Dave Matthews Band Visits Rome

I have planned many events whether it was with the Evergreens, the Resident Affairs Council or even the tour guides. I have to say the best thing I have ever coordinated was for Rome Loyola to see the Dave Matthews Band in Rome. I started getting things together for this before we even got to Rome and a month and a half after arriving the day of the concert arrived.

None of us really knew what to expect, we were excited and almost all 18 of us had been to one of his concerts before, but that was always in the summer outside. This concert was inside in a basketball arena just outside of Rome.

We got inside, the venue was much smaller than we expected and these were the closest seats I had ever gotten to the stage. By the middle of the show we had all made it down to floor level and were probably about 25 feet from the stage, what was already a great show got even better. There really wasn’t any way that we could have gotten close, it was great. The set list was also really good. He played new stuff, classics, some of my favorites and some rare songs. Overall, this was one of, if not the best Dave Matthews concert I had been to and it was in Rome on the European Tour, when am I going to get a chance to see that again.

Why Rome is Awesome and Everyone Should Study/ Visit

My last few posts have been about my travels through Italy. I had been traveling for the past three weekends and at the end of each trip I could not wait to get back to Rome. This place really has become my home. Following my travels I had two weekends to spend in Rome before Spring Break. These two weekends helped me to realize why Rome is the best study abroad program and I now have my top ten reasons why Rome is Awesome:

10- I have visited almost every place/ piece of art that I have learned about/ covered in my class. Beats reading about it in a book in Baltimore.

9- The language. For one of the first times it has actually been imperative that I use what I have learned.

8- The weather. While its not 80 and sunny everyday, its also not 20 and snowing. I’ll take rain over that.

7- Walking. Rome was a city made for walking. I can walk almost anywhere, anytime and its always safe.

6- The Parks. Many of the old villa estates have been converted into parks that remove you from the fast paced city. Nothing but green fields, trees and tranquil surroundings.

5- No other city has quite the same character or charm as Rome. Small cafes, tiny narrow side streets, cobblestone streets and statues everywhere.

4- Romans love being Roman, they’re all very distinct and very nice. Its rare that you will find a restaurant that is not Italian. Unlike in other countries where you find varieties of restaurants, here its Italian all the time with the occasional kebab or Chinese restaurant.

3- The Nightlife. So many other places in Italy and Europe are dead during the week, not Rome. You can find somewhere to go and have a good time every night of the week.

2- The food. If its not fresh they wont cook it. Whether you’re eating at home or at a restaurant everything is fresh… Things just taste better here.

1- The history, what did you think it would be… Rome is a modern city rooted in its antiquity, like I said, Romans love being Romans and aren’t anywhere near forgetting where they came from. Walking past ancient buildings and ruins on a daily basis, the Coliseum and the Forum on the way home after a night out… nothing comes close to that.

Carnevale

Being in Italy during the Carnevale season and not visiting Venice might as well be a sin. We left on a Friday after our last class for Venice. We took the Euro-Star, the high-speed train, which instead of getting on the high-speed line was on a regular track. Needless to say we were an hour and a half late, the trip was off to a little bit of a rocky start.

We checked into our hotel on Venice mainland, which overcharged because it was literally just a place to sleep, but hey its Carnevale season everyone is doing it. At around 11:30pm we headed to Venice Island to check out what it was like. We were surprised to find that things were pretty dead. There were a few people who were dressed up, but there weren't too many people around. After exploring for about an hour we headed back to the hotel.

We got started around 11 the next morning and it was a totally different experience. I have never seen such large crowds in my life. There were people everywhere, many were dressed up but many people just had masks. It was a beautiful day out, warm and no clouds so we sat outside and had lunch. This was one of the best experiences because we could just sit there and watch all of the people go by. There wasn't just one type of person there. There were young people, older people, families and all different nationalities. It's crazy how something like this can draw so many people from different walks of life.

View down one of the canals

After lunch we just wandered the island. We had no real plan other than finding masks and making it to Piazza San Marco. The island was incredibly unique, the canals, the bridges, the mystique of Carnevale only added to the experience. The costumes that some of these people we wearing were very impressive. They were all extremely colorful, elegant and classical. By 5:00 we had finally made it to Piazza San Marco, thats how many people were there and how hard it was to make it through the streets. The Piazza was set up with a large stage and completely full of people. It was incredible how many people could fit on this small island.

One of the costumes for Carnevale

After, we wandered toward the water and took a water taxi back to where we started our day. There was no better place to be than on the water in Venice as the sun was setting. Once we got back on land we headed to a pub for happy hour until it was time for dinner. It's amazing how where ever you are in Italy you can always find a handful of Irish pubs. After this we got dinner at one of the biggest tourist traps I have seen, the worst part was that we didn't even see it coming.

Sunset on one of the canals

Carnevale has an amazing personality, during the day it is very interesting and relaxed, at night it turns into one big party. The island was still packed, but many of the piazza's now had DJ's in them just blasting music. Not only was this a lot of fun but it was again something I could have imagined. Overall, Carnevale was one of the best experiences I've had on this trip so far. The uniqueness of Venice and this celebration was amazing and something that everyone should do at least once in their lives.

Siena, Arezzo and Assisi

Ok so I apologize its been nearly a month without a new update. Over spring break I took time to collect my thoughts and here they are laid out in the next couple posts.

So, Loyola pays for 2 "educational" trips, (actually we pay Loyola to take us on these trips), one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester. We went on the first trip at the end of January, visiting Siena, Arezzo and Assis.

Siena was our first stop, three hours north of Rome in the Tuscan region. It was quite possibly one o the most miserable days to visit. It felt like it was in the upper 30's and raining the entire day. We toured the city, visited a few churches and the house of Catherine of Siena. By the end of the day the rain stopped and it became a little more bearable. It was a very interesting city, much different than Rome, much smaller, things moved a little more slowly and it seemed very peaceful. I definitely think it would be a totally different experience if the weather had been better.

After Siena we got back on the bus and headed to Arezzo for the night. The hotel Loyola put us up in was no two bit place, it was actually really nice. The next day we headed into Arezzo for a walking tour of the city. Again it was very different than Rome for many of the same reasons as Siena. We went to mass in one of the little churches, which was in Italian and very interesting and yes I could understand... some of it.

Later in the day we headed an hour and a half outside the city to a 900 year old castle in the heart of Tuscany. Castel del Trebbio was exactly what you think of when you think Italian wintery. It had a one lane road leading up to it with nothing else really around, just rolling hills. To top it off there was an 80 year old gamekeeper who had been in charge of the castle for over 55 years.

The Barrels in the cellar of the Winery

Then we obviously got to taste their wine, a pinot grigio and two types of chianti, which they are known for. Then after the tasting we made a quick stop to the store for gifts. Four bottles of wine and two bottles of extra virgin olive oil later we were on our way.

The guys with the gamekeeper at the castle.

The next day we headed to Assisi which is one of my favorite towns in Italy. The city literally sits on top of a hill and has the best views of the Umbrian countryside. We toured the Basilica of St. Francis, which was amazing. The paintings inside the basilica are one of a kind and indescribable. After we did a walking tour of the ancient city, got lunch and then headed back to Rome. Assisi was definitely the smallest, quietest and most relaxing of all the cities we visited, but it was extremely charming.

A view from Assisi

Overall it was a great trip. It's amazing how diverse Italy is and how each city and region really have their own personality.

Firenze

Florence was our first trip outside of Rome. There were probably about 20 of us, so it was almost the entire program that took the trip. Since I had a Friday afternoon class I left with a group of Loyola people after our class in the early evening. We took the Eurostar, Italy’s bullet train and were in Florence in about an hour and a half. When we checked into our hostel we were really surprised. Usually you hear that hostels are dirty, smell and just an overall unpleasant experience, this was not the case at all. The hostel was huge, the rooms were nice, clean, and the bathrooms were even nice.

After we checked in we met up with the other group of Loyola people who had gotten there earlier in the afternoon. It was a pretty relaxed night; we explored the city a little and met up with some of the Loyola Florence students. It was actually really funny because the Florence students planned a trip to Rome that weekend and we had planned a trip there. Saturday most of the Florence people were back so we got to see more of our friends and they showed us around.

We got up and out of the hostel around noon on Saturday. The group of guys I was with met up with the Rome girls and got lunch. We walked into a random restaurant and of course there were already a group of about eight Loyola Rome students, we were everywhere. After lunch we did some shopping, exploring and more eating. In Florence waffle/ gelato sandwiches seems to be their thing, so naturally I had to get one. It was one of the most unique experiences, two waffles and strawberry gelato in the middle. Definitely difficult to eat, the thing was huge. What I equate this to is a funnel cake. You see it at the carnival, want it, you’re going to eat all of it and then 3 bites in you’re full. That happened with this but it was worth it.

(Our Waffle Gelato Sandwiches)

All around the Duomo there are blocks and blocks of vendors selling everything from leather to ties and t-shirts. The sales were great and I couldn’t pass up the four ties for ten-euro deal. After the shopping we did the real tourist thing and did a lot of sight seeing. We went to the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza Michelangelo.

(Me on the Ponte Vecchio)

Getting to Piazza Michelangelo was a hike. It was really far from the city center but we had heard good things about it so we made the trip. Not only did it turn out that it was really far, but it was over 200 steps from the bottom to the top. Once we got there we all stopped our complaining because this was the most spectacular view of Florence, you could see everything and it was gorgeous. Of course we found more Loyola people up there. We had no idea that they were going to be there, but we caught them in the middle of a wine and cheese break before heading back down. After staying at the piazza for almost an hour we decided it would be a much better idea to take a taxi back to the hostel instead of walk.

(Evan and I at Piazza Michelangelo)

We were exhausted from walking all so what do five male college students do, take a nap naturally, for two hours. It was perfect because we woke up right in time for dinner. Jeff and I went with a few of the girls to this restaurant that they had heard about. Up until this point I never had that one standout, blow you away amazing Italian meal, but this meal was the one I had been looking for. It wasn’t anything complicated, just extremely fresh and well cooked. So what did I have you ask? I started with the beef carpaccio and for my entre I had grilled calamari on a bed of fresh grilled vegetables. There was a lot of zucchini in it and as I said before I was never a fan of it before and cant promise that I will be a fan of it when I get home, but it was awesome.

After dinner we headed to a famous discoteque, Space. This was the first time I’ve ever had to wait behind a velvet rope with a bouncer who had a clipboard. It didn’t open till about 12:30, but we made it in and it was quite the experience. At the end of the night we walked back to the hostel and what was right down the block? A McDonalds, so we had to go in. This was the first time in three weeks that any of us had any American food and it was great, Italian can do McDonalds pretty well. We kept the American food rolling the next morning with a trip to an American diner, such a novelty over here. I’m not a huge breakfast person but it was so nice to have apple juice (which isn’t too popular here) and French toast.

Later that afternoon we caught our train back to Rome. It was so nice to get back and it was so weird because I was homesick for Rome. I couldn’t wait to get back to my house, be in my room, use my shower and of course Paolo’s cooking. Overall Florence was good but I like Rome so much better. It feels more like home, things move at a fast pace (which says a lot for Italy because nothing is done with a sense of urgency) and it seems more Italian. In Florence it seemed like everyone spoke English. I don’t know if its because its smaller so the city is more condensed so you notice it more, if there are more English students or if most people actually speak English there. It really was a great trip, but at the same time it showed me Rome was the perfect choice.

La Prima Fine Settimana

Our first weekend in Rome was an interesting one; I would definitely say it was the real matriculation of us to Rome. No one really knew where to go or how to get places, but it was nice to be free without having anywhere to really go. We were about to walk around, explore and relax… but not too much because I was up at nine on Saturday.

Dr. Dawson, our site director and my theology professor, who we have all come to regard as one of the most intelligent men we have ever met, gave us a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. Dr. Dawson or DDV as he is affectionately known (David Dawson Vasquez), knows almost everything about Rome and can answer almost any question you throw at him, its great.

(DDV outside of St. Peter's)

St. Peter’s was one of the most spectacular pieces of architecture and history I have ever seen. The inside is enormous. I have ever before seen anything like this. The statues, the architecture, the history and the overall beauty, it was overwhelming. We learned a lot about the history of the different artifact, meanings and engineering techniques. It’s amazing to think that they were so precise in the sixteenth century. There really is so much that I could go on about, but it would get boring real quick. One of the most interesting things is that they actually have the bodies of saints displayed throughout the basilica.

After the tour of the basilica we were taken down into its crypt and saw the tombs of various Popes and St. Peter. One of the tombs we got to see was that of John Paul II. They were all really simple but very poignant.

Finally, since there were only about 20 of us on the tour, Dr. Dawson bought us passes up to the top of the dome. The climb was crazy, there were 557 steps to the top. After the first set of steps you arrive on the roof of St. Peter’s and there is a great view of the city, you cant believe that it gets any better, but it does and oh there is a souvenir shop of course. Then you can head inside the dome. The mosaics inside of it are gorgeous, and there is a great view of the altar below.

Once you’re inside the dome you have to walk up the narrowest set of staircases and since the walls are slanted you’re on angle most of the time. After what seems like another 500 steps we finally arrived at the cupola.

Once you’re inside the dome you have to walk up the narrowest set of staircases and since the walls are slanted you’re on angle most of the time. After what seems like another 500 steps we finally arrived at the cupola. The view was spectacular, it was sensory overload. You could see everything, a 360-degree view of Rome, the papal gardens, the river and where Rome ends mountains being, it was incredible. This is something that everyone needs to see, it just shows how expansive Rome is, how far it reaches and the spectacular site. I think its so amazing that I’m going to make the climb up two more time to make sure both of my parents see this and the amazing view of Rome.

La Prima Settimana e Mie Classi

It’s been a while since my last post, which means that the past few weeks have been incredibly busy. A lot has happened so I'm going to try and update you all as much as possible. As I write this post I am on my way to Carnevale in Venice for the weekend.

My first week in Rome seems so far away but it was really only five weeks ago. It's funny how quickly Rome has come to feel like home and how quickly I have come to feel like a Roman. The first thing in becoming a Roman 101 was learning the public transportation system. I knew that I could walk to school but remembering what happened two days earlier I decided to take the metro. The stop was only one block from my house and then about three blocks from my Italian school, so this was the safe bet on the first day.

(The B Line, my ride home... They're all very unique metro cars)

It worked pretty well to get, but after the class I felt adventurous and wanted to figure out how to walk home. It turned out that it was only really one street to get home. I took it straight it from Italiaidea back to my house and it only a ten minute walk. It was amazing that it was so simple, but we got so lost a few days before.

The next day I tried a different way to get to school, the 117 bus. This was by far the easiest way to get there. I picked it up from the end of my block and it dropped me off right at the front door of Italiaidea, travel time- three minutes. This was the best find thus far. Effectively this means that I can roll out of bed at 9:00, take a shower, get ready, eat breakfast, show up at the bus at 9:45, get on the bus around 9:50 and arrive at school at 9:54, still having 5 minutes to spare.

Needless to say I have the most envious commute. Most people have to leave their house by 9:00, I'm usually not getting up till then. It’s been five weeks and I still haven't been able to figure out if the 117 subscribes to any type of schedule. Some days it shows up at 9:43, other days 9:57, or sometimes not at all. It's a very interesting thing; the bus is half the size of the regular buses, that should have been the first indicator that it couldn't be taken seriously. Overall it’s not that bad because if it’s late or doesn't show up (which has happened), it's only a ten-minute walk.

Italian class has been interesting; we finished our first course in the first week of February. It’s amazing that we already took 60 hours, over a semester worth of class in just four weeks, three hours a day. It started out pretty easy but definitely got a lot more difficult as it went on. The class was only 10 people, all Loyola students and focused on conversational skills. The first class was an introduction and now we are in the second level. Instead of focusing on grammar and things of that nature, it focuses on conversational proficiency. They do this so we can actually use the language and get by while we’re here. Overall the first course was helpful and not too bad, a quarter of the way in and one class down. Our second Italian class started last week and we already have a midterm coming up in a few days.

It’s amazing how confident I've become in speaking. Even if I don’t know how to say what I want to or properly structure it, I can find ways around it and still get my point across. Our new teacher doesn’t care if we talk while doing work but it has to be in Italian. So, the other day Evan and I had a whole conversation about our travel plans for Sicily in April and fully understood each other. We were thoroughly impressed with ourselves since only a month ago we were nervous saying hello to someone in Italian.

My three other classes are History of the Papacy and Catholicism, Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome and US/ British Literature about Italy. For the most part they are interesting classes but three to three and a half hours is a lot to take. I love taking three-hour business classes at Loyola, but they usually involve activities and are more interesting to me. So three hours of lecture is tough. The one upside is site visits. Its like we’ve gone back to elementary school, site visits are the grown up version of a field trip. Overall, classes aren’t that bad and its nice having two afternoons off a week.