Mar
12
Another delayed post! DIO MIO! Mi dispiace, for the delay! Just when you think everything is in order, everything changes! It may not only be a lesson I take from studying abroad, but also one that seems perfectly suited for life. If you are a student reading this and planning on studying abroad for a semester, listen to what people tell you about the emotions you will experience. For me, I was listening with only one ear, thinking that it would be nothing like they said. So after almost 50 days in Italy, the honeymoon is over. But this doesn’t mean the excitement has ended by any means. In fact, it has only changed. For me, I have settled into this new identity, which at first seemed so foreign that everyday was a lifetime in itself. The days seem to pass faster and faster now that the newness has frayed away. With that in mind, I suppose something you might find a little less personal…
ROME IS NOT REAL.
For starters, Vatican City sits to the west of the center. Secondly, it honestly doesn’t matter where you are, there’s something to see on every street. Thirdly, the Seven Hills of Rome are completely conquerable thanks to the subways that are relatively new and easily manageable. I could go on, but Rome’s title as “The Eternal City” begs to differ. A few of the OU in Arezzo students and I stayed in Rome for a weekend, surely not enough time, even for spirited university students, to see all that Rome has to offer. Our first task was the looming cupola designed by Michelangelo that adorns St. Peter’s, Vatican City. Not sure exactly how we would buy tickets, find the line, or even have enough time to go through the Vatican Museum (it has the largest collection of art in the world), we hopped on a metro bound for the Vatican. Funny thing was though, the moment we stepped onto the street, there were at least five people offering guided tours. Advice to all travelers, you should be weary of people offering you things, but when you are in Rome, just say yes.
Our tour guide was actually originally from Boston, and came to Rome nine years ago to finish her art history degree. She’s been there ever since. She was a certified Vatican Tour Guide, and said she had been in the Sistine Chapel over 1600 times! Imagine standing under what is debatably the most famous set of frescos adorning a religious structure in the world a couple times a week for a decade. I can’t, and I don’t think I could ever get used to that idea. And for our tour guide, it seemed like she was experiencing it like she had never seen it before. Something that struck me deeply, (besides the fact that the Japanese financed the restoration of the Sistine Chapel because at the time the Vatican was broke!), was when our tour guide brought us to a sculpture known as the Laocoön, you could see tears in her eyes. For some reason, I knew exactly how she felt: to be standing in front of the real object that has been published and republished as one of the triumphs of humanity not only humbles you, but at times is too much to handle. Italy may be a popular place to study abroad, but understand, it is for a reason.
There is a syndrome known as Stendhal Syndrome, named after a French author of the 19th century of the same name, who after visiting Florence in the early 19th century, experienced a dizzy spell and fainted. The spell of confusion is now classified as an actual psychosomatic illness certain people may experience when viewing art. If one thinks that he or she is at risk, AVOID ROME. Renaissance architecture, strangely enough, with its clearly defined floors and orderly façades, is becoming a thing expected in every Italian city for me. However, Baroque architecture, with its extreme proportions, heavy use of undulation and dramatic diagonals, and complete saturation within the city of Rome, certainly left me Stendhal-ed. From Saint Peter’s, to the Baroque artist Caravaggio’s exhibition celebrating the 400th year of his death at the Scudiere del Quirinale, it was like I was in Stendhal hell, or heaven–depending on how one looks at it. Looking at paintings by an artist, whose work has survived longer than the United States of America has been in existence, solidified my new perspective on time, which I have been trying to make sense ever since entering “Old Europe.” The following day, making sense of the Roman Colosseum and Forum was simply futile at that point.
My friends and I were officially Stendhaled.
Laocoön at the Vatican Museum
Another church in Rome-this ceiling is a barrel vault! Optical Illusions!
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