Rome, Italia

Rome
Rome is incredible.  It is full of romance. The people are expressive, argumentative, and full of life.  They talk to one another as if they have known each other for years.  In the midwest, we smile and are friendly to everyone, but in Italy, you could see people walk up close to someone and ask for advice in an absurdly casual manner.  Even when an Italian is angry, they will yell at you as if you are arguing politics with a cousin at Thanksgiving dinner.
Rome has existed for more than 2 and a half thousand years. There are ancient ruins everywhere. So much of what we have today came from Rome. It is an incredible city.

I came to Rome on a school trip with my Art Appreciation class. We've been learning about the history of Rome and also how to analyze art and understand the differences in time eras whilst appreciating art.
Our professor is the quickest processor of information that I know.  She speaks in poetry and uses solely romance words.  While walking, she would quietly slip her arm into yours and come close to you and ask you about how you are or what you think about the art or explain why something is magnificent.  She was a mother and a guide.  I could spend all day just listening to her talk about anything that comes to her mind.  She cares about the world and knows the importance of experiencing a life that is beautiful.  I could never have asked for a better professor or human to experience Rome under the guidance of.
Our tour guide, Bruno was also an amazing person.  He also has a love language of touch.  He would constantly be saying, "isn't that amazing?" while looking into your eyes and placing a gentle hand on your back, genuinely wanting to know if you found it amazing.  He gave us every part of Rome that he could.  We tasted plants on the streets and felt everything.  We experienced Rome not with one sense, but all of them.  He was family and I wish I could steal him and pack him on all my trips.

Friday:

The Vatican was beautiful.  We went through the Vatican Museums. It was incredible to see so many famous paintings in person, especially School of Athens.  It's so crazy, when you've seen a painting your whole life, then to see it in person.  I've never seen so much art that I loved all in one day. Raphael, Michelangelo, they were insane.  They were geniuses, but also slaves to their labor. I especially loved all of the harmonious renaissance art, but the elaborate, moving, inspiring, Godly baroque art was astonishing as well.  Renaissance art in Rome creates a sense of peace.  I could sit with it for hours experiencing its perfection. Perfect colors, perfect lines, perfect shapes. The perfection of light and shadows and angelic faces so full of this mesmerizing restrained emotion.

We were lucky.  We were in Rome on the off-season meaning we got to see everything with no lines, and with hardly any crowd. It was perfect.  We did so many things, it is impossible to write about it all, but the history we learned was incredible and Rome cannot be explained on a page.  One thing said by our tour guide that I especially loved was... Roma.. spelled backwards is.. Amor.

The stairwell that inspired the Guggenheim.

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica was incomprehensibly immense.  I was able to go to the room that was designated for prayer and meditated on all the beauty.  It seems as if trying to absorb all this art in a couple hours could have been overwhelming, which it was definitely was, but it was also so amazing because there was no time to analyze or memorize.  Instead it was a fluid motion of allowing the art to pass through your emotions and your vulnerabilities.  Every person witnessing the art, praying inside the basilica, wandering through the long corridors are simply refraction of the beauty on the walls.  The walls spoke.  The floors echoed melodically.  People moved differently.  Took lighter steps.  Spoke softer, more gentle words.  We are all transformed by the beauty, without our consent.  It is inevitable that we are moved by beauty.
I could have stayed on my knees for hours meditating and ridding myself of my physical confinement and my surroundings; everything was wonderfully in accord with its surroundings

Opera

Megan, Paige & I went to an Opera Friday night. We saw La Traviata.  It was odd to watch an Opera without subtitles because all you had was the music and the visual, but it gave new perspective and appreciation.  It was beautifully amplified by the natural acoustics of the church.

Saturday:

Colloseum

The Colloseum was amazing.  I can't believe the history.  It also re-eforced my "no tv" policy.  The Roman government gave these people these horrific games to entertain the people, to keep them occupied. Do we want to live a life of staying occupied, or a life of freedom of thought and progression of human capabilities. It reminds me not to be distracted by what is meant to keep people down.
On the other side, the Colloseum is truly a magnificent piece of architecture.  I felt giddy just being in its presence. It is so big, and so old, and so amazing. On the inside, you could see the stage & how animals and gladiators would be kept under the stage before being propped up into the arena.  Also, fun fact, the word Arena actually comes from Latin which is the sand in which was used to soak up blood in the Colloseum. 

HEATHER BANKS was in Rome at the same time this weekend! We have been trying to figure out how to see each other while in Europe, and of course, after we thought we definitely wouldn't, we ended up in the same city on accident. We sat at a wine bar with Mama & Papa banks, Jake, Heather, and Megan & I. I still can't believe how lucky I got with my beloved freshman year roommate.  College would never have been the same without Heather.  She was everything I needed at exactly the time I needed it and every time I am with her, I'm reminded of how perfectly harmonious our friendship is. My favorite pillow talk partner.

Late night Abbey Theatre & Trevi Fountain

After meeting Heather, Megan & I (already a few classes of wine deep) went to an Irish Pub, called Abbey Theatre.  It was crowded and loud, like any good Irish Pub, so we found a two person table in a corner and laughed way too hard over a half pint of cider that lasted us at least 2 hours. I love every conversation I have with Megan.  I always feel on the same page with her, mostly just because of the way that she is.  She said once a teacher described her as a "gentle leader" which is so true.  She is kind and gentle, but is also strong-willed and knows exactly what she stands for.  I never stop learning from every conversation I have with her.  We spend our pillow talk talking about all the things we love and appreciate about other people and how not being able to lie has actually been a legitimate struggle in both of our lives.  She tells me how I should walk upon the earth as if I was walking through a church, with reverence.  She has a beautiful balance in her that is contagious.

At about 2 am, we began our 20-30 minute walk back to the hotel.  The streets of Rome were strangely empty. We scurried quickly down side streets, enjoying our perfect evening.  Then we passed the Trevi fountain, and stopped to enjoy its emptiness. There were couples of lovers sitting around the fountain whispering to one another, smiling softly, and enjoying the romanticism that is Rome in its entirety. We crashed the party and walked around the fountain analyzing its artistic characteristics. We crept closer and closer to the fountain wondering if we where exactly the line was of "no trespassing", but we didn't see one, or any police, so we crept up into a corner of the Trevi Fountain and climbed on the limestone around the marble.  The next day we saw police patrolling the area & realized we were definitely not suppose to have been there, but now it will forever be "our spot"

Sunday

Christmas lights in Rome, with heart balloons (of course).

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The Pantheon

So Bruno, our amazing tour guide, has a friend who built a restaurant on a super insanely ancient site.  No tourists go there, but Bruno brought us.  This wall is older than Christ.  Megan and I were so amazed by this wall.  I have never touched anything so old in my life.  We were talking about how we wanted to take it with us.  Megan told me to eat it... so I did.  So I ate a piece of a wall from BC.  I'm pretty happy about it.

Rome was amazing.  Full of pasta and loud Italians.  With a full experience of art and true friendship.

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague

Prague has been my favorite city, by far.  Prague wins. What a spectacular city. It is home to about 1.3 million people. It's famous for surviving the violence and destruction of 20th century Europe. As well as being a 1,100 year old city.  It has survived being occupied by the Nazis, then after the communist regime.  The city has so much history.

The Communism Museum

Through the 1970s and the 1980s, the government's emphasis on obedience, conformity, and the preservation of the status quo was challenged by individuals and organized groups aspiring to independent thinking and activity.  But the state viewed any independent action, no matter how innocuous, as a defiance of the party's control over all aspects of Czechoslovak life.  The government's response to such activity was harassment, persecution, and imprisonment.  The museum described the ban of music, dance, and anything else that valued creativity or independence of thought or progression.  It was literally a story out of 1984.

There was a passage about a man who was describing how a sort of underground market formed with people trading services and goods. People like doctors and mechanics became people of great importance.  The government controlled everything, but then they were failing.  It was not only tyranny, but also a poorly executed form of communism.  The man said, "I went to the grocery store one day and realized that the shelvers were empty."  But the scary part about communism is that you cannot go to the authorities, you cannot write an article, you cannot call upon a council. 

I walked into a room in the museum & began to watch a video. I felt a pit in my stomach as I read the words, "student protest" and watched police beating protest members with batons, spraying them with hoses and releasing tear gas.  The protests were not violent ever.  The police wore plain clothing and pretended to be part of the masses until they began beating citizens. They dragged them aside from the crowd then would ask (irrelevant) questions basing their imprisonment off of their school grades, social status, and neighborhood. 

I was dumbfounded to find out that it was almost entirely students.  We always hear about how the majority of new ideas, revolutions, and political movements begin in colleges, but it really didn't become concrete to me until I was sitting in front of this horrible video.

They watched their parents and teachers become stagnant and demoralized by the communist movement unsure of how to fight back or too afraid. 

What really stood out to be was the story of Jan Palach.  Jan Palach decided to sacrifice himself in protest of the invasion by setting himself on fire in Wenceslas Square.

Palach did not set himself on fire to protest against the Soviet occupation, but did so to protest against the "demoralization" of Czechoslovak citizens caused by the occupation.

"It was not so much in opposition to the Soviet occupation, but the demoralization which was setting in, that people were not only giving up, but giving in." If we want to change something, especially in a nation like America, we can.  It's a beautiful thing, but it is a matter of Americans, students must become united on a commonality that is good and that is right.

 Below is propaganda that was released by the Soviet Union after they heard of students and citizens becoming enticed by the new ideals of American freedom and progressive movements.  In response, the Soviet Union released propaganda showing how 'horrible' American was.

There was also a year in which a lot of crops were destroyed in Czech due to a bug taking over wheat fields.  The government released propaganda calling the bug, the "American Bug" claiming that America had released the bug purposefully in order to cause destruction in Czech.

At the end of the museum, there was this.  It was a plastic mold of a teenager's hand making a peace sign.  I placed my hand in this spot meditating on how many thousands and thousands of teens, students, and people my age had suffered in order to rid their country of communism. 

David Cerny is a Czech Sculptor.  He has sculptures all over Prague. He became famous in 1991 when he painted a Soviet war tank pink. He was arrest for the act of civil disobedience. But this sculpture most amazes me depicted men who were "victims of communism."

The Astronomical Clock

It is the oldest astronomical clock still working today. We climbed to the top right in time to see the sun setting over the tops of the buildings.

We went to a Pub called Beer Geek which had 30 taps.  There were beers from all over the world.  I would highly recommend it! Plus, everyone spoke English, which was awesome because Czech is incredibly difficult.  Possibly the only thing keeping me from moving to Prague permanently.

photos by: Carol #ieatlikeamonster

In 1969, the year that Jan Palach lit himself on fire.. the Beatles released Abbey Road.

We walked to the John Lennon Wall and a man was there playing Beatle's songs.  We admired all the newly painted support for France.  It is a really nice wall, filled with love and peace and freedom and all the right things. 
It's crazy to think that the wall was first painted just to irritate the communist regime.. what an incredible way to make a change.

Then there was a lock bridge..

"Mutually Weird"

The French Embassy

The Charles Bridge
The first brick of the famous bridge was laid by Charles IV himself.

Baby Statues
David Cerny is the coolest dude ever.  The city asked him to make sculptures of interest, but instead he said.. **** you, I'll do what I want.  So he made satirical statues all over the city.  

One included super creepy naked baby statues with no faces.

Food
People in Prague eat so much meat!! Every dish has meat in it.  A traditional dish is Goulash or Schnitzel.  I actually haven't eaten any meat (besides fish & eggs) since coming to Europe, so my stomach didn't handle it well.

I decided on French Toasted Bagels & Fruit for my meal the next morning! Yum.

& a delicious Apple Strudel filled Trdelník

Prague Castle

Prague Castle: Lobkowicz Palace Concert

Prague is the birthplace of Czech composers Antoni Dvorak, Leos Janacek, and Bedrich Smetana.  Also, Mozart premiered Don Giovanni here at the Estates Theater.

I saw all of the concerts behind held around & knew I had to attend one.  I have been missing live music so much since being in Europe.  I joined music club at school, but I don't get to hear classical music or listen to recitals like at Millikin. I didn't realize how much of an integral part of my life live music is until I heard the first note of a piano and thought I was going to have to leave the room.  The tears began instantly and were uncontrollable.  There was nothing I could do.  It was so magical, sitting in a room that looked like a scene off of Pride & Prejudice in a Castle listening to everything I needed all at once.  Music will never stop filling me.  I will never go that long again without live music in my life. What a way to learn a lesson.  And as I lost myself in the music, I was surrounded by all the things I love most.. St. Charles church, my grandpa's lap, my grandma's laugh, my mother's hands, my favorite painting in Grand Rapids MI, Pride & Prejudice.. all from a song that I had actually never heard live. Art does weird things to a person.

I think it was a mixture of mysticism, love of music, and a little smudge of un-confronted homesickness.  I sat alone, weeping to the Turkish Waltz...which is absurdly ridiculous. The lady in front of me turned and handed me a tissue staring at me as if I was completely insane.  I wept through the entire concert, but never felt so happy and rejuvenated afterward.