance in Rome, Italian, and International Trade this semester. My Baroque and High Renaissance classes each met on site once a week for three hours where we would visit different museums, palazzos, piazzas, and churches all over Rome. It was an incredible opportunity to learn about some of the most influential pieces in the history of Western art. Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, the Belvedere Torso, Raphael's Transfiguration, the Colosseum, and St. Peter's Basilica just to name a few.


Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception and everything is closed in Italy. This afternoon the Pope is making a pilgrimage to Piazza Mignanelli (the piazza to the right of the Spanish Steps) to say a prayer and leave a floral wreath infront of the Madonna statue in the square. I am going to try and make it to see this since I haven't seen the pope yet since I've been in Rome. Traditionally, the feast of the Immaculate Conception marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Italy, which only means one thing... I've got lots of shopping to do tomorrow when all the stores open back up!
xx, E