all roads lead to rome.

i got full pleasure out if repeatedly saying, "when in rome, do as the romans do." to the best of my ability i followed in their footsteps. while walking through the ancient ruins i came to terms with the history, culture, and art that i was exploring. u was abkt ti hit the main points one should experience while in rome. in three days i conquered the vatican, the colosseum, st. peter's basicila, the spanish steps, chagall's modern art museum, hadrian's villa, various churches and cathedrals as well as a small part of the huge city life. inside the vatican, i saw the sisteen chapel, although breathtaking it was surprisingly somewhat smaller that i had envisioned it to be. as i looked in awe at michaelangelo's masterpiece the loud speakers and guards monitoring the no talking and no photography policies kind of took away from its magnificence. the thousands of pieces of art from raphel's  frescos to the sculptures and tapestries helped me gain a new appreciation for art and its history. it just came alive for me. while touring roma our program was divided into groups which were led by various professors from our school. my group was led by one of the painting professors, franz. with his dutch ancient speaking to us in a mixture of mostly english with some italian thrown in once in a while he provided us with copious amounts of knowledge that the city contained.

 franz was also the guide for the chagall museum. two other professors, along with two richmond staff members accompanied franz in leading myself and six other students through the life of marc chagall and into a small sample of his work. i am not usually one for modern art, but there was something about his work that inspired me. although his work is random and considered by some to be somewhat childlike in the sense that a lot of his pieces do not contain concepts of gravity, it spoke to me in a way that no other art has in the past. there was so much mystery in his work of his perception of the world and how he conveys that through his art leaves me pensive and intrigued. "i don't wan to be the same as everyone else; i want to see a new world" these words of chagall left me wanting to do something magnificent. i suddenly had the sensation that the world was mine, and within it i was capable of doing whatever i imagined. i want to paint for no other purpose than to calm my soul, i want to take a photography class to learn to capture true beauty within memories, i want to raft the grand canyon, and do things because i am alive and because i can, and because i am free and passionate about life and the One who blessed me with it. leaving the exhibit i felt refreshed on life  and ready to take on my next adventure, even though that adventure was only to make it back to our hotel.

i also made it a point to experience a little chunk of life as the romans do. in honor of this i was compelled to drink of the fountains, and i was pleasantly surprised by the crisp deliciousness of the liquid spewing from a spickett in the wall of a public piazza. our last night in rome after a long day of touring the city we decided to venture out on the town. some friends and i  went to an irish pub to watch a rugby game between wales and italy. i am not much of a rugby fan, but the environment was one i would not have wanted to miss out on. all the welsh rugby fans showed their team spirit through the green and while spandex suits accompanied by the bright yellow dafadil hat/mask. it was quite a site to see. even though jacqueline and i got a little lost on our way to the pub and spent two hours trying to find the pub and figure out the public transportation system, we made it just in time for the game to be over. all said and done we had a wonderful weekend and we conquered rome!!

lost much?