Friday night we explored the neighborhood of Testaccio, which is in southern Rome. Anna took us to a restaurant called “Aqua & Farina” (water and flour), which had all sorts of items made from pizza dough with various toppings and fillings—like little rolled things, pocket things, bruschetta, as well as pizza, and crepes. We started with a ton of mixed appetizers, which included plates of bruschetta with different toppings, and then some of the rolled and pocket dough items, which were all delicious! Then we all ordered main dishes. I got an eggplant and cheese filled flaky dough pocket. And for dessert, I got a nutella filled crepe. I liked the place because it was different than your typical restaurant, and had interesting and creative items that all similarly involved pizza dough bases, but done up in different ways.

After dinner, we headed to a club, closer to Termini station part of town. Apparently the club was just newly opened, and Anna knew one of the owners. Even though there was a line to get into the club, which opened at midnight, we got to go in ahead of the crowd because of Anna’s connection! We headed down the stairs into the place, where it was dimly lit with little candles all on low tables with cushions around them. The set-up and decor was nice and new and very chic. It wasn’t what we were expecting, but it was quite cute, and we loved it! There was a bar in the room to the right and straight ahead were the DJ and the dancing room.

We were some of the first people to arrive, so we claimed one of the larger tables for our group and sat on the cushions of the floor. Some of us ordered drinks, and we talked around the table for awhile as more and more people arrived. The crowd was very Italian punk, so there were a lot of interesting outfits and some good people-watching to be done. The music started to get louder and we joined the dance room at one point. After awhile, we were getting tired, and most of us headed to Termini station and then caught night buses home. I was glad Anna had shown us this cute club, and I know a lot of us are wanting to return other weekends, although Anna told us that we probably only want to go Friday nights because they play weird dark music Saturday nights that we probably wouldn’t enjoy. That was another funny thing—the club’s music this night was all English and American stuff. I don’t think we heard one song in Italian. Most of it we didn’t recognize, but there were the occasional American pop hits from like 8 years ago that we all enjoyed, and had to laugh at as the Italians danced along and sang every word.

Posted by Lisa at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It was a Wednesday and I was out of bed at 6:00 a.m. I was leaving my apartment at 7:00. I don’t have class Wednesdays. So where was I going this early in the morning? Why, to see the pope of course! My friend Courtney and I had been wanting to attend a papal audience this semester, and they are held every Wednesday (when the pope’s in town). So, we went to the office near the Trevi Fountain to pick up the free tickets on Tuesday.

Then, the next morning, we met in St. Peter’s square to wait for the program to begin. After waiting in the metal-detector line and having my bag x-rayed, I was allowed to pass into the square. Courtney had arrived before me and snagged us two seats in the front section, and just a few seats away from the aisle that the pope comes down in his pope-mobile. So, I wondered around on my cell phone for about 10 minutes trying to locate her in the masses of people! Finally, I found her and took my seat.

The audience doesn’t begin until 10:30, so we had to wait, with the thousands of other people there, for a couple of hours. The energy was crazy and amazing! We were surrounded by tons of Catholics from all over the world, speaking all sorts of languages. Many were on pilgrimages or traveling with large church groups. As we all waited, there was some chanting (of the pope’s name: “Benedetto” and other forms of Benedict) and singing among the groups of people. Beneath the statues of Peter and Paul on each side of St. Peter’s basilica was a large screen on which they televised the event so everyone could see the pope or whoever was reading during the program. They also showed people from the audience from time to time, kind of like a sports game.

At 10:30, the pope finally emerged from the side of St. Peter’s in the pope-mobile! It wasn’t encased in glass though, because he has started riding in an open pope-mobile in order to be closer to the people. So, Pope Benedict XVI rode around through the aisles that went around and through the sections of people in the square. People went crazy, cheering and chanting and taking pictures as he went by. We were all standing on our chairs and trying to lean in as close as we could to the aisle to see. I held my camera way up above my head with the viewfinder pointing down at me so I could see, and I got a few seconds of footage of Pope Benedict as he went by my section, waving at everyone. It was quite exciting!

Then, the car proceeded up the ramp and under the covered area that had been set up in front of the basilica. The pope walked to his chair and began with a prayer, as people climbed out of their chairs and settled down. After the prayer, there was a reading, first in Italian, and then in about 6 other languages, by I think priests or bishops of some sort. I tried to make out what the reading was about when it was first read in Italian, but understood it a lot better when the representative of the English-speaking countries repeated it.

Pope Benedict then gave a homily in Italian. After that, the representatives of each language proceeded one at a time, announcing the groups of pilgrims from the countries that spoke their language (i.e. the English-speaking one announced all the groups present from the US, England, Scotland, Australia, etc.). As the groups’ names were called, they would stand and cheer as the pope would wave at them. Some groups even sang or performed a song with musical instruments. After the representative finished announcing, he turned it over to the pope, who welcomed everyone in that language, gave a short version of the homily, and then said there would be a blessing of any religious articles the audience brought at the end of the program. This was repeated with every representative of the 6 or 7 languages, along with the pope’s short homily and announcement. After this long process, the pope did the blessing in Italian and then everyone stood and said the Our Father (“Pater Noster”) in Latin, which was conveniently printed on the back of the papal audience tickets. For the blessing, I had brought a rosary and a medal of Mary, so it was cool to get a papal blessing on those! After the conclusion, we filed out with the other thousands of people, which was a crazy and busy process! I was glad I had attended it, though. I enjoyed seeing the pope and hearing him speak, as well as being surrounded by so many excited and passionate religious pilgrims.

Posted by Lisa at 09:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)