Tabor College European Seminar Journal

ROME TO LONDON TO DALLAS TO WICHITA

We awoke at the crack of dawn, herded our luggage together, and boarded a bus bound for the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside of Rome. The two-hour flight to London passed without incident, only reflections of the past trip.

After our layover in the familiar Heathrow Airport in London, we hopped on board the 11-hour flight to Dallas against the jet stream.  I passed the time by reading and trying to get multiple Cokes from flight attendants every time the drink carts went by the middle aisle to pass out drinks.  If I timed it right, I could get a Coke from the drink cart on one side of me and drink it by the time the drink cart on the other side arrived, thus ensuring that I would get another one.

We arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with tired eyes and bored legs.  The thought of being back in the states but not yet being home was difficult.  After a two-hour layover, we took the one-hour flight to the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

My family waited to greet me.  It was great to see them.  We had finally made it back.  My three-hour drive to Topeka with my parents passed like nothing.  Though part of me missed Europe, it was good to be back home.

REFLECTIONS

I really enjoyed my international experience on this trip.  It also helped me appreciate some things that I previously took for granted in the United States of America.  However, it worked the other way too.  The trip revealed some things in other countries that I liked better than in America.  Food, transportation, people, sites, history, and architecture were some of the objects of comparison for me.

I liked being able to converse with the people of the countries we visited.  I was also able to get a taste of the cultures of the people groups living in these countries.  It definitely was a good thing for me to see how other people go about their daily lives on the other side of the world.

I really enjoyed London, probably the most out of all the cities we visited.  The shared language helped, no doubt, but I appreciated the structure, organization, and cleanliness of the city.  There was so much to do in there.  Of all the cities we saw, it was basically the only one in which I felt like I missed out on seeing some really cool sites that were on my to-see list.  I realize that I missed some amazing places in other cities as well, but London seemed to have an abundance of good locations to see that I missed.

Paris was interesting.  My first impressions held it to be dirty and rude, but over the four days we were there, my opinion shifted somewhat.  I saw that, though there was a dirty/rude side to Paris, there was also a clean/cosmopolitan/friendly part of the city.

Zurich was clan, affluent, and beautiful.  The stone buildings, the river, the swans, and the rain will leave a lasting impression in my mind.

Munich was highly cultured and sometimes this culture seemed to focus on beer.  However, that’s not one of the images for which I’ll remember the city most.  The old buildings and churches, the harsh-sounding language, the snow, and Dachau stick out in my memory.

Venice was a romantic place with its canals, gondola rides, blown Murano glass, and picturesque city squares.  It was perhaps the most tourism-oriented of the cities we saw.  This fact made it very user-friendly for us.  The ubiquitous canals in the city are a unique feature that I will probably never see anywhere else, so it will be easy to single out my Venetian memories.

Rome was full of ancient ruins, fountains, and the ever-present pillars and columns.  The sunshine and warm temperatures on our free day there will make Rome a bright spot in my mind.

Above and beyond the shallow impressions of each of the cities we visited, the interactions I had with the people going on the trip with me and the people from the cities we visited will remain with me the longest.  It was a great experience, and one I will never forget.

Zac and I slept through the alarm by about 20 minutes, but we somehow managed to make it downstairs to breakfast in time to get some good food in our stomachs in preparation for our last full day in Rome.

ROMAN FORUM RERUN

Zac, Tessa, Julia, Andrew, Katie, Stephanie, Whitney, Jenae and I then went down to the Termini and sped over to the Colosseo station.  We took another gander at the monumental stadium looming against the sky in front of us, then walked over to the Roman Forum and used the group ticket Doc gave us to get inside the area.

The day was sunny, warm, and beautiful. It was probably the nicest weather we had had the entire trip.  The green grass occupying the open space between ruins was nice to get to see in the sunshine without the rain turning everything into mud.  The historical remains in the forum were even more striking in the sunlight.  We meandered our way to the Palatine area and found a picturesque spot at which to eat lunch. We pulled out our bread (with Nutella) and apples and dined, keeping a watchful eye on the watchful pigeons.  They stood poised, looking for any crumbs that fell around us.

(back to front) Zac, Stephanie, Whitney, Katie, Julia, Jenae, and Tessa enjoying the Palatino

SIGHTSEEING AND SHOPPING

The view of the Forum and the rest of the city from our Palatine lunch benches was phenomenal.  We eventually pulled ourselves away from it and walked to Trajan’s Column, a famous landmark in the history of typography.  It was across the street from the monument to Vittorrio Emanuele II.  We walked over to this huge building, constructed to commemorate Italian unification, and took some pictures.  Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king of a united Italy.  The Tomb of the Unknown soldier, flags, statues, and pillars made the building constructed in his honor look very regal in the shadows of the bright sun.  Though we didn’t have time to see it, I’m sure the museum inside would have been great to visit.  I snuck a peek down one of the hallways when the others were taking pictures outside.

Zac taking in the sights in front of the Pantheon

We walked over to the Pantheon and were able to walk inside this time.  The massive domed ceiling had a large hole built in the middle of it called the oculus.  The Pantheon’s dome was indeed impressive and complemented the enormous pillars in front that served as the support for the structure.  The Pantheon’s dome made the return trip to the site well worth the time we spent to walk there.

The oculus in the ceiling of the Pantheon

Zac, Andrew, and I split off from the girls (who wanted to buy purses) and went to McDonald’s for a snack. We then went souvenir shopping for the rest of the afternoon, bought some mementos, and walked around the city.  We eventually met Katie, Stephanie, Julia, and Jenae for dinner at a pizza/pasta place in the area. After I had polished off my pasta, Jenae and I did some more shopping while the others went back.  We had to take in the sights slowly in our last night in Rome.  We stopped by the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain on our way back to the hotel and went to sleep for the final time at a hotel on the trip.

ANCIENT ROME

I had another nice Roman breakfast from the hotel and then sat with the group as Doc talked to us about our agenda for our last few days in Rome.  We again went to the metro and rode the subway to our destination: the Colosseum.  As we emerged from the subterranean tunnel, the gigantic stadium appeared. It looked old, large, and epic.  Doc bought us group tickets and we all began wandering through the ancient arena.  The Colosseum was the site of gladiator battles and even had the capability to be covered in water for naval skirmishes.  I could almost hear the raucous chants of 50,000 Roman spectators as I stepped out from a dark arch on the second level to look out over the ruinous field.

Doc and Andy survey the ruins around the Colosseum

We moved on from the Colosseum to the Palatine ruins.  These remains comprised the emperor’s palace grounds and included the Circle Maximus (the chariot racetrack).  It was fun walking down the ancient Roman roads amidst the old brick structures, the arches staring down at us as we walked past buildings and aqueducts.

Me taking a look at antiquity in the Roman Forum

We went to the Roman Forum after that, the remains of which were the places that the Roman people did business in ancient times.  The former economic hub and center for justice contained many columns and pillars that reached up into the sky among the surrounding stones.  Our time among these ancient Roman sites was marred somewhat by the rain that seemed to fall almost constantly, but even with the cloudy skies the sites were exhilarating to see.

Jenae and the Arch of Constantine

PAUL’S ROMAN PRISON

Doc had to ask a passerby how to get to our next location (Paul’s prison), and I think the guy thought that Doc was asking if he himself had ever been in prison before.  It made the situation funny, but awkward.  We eventually found the location of the Apostle Paul’s Roman imprisonment mentioned in the Bible.

We descended the steps to the cave where the great hero of the Christian faith had been forced to wait for his trial before Caesar.  It was strange thinking about walking in the same place that Paul walked as he contemplated what to say before his imperial accusers and how best to encourage various churches through epistles.  Walking into that cave enlivened in my mind the situation of Paul and how he most likely spent his last earthly days.  It was a surreal experience.

THE CATACOMBS OF SAN SEBASTIANO

We took the metro to McDonald’s in the Termini (train station) and ate a bit of lunch, fighting through crowds to order our cheeseburgers.  We met back up with the big group after a while and took the Metro to a bus station where we were had to stand in the rain for 30 minutes.  I grew tired of using my malfunctioning umbrella, but I was thankful for a way to deter all the water that seemed to come from an endless reservoir in the sky.

After the cramped bus ride, we arrived at our stop and walked toward what we thought was the entrance to the catacombs.  Instead, it ended up being the wrong way.  Cars drove through puddles near the sidewalk several times on our errant journey, splashing several of the students and providing a nice dose of excitement in the middle of the long stroll to the wrong destination.

We eventually arrived at the right spot, the Catacombs of San Sebastiano (Catacombs of Saint Sebastien).  We took a guided tour of the catacombs beneath Rome for about 30 minutes, the leader picking his way through the vast array of tunnels formerly used as a final resting place for the the lifeless bodies of Christians and Jews.  As we walked through the underground tunnels, I kept a sharp eye out for skeletons but failed to see any.  We came out of the tunnels in the burial site of and church dedicated to Saint Sebastien.

The catacombs were quite impressive to see.  If only they had let us wander off by ourselves, I could have had a lot of fun down there.  After the catacombs, we squeezed back onto a bus at the bus stop until it was jam-packed and every one of us had made it on.  People at later bus stops looked at us with incredulity when they were forced to stand in the doorways of the bus just to get a spot.  It was rather humorous knowing that we would add to the wonderful reputation that American tourists must have already developed in Italy.

HARD ROCK CAFE IN ROME

Zac, Andrew, Jenae, Stephanie, Katie, and I went back to the hotel and freshened up a bit before taking the Metro to the Hard Rock Café in Rome.  I again had a bacon cheeseburger and a free-refills pop.  I really enjoyed eating there.  We sat and reminisced about the trip for a long time before heading back home on the Metro.  We all realized that the trip was winding down and we had experienced far too much to digest in one evening, but it was fun recalling our most fond memories nonetheless.

On the way back, we saw a creepy guy that was acting really sporadically and seemed to be staring at the girls.  It also seemed like he was following us for a while, so Zac and I became a little bit paranoid watching him.  We eventually lost him after he went another direction (but that didn’t stop us from watching our backs the whole way home).  We arrived back at the hotel, used the Internet, and then went to bed to recover from the day’s activities.

THE VATICAN MUSEUM

I ate a nice breakfast provided by the Papa Germano Hotel, grabbed an apple for the road, and listened to Dr. Kyle tell us about the Vatican in the hotel lobby.  We set out for the Metro to go to Vatican City and the Vatican Museum.  I had a difficult time getting through the baggage check, having to go back to remove more articles of clothing and metallic items two or three times.  Finally, after receiving our tickets and putting our shoes back on, we entered the museum.  We went through halls and halls of art: maps, bust, statues, paintings, etc…  The rooms were decorated beautifully and elegantly, with marble and mosaics covering the floors and gold and paintings comprising the ceilings.  The rooms containing works of Raphael were especially impressive to me.

Good Shepherd statue in the Vatican Museum

The crown jewel of the Vatican Museum, however, and everyone’s target room, was the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo spent several years lying on his back on scaffolding painting the ceiling of this renowned room. The hall was quite large and contained huge pictures portraying Old Testament stories on the ceiling, as well as the famous and gigantic Last Judgement on one of the walls portraying the Michelangelo’s depiction of judgment day.

The small group of friends I was walking with went to lunch after we indulged in a bit more of the beautiful museum, but I stuck around a bit longer to go through the missionary museum.  The aesthetics of the museum left me in amazement and I couldn’t help but compare it to the Louvre in Paris.  The two museums were both magnificent exhibitions of some of the most beautiful art ever crafted by human hands.  The fact that the Vatican Museum was on the same level as the Louvre in my mind speaks volumes.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA

The towering trees were dwarfed by the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

I walked to a pizzeria after browsing the missionary museum and bought a Diavola (pepperoni salami) pizza and a coke for 5 euros.  I met back up with the group and Doc took us to St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in Christendom.  It was, naturally, extremely large.  Indeed, it was beyond comparison with the other churches we had seen thus far on the trip.  The huge statues of popes, memorial to Saint Peter, and soaring domes highlighted the interior.  Massive pillars, tall windows, and crafted stone were important pieces of the exterior.  Describing with words what I saw at St. Peter’s Basilica does not do it justice.

Me near the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

THE CASTEL SANT’ANGELO, PIAZZA NAVONA, AND PANTHEON

After Zac, Andrew, Jenae, Katie, Stephanie, and I had walked through the church and the courtyard, we decided to spend the rest of our day walking around that part of Rome.  We first saw the Castel Sant’Angelo, a large fortress with a towering, circular keep that once functioned as a Papal defense structure.  Strolling over the Tiber River, we bought a few souvenirs and then took shelter under the overhang of a building as the rain began to fall around us.

The rain soon ceased and we began to walk again, eventually arriving at the city square called the Campo dei Fiori.  We ate at a pizzeria in the square for dinner.  We walked to see the nearby French Embassy (partially designed by Michelangelo) and then into the Piazza Navona.  The Piazza Navona, a famous Roman city square, was built along an old Roman racetrack and included three fountains and the Baroque church Sant’Agnese in Agone.  The central fountain, called the Fountain of the Four Rivers, was quite beautiful and contained water-spewing statues representing the Plate, Nile, Ganges, and Danube Rivers.

We continued our walk to the epic Pantheon, the most complete ancient Roman building still standing.  The former temple’s enormous pillars made me feel like a sapling among redwoods.  We finally made our way back to the hotel.  Tired of rain and walking, I climbed into bed with fond memories of the day.

TRAIN RIDE TO ROME

The day started out with another Venetian hotel breakfast, after which I walked back upstairs to pack the rest of my clothes for the trip to Rome.  We walked to the station and waited until our train arrived.  We loaded our luggage and got situated for our last train ride, the one to Rome.  The trip was about four hours in length, so I read my recently-purchased book (Treasure Island) to pass the time.  I also tried sleeping for a little while, but sleeping on a train is not as easy as it may sound. It was much less difficult and easier on the eyes to look out the window at the Roman villas, hills, and orchards.

ROMA

When we finally arrived, we experienced a pleasant contrast to much of the weather we had in the cities prior to Rome: sunshine and mild temperatures.  It was wonderful!  We walked to the hotel in about 50 degree temperatures and checked into our rooms.  The Papa Germano Hotel was nice and appeared to be a pleasant residence at which to end our trip.  Zac and I were assigned to be roommates again.

We met with the group after a little while and Doc prepared us for the Roman experience by lecturing about ancient, ecclesiastic, and modern Rome.  He told us to watch out for gypsies and pickpockets lurking around tourist hotspots in Rome.  We set out for the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the second largest cathedral in Rome.  The palm tree-filled walk was a stark reminder (as if we needed reminding) that we were now in Rome, Italy rather than in one of the more temperate cities that we had previously visited.  At one point in our journey, Doc walked across the street, despite the fact that the no-crossing symbol was still lit up.  This, after specifically warning us to obey the signals because Italians are crazy drivers.  It was rather humorous, but I couldn’t blame Doc because he has enough experience with Italian traffic that he can afford to be a bad role model every once in a while.

BASILICA DI SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE

To the church we made it.  The stone-covered facade and the towering pillars were epic sights to see.  After taking pictures of the exterior and the courtyard, we ventured inside.  It was magnificent.  The mosaics, statues, and paintings added vibrancy to the old building.

Me at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Interestingly, a nightly liturgical service was being held in one of the chapels to the side of the sanctuary. The chanting and repetition made it sound like a traditional Catholic mass.  I left the church and wandered around with Jenae, Zac, and Andrew looking for a place to eat.  We found a traditional Italian cuisine restaurant and I ordered noodles with eggs, bacon, and other breakfast ingredients.  It was rather delicious, though the waiter did not serve us tap water (the free kind) because of some interesting story about it not being good for us.

I think my dog is larger than this car we saw parked on the street

SPANISH STEPS AND TREVI FOUNTAIN

We met back with the group a little later and Doc gave us tickets with which we were able to ride the Roman Metro.  We stepped off at the Spanish Steps, a famous tourist location called the Spanish Steps because of the nearness of the Spanish embassy.  We climbed them up to the church at the top of the hill, called the Trinita dei Monti, and poked our heads inside to admire the interior.

The Trevi Fountain

We strolled over to the beautiful Trevi Fountain after our time at the stairs.  The fountain was gorgeous and we all took advantage of the Roman legend that says that a person will return to Rome someday if he or she tosses a coin into the fountain.  We bought some gelato cones and then walked back to the Metro to make our way back to the hotel to turn in for the evening, tired out by the day’s events.