Cool Thought of the Day

This came from yesterday during a short presentation by an Italian architecture professor at a grad school here in Rome--one thing he said, roughly (because he said it in Italian and then one of the ND professors translated) was this:

Designing architecture on paper is like composing sheet music--it's a way of representing the thing, but not the primary way it's meant to be experienced. Just as music has to be heard, architecture has to be seen in real life. And I suppose that's why I'm in Rome...

Also, I think I'm going to start reading Papal Encyclicals and/or Vatican II documents. Does anyone have any ideas of what a good one to start with might be?

The Little Things

It's been a while since I've updated...hmm. Also, we have an Urbanism project due tomorrow that I really should be working on, so I'll have to keep this short, and hopefully catch up more later this week. Probably the biggest accomplishment I've made since last posting, besides seeing the original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and going to a Papal audience, has been doing my laundry. (Ok, so those other two are pretty important--more on those later!) For now, laundry.

The hotel we live in acquired a washing machine a few years ago pretty much just for us Notre Dame students, and they let us use it for free. However, there's no dryer, so we have to air dry everything. We have a sign up sheet in studio, and I decided to go on Sunday morning, because I knew I wouldn't be doing any work at that time anyway. (On purpose. I try to keep the Sabbath by not hesitating to do fun things Saturday night instead of working, and I don't go in to studio until at least early to mid afternoonish on Sunday...and I definitely look forward to this guilt-free re-creation time). So anyway, I washed everything just fine, and then took it up to the terrace where there are a few drying racks. I laid everything out and sat there and read. It was wonderful:-) The only small snag came when someone who works at the hotel came out to water the plants...and got some water on my almost dry clothes. Oh well. They eventually dried, and now I have clean clothes! And I think I'm going to start looking forward to laundry time; it's kind of exciting, and a good chance to catch up on reading, journaling, things like that.

This morning I another had a small adventure, but again, a quiet one. For my "watercolor" class, my assignment this week was to sketch the interior of the church of St. Cecelia. I went once last week and did most of it, but then siesta time came and the church closed. So I had to go back today to finish. (Side note about the class--the professor is awesome. He's very good at drawing and watercoloring, and doesn't beat around the bush about helping you to get better; ie offering plenty of constructive criticism. And he does it about as tactfully as Coach Burrus.) Anyway, I got to the church at 8, figuring there would probably be a mass then I could go to, and then stay and draw. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Mass is at 7:20, so it was just ending as I walked in. Also, a little nun came up to me and told me that the church isn't open to the public til 9, so I had an hour to kill. It turned out well, though--I found a little bar just a few streets away. I got a cafelatte and a nutella cornetto. Also, this particular place didn't charge for sitting down at a table (most do), so I was able to chill there and sip my coffee while attempting to read an Italian newspaper. I understood some of the headlines, and then was quite excited to find a Sudoku. It's awesome that numbers are universal. Another reason that math is so great, right mom? :-)

These two incidents may not be quite as exciting-sounding as going to mass at St. Peter's, or being in the same room as the Pope, etc, but they were both very interiorly satisfying. Probably because they WEREN'T very exciting, just the normal little things of everyday life--things that I'm starting to feel more comfortable with here.

Well, I guess this IS fairly short, by my standards. (My friend Evan recently described a long post he wrote for his blog as "Caroline-length") ...and now, to work!

Success!

Today we turned in our first studio project of the year. My group finished in plenty of time, and we didn't even have to pull an all nighter last night. In fact, because of an interesting labor law Italy passed last summer, we aren't even allowed to stay in studio all night. While we're listening to lectures, taking notes, reading, doing normal class things, we're considered students, but as soon as we pick up a pencil and sit at our drafting tables, we're considered to be "working". Workers have to be supervised at all times, so Notre Dame had to hire a security guard to hang around in the evenings and come check on us periodically. They didn't want to pay for him all night, every night, though, and so studio closes at 2 a.m. (Except the night before our final project we'll have extended hours and still get to do the traditional and practically required all-nighter--but until then, we get to enjoy mandatory sleep!) Our next project will be introduced on Wednesday, so tonight and tomorrow we'll take it easy and enjoy the calm between the storms.

I think St. Peter's has been the subject of most of my blog posts so far while I've been here, but I have to add another quick note--I went to mass there last Sunday! It was awesome. We ended up at a Latin mass. It was a good reminder that Latin is a universal Church language, because probably very few people there were fluent in Latin, but people from all different countries were all sort-of familiar with the responses and stumbling along. And the books they gave us to follow along definitely helped:-) I'm still mystified by the kneeling patterns during the Eucharist prayer, because everyone tends to do what they're used to, I think, and so I don't think I've been to a mass yet with everyone doing the same thing at the same time.

I haven't done any major sight-seeing lately, so I don't really have any exciting news or stories to report...but I'll leave you with this thought, which also happens to be the subject of my facebook status right now--that proves how monumental it is. Last night, I started using authentic Italian toothpaste. Even better, I'm pretty sure it's off-brand Italian toothpaste. It tastes kind of funny, but it makes me feel way more legit.

A Brief Life Update, or, a few thoughts on churches.

Yesterday and today I got to go to daily mass at the church right by where we live, San Andrea della Valle. It turns out that they actually have mass every morning at 8, 9, 10, and 11, so I should be able to make it every day. Mass is obviously mostly the same, but it does have a few differences--language, for instance. Yesterday everything was in Italian. Today the priest celebrated the Novus Ordo, but in Latin except for the readings, which were Italian. My Italian is not quite good enough to understand the readings either day, unfortunately. Another difference is that there hasn't been a homily either day. I don't know if that's Itailian daily mass custom or if it's just been coincidence. I also can't figure out the standard liturgical posture yet, because it's been different each day. Yesterday we knelt after the Sanctus until just after the consecration, but today we didn't kneel til the epiclesis right before the consecration, and then stood again after the consecration. I wait for a cue from everybody else who's there, but perhaps they're doing the same thing until somebody finally takes initiative...I don't know. I'll have to wait for a larger sampling of days to know what the correct way is here.

Another thing that's struck me about the churches here is they sort of seem to lack a community within them. I've been to a lot of different churches in the U.S, mostly because of Totus Tuus and just parish hopping in St. Louis, and one of the things you notice first is that each church belongs to a parish. There's usually a marquee with announcements, and stacks of bulletins in the back, and things like that. In fact, these things are so ordinary and expected that I never thought about them til now. Here, though, there's none of that. There are churches literally all over (we're analyzing different piazzas for my studio class, and the one I'm working on has churches on 3 of the 4 sides) but when you walk in one of the first things you usually see is a map showing the different paintings and saints in the various side chapels. It's as if the main function of the church is a stop on a tourist trip, with masses offered frequently for whoever happens to be around and wants to drop in. Maybe I'm having the wrong reaction, and having 4 daily masses per day is a sign of the great faithfulness of the people in Rome in general. And maybe it's different here because Rome IS such a popular pilgrimage site, and in the smaller towns of Italy things have a parish dynamic more like in the U.S.

While I was at mass today I had the thought that the churches here have more life in the actual structure of the church, and the beauty of the architecture and everything, but the churches in America have more life WITHIN the walls. I had a similar experience yesterday, too, when I went into another magnificent church for the first time and knelt down to pray, and the first thing that came to mind was the church in Limon, Colorado. It's one of my favorite churches. It's small and simple, probably built by the first people in the town, but it has its own share of beauty that comes from that simplicity. It's quite a contrast to all the churches here. I guess all of this points towards the question: are the people more important than the building, or is the building more important than the people? In Limon, the church is sacred mostly because the people make it so (and, of course, because the sacraments are celebrated there--does that sort of equal everything out and make the differences not matter?) and here, it's almost like walking into such a sacred space sanctifies the people. Which is better? I don't know. But as an architecture student who's hoping to someday maybe work in the field of sacred architecture, it's an important thing to think about. I don't know which way I prefer. Intellectually, I think I would pick the Rome way. I believe strongly that Catholicism in general shouldn't be watered down at all to cater to the people, but instead the people should rise to higher standards. That usually manifests itself in a strong preference for orthodoxy, especially in the liturgy, but applied here it seems to logically mean we should have overwhelming, ornate, beautiful churches. On the other hand, though, leaving intellectual ideas aside, I feel much more at peace in the smaller, simpler churches I've been in. They foster a sense of a more personal relationship with God. I also kind of associate them with humility, and the huge churches with magnanimity...but I know that's a sticky area to wander into because I don't think those have to be mutually exclusive, so I don't want to divide them in my head like that.

Well, I don't really have any conclusion for this, but I would love to hear more thoughts on this idea if anyone has any.

Also, you might be reading this blog because you want to know the things I've been up to, not just the thoughts I've had while doing it, so here's a little bit of that: classes started Monday! I have all architecture classes (I'm not going to take Italian after all), which means my work is alot of walking around the city and drawing and analyzing different parts of it. History is going to be especially good, I think, because the professor is a lady who just knows scads of it. We walk around and she tells us stories about most of the buildings we pass. In the one class we've had so far, we talked a lot about the founding of Rome and the Roman Forum, but about other random things too, and it was all really fascinating. For Urbanism we analyzed the Campidoglia, which is a really cool piazza designed by Michelangelo. For studio, we basically have one long project that will take the whole semester, but it's divided into 3 parts. At the end, we'll have a design for a few university buildings in a piazza by the Tiber, rebuilt where a few buildings were torn down in the 30s and never replaced. It's a project that could actually happen, too...the city wants to put something new there and we're working in conjunction with a Roman school somehow, and I think they might actually build one of our proposals. Anyway, we're starting with a short analysis of the existing piazzas in Rome so we can learn how they work, so we're working in groups and each group looks at one in particular and then we'll all look at what every group has done. It's interesting and not TOO stressful yet, and it's not a design project, which always makes it a little easier. But, speaking of which, I need to get to work...

Shake Down the (Roman) Thunder

Last night, I had a crazy experience. Well, I guess I could say that everything I've done in the past 5 days (have I really only been here 5 days?) has been a crazy experience. But this particular one involved going to an Irish pub, in the middle of Rome, full of English speakers, to watch the ND v. Michigan game. Talk about a small world...who would have thought that was possible? It was an exciting game. The lead changed back and forth a few different times...I won't mention the very end, since Notre Dame fans don't need to be reminded, and it probably doesn't interest anyone else. (Total side note--the title of this post was obviously inspired by the experience of watching the game over here, but I thought it was clever because it also has the double effect of describing the weather we've had recently; it's stormed each afternoon the past two days). Anyway, it was really fun to watch the game, but it made me the most homesick I've been since getting here. While the Eucharist tends to make the distance across the ocean seem not very significant, this had the opposite effect: thinking about everyone at ND watching the game at the same time we were (except for us, the game started at 9:30 pm and lasted til well after midnight) made me feel very far away. Although, come to think of it, the mood on campus probably wasn't too great after that game anyway:-)

But still, I'm starting to miss the little things. Like today, I had a strange desire to read a few books we have at home, and then remembered I won't have a chance to til May...and I miss home cooked food. We've been eating out for pretty much every meal. That will change next month for sure, when the kitchen is done being renovated and we can start cooking for ourselves. And I think tomorrow I'll go to the grocery store (the “di per di”--which literally translates to “of for of”; we can't quite figure out why it's called that) and scope out the sandwich fixings options. Peanut butter doesn't exist here, though, so I may end up with Nutella sandwiches every day:-) Just kidding. But I'll have to see what's around. (REVISION: peanut butter DOES exist, it's just really expensive. I decided to splurge on it, though. And, while standing there pondering which jar to get, I got hit on by a middle aged Italian man. Note to self: don't linger in the di per di!)

On a brighter note, classes start tomorrow! Here's my schedule:

Studio M, W, F 2:00p.m.-6:00p.m.
Watercolor T 9:00a.m.-12:00p.m.
Roman Architecture and Urbanism T 2:00p.m-5:00p.m.
Architectural History R 9:00a.m.-12:00p.m.
(hopefully)Intermediate Italian W, F morning sometime, this one's not for sure yet

I'm looking forward to getting into a routine. I haven't yet found a daily mass I can go to, but then, I haven't really tried...so I'll be glad when I get that figured out too. I feel like I've been on vacation here so far, and totally doing the tourist thing, but real living starts tomorrow. I'll have work to do and places to be, and I'll be learning all kinds of cool stuff...so it should be good.

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory

I wrote a post before I left about “lasts”. Now, my life has been nothing but firsts for the past two days. My first dish of authentic Italian pasta, my first gelato cone, my first run, my first night in my new room, my first time seeing all the monuments...I've been to the Pantheon, because I live just a few blocks from it; the Trevi Fountain, which I really know nothing about since we didn't learn about it last year in Architectural History, but it's pretty cool; the Roman Forum, just a walk-by, though; and the Colosseum, but again, we didn't go in. I've also seen several churches that I know I recognize but just can't think of which one it is, and wish I actually remembered everything that I “learned” last year.

Oh, and, today was my first time in the Vatican! To me that seems to almost belong in a different category than everything else. All the other stuff is typical for getting settled into a new place and kind of touristy, but this...this was like coming home. I've always identified myself as a Roman Catholic, but it's easy to forget how closely that ties you to the physical place of Rome. But when you're here, you can tell that this is it, the center of the Church.

The hotel where we live is right by the Corso Vittore Emmanuele, which was basically built to run straight into St. Peters, so it's pretty easy to find from where we live, and only about a 20 minute walk (probably less if you walk fast). When we got close, though, we turned off of the Corso and onto a side street that would take us to St. Peter's from the side (clever). See, when the Basilica was built, the Corso didn't go all the way into the Square like it does today, there was another building in the way. Everyone had to come in from the side, and that's how it's meant to be approached. That way, you don't see it as you're walking up. You're going along a regular street with buildings on both sides, and up ahead you can see a dome. As you get closer you can see a colonnade at the end of the street. Then, the buildings on the sides end, and you pop out for a full view of the Square, and you can tell it's huge. You're a little off center, though, so you can't really see the Basilica very well through the columns. You walk around the columns to where they open up, and you're staring at the whole thing dead on for the first time. The massive amount of open space (rare in Rome), the obelisk (probably the last thing that St. Peter saw before he died), and the Basilica itself. It's breathtaking. One of the coolest parts is seeing all the statues of saints looking down from on top of the colonnade. Obviously it brings to mind the communion of saints that are always looking down on the present day Church and praying for her. I wish I knew more about iconography so I could identify all of them (or at least some).

I took a few pictures of these outside views, and then we went inside. The inside is absolutely gorgeous. Gigantic, beautiful, majestic, glorious, awesome in the truest sense of the word—it inspires incredible awe. It's colorful, because of all the different kinds of marble used, and very, very ornate, but it doesn't seem over the top or “too much” whatsoever. It's obvious from the moment you walk in that all of this is done for a reason; to give glory to God. We offer Him our best works, most precious materials, and all our skill and craftsmanship. There are little side chapels all along the length of it, and there are so many they seem to go on forever. The first one has the original Pieta. A few have the remains of saints (mostly Popes). There's also an area on each side that's roped off and reserved for prayer. One side has perpetual adoration with the Eucharist exposed in a monstrance and the other has the Eucharist reserved in a tabernacle. I went in to the one with the monstrance. Praying in front of Jesus there, in St. Peter's, was probably one of the most momentous occasions of my life so far. If you told me a prayer intention before I left, know that I prayed specifically for it (and you) during that time. And if you've thought of any more, or if I forgot to ask you then please please let me know. There's probably a pretty good chance that I'll be back there sometime soon:-)

Anyway, I had a few other thoughts while I was praying. First, I was reflecting on all the beauty and majesty around me and I remembered a line that I think I must have read in a book sometime recently...I can't remember exactly who wrote it but I would guess either George Wiegel or G.K. Chesterton. I also can't remember the exact words of the quote, but the idea is that we need to practice for the beauty of Heaven by being exposed to beauty on earth. It's something that we have to become accustomed to; it's too much to be thrown into all at once. And by golly, I'm pretty sure I was exposed to some Heavenly beauty today. Secondly, I felt the universality of the Church. I miss people back in the States, naturally, but I felt so close to all of you while I was praying. It was like the distance all went away, or at least didn't matter anymore. I was right beside you in this thing called the Church, right along with all the people who have gone before or will come after us. I haven't been to mass yet here in Rome, but I'm anxiously anticipating the next time I get to go and experience that communion even more deeply. We walked around and saw pretty much everything on the inside of the Basilica, but I purposefully didn't take any pictures. My first time there I didn't just want to be another tourist. And somehow it felt like taking pictures would make me an outsider...I wanted to be an insider, a Catholic coming home. I wanted to soak it all in and really experience it. And, I figure I'll have plenty of time to go back and get those pictures (because I will want to at some point...).

After that, we went down and saw the tombs of several Popes, including John Paul II's. Another incredible experience. I remembered watching his funeral on TV, and seeing the people crammed into St. Peter's Square, and then the procession at the end where they carried his body to the tomb...which happened to be right where I was standing (actually, kneeling) at the time. Oh man. I have already been blessed so much.

Ahem. Well, as you can probably tell from the length of my description, St. Peter's has been my favorite part so far. I think it's going to be pretty hard to top.

Oh, and school stuff is going well too...we had a little bit of orientation today and we'll finish the orientating process tomorrow. Then we have the weekend to keep seeing the sights, and classes start on Monday. Buona notte!

When in Rome...

When I logged into Blogspot just now to jot down a quick update, it had switched itself to Italian. Now, however, it's back to English...strange. Anyway, as you can probably guess from that, sono a Roma! We got in this morning, though it feels like alot longer ago that that. The flight was...long. But, it had some perks--we got served two meals. Two! Plus pretzels and drinks! AND there were movies! I also slept for a large part of it. When we got to Rome it was about 8:30 am local time, but my watch was still on South Bend time and so said 2:30. That was pretty surreal. We've spent the day moving in and getting things set up--internet and phone service, filling out paperwork to apply for "permission to stay permits", etc. Our rooms are nice, but small. I have less space to put stuff than last year, and if you're familiar with that set-up you'll know that that's pretty incredible. I'm already remembering bits of Italian. For instance, I successfully told the desk clerk my room number in Italiano in order to get my key, and even added a "per favore" at the end. Well, even though jet lag is telling me it's early evening, I should go to sleep...I'll try to post again soon, and maybe include some pictures!

And Our Hearts Forever Love Thee, Notre Dame

I'm at Notre Dame right now! I came up for the game yesterday, (we won, 35-0, against Nevada), and I'll be staying here til Tuesday. It's a little strange to be on campus without actually going to classes and doing homework and all that. It doesn't really feel like home right now, more like I'm just visiting. And it doesn't help that I can't swipe into my dorm, I don't get meals in the dining hall, and I don't have any flex points...and today I was sitting out on the quad and I felt like everybody who walked by could tell that I wasn't a real student. Maybe that's being a little overdramatic, but it IS weird:-) I don't really mind the not having work to do part, though. On Friday night I walked by the architecture building and saw a bunch of the current sophomores working on their projects. Normally, I'm on the inside of that situation, not outside looking in. It's quite a different perspective. I wanted to say, "it's Friday night! You should be out having fun!"...but that's what everybody is usually saying to me, and at those times I know that it's just not possible.

It's been great this weekend to be able to invest fully in the social aspects of college. And I've been able to visit some of my favorite places and do typical Notre Dame things--I've been to a football game, a candlelight dinner, reckers, I visited the grotto, I walked in the basilica but still need to go to mass there, and I combined a couple of my usual running routes this morning. Tonight I'll go to Vespers and Walsh mass, tomorrow I'll go to a 5:15 basilica mass, I've seen pretty much everyone I want to at least once, with plans to see a few more people tomorrow hopefully...I'm trying to soak in enough experiences to last me a year.

I do like it here. Alot of faithful Catholics have pretty much totally renounced the place and don't want anything to do with it, but I can't do that. I see all the good that's here too. It's beautiful. I know it's not perfect and there are alot of things that need to be changed, from big level things in the attitude of the administration, to small level things that happen on campus every weekend. But I take great comfort in the fact that it's still called "Notre Dame". I know Mary is watching over everything here. I think people sometimes forget what Notre Dame means when they're just talking about the school. I've been guilty of that as well...but every time we name it, we're claiming her as our mother and asking for her intercession. I trust that intercession completely. So Mary, Queen of Heaven, Notre Dame, pray for us!

Root, root, root for the Cardinals

Last Tuesday was my last night in St. Louis (yesterday and today I went on a mini road trip to visit friends at various colleges west on I-70, and tomorrow I'll be heading up to ND, and then on Tuesday--a Roma!). My family sent me off in style--first, we went to Steak n Shake for some good all-American food. In retrospect, I probably should have gotten the American melt, but instead I went with a Frisco melt, my usual. And an oreo shake, because it's pretty much required. Anyway, here's us outside afterwards! (If I can figure out how to get pictures on here...)


From left: Mom, half of Laura, Caroline, Matt, Dad, and Steve


Caroline, Matt, Mom, Dad, all of Laura, Steve

Yay! After a few failed attempts, I did it! :-) Next, Steve and I went to the Cardinals game against the Brewers. It was awesome. We got there a little late, because dinner went long, but we saw all the good parts. When we arrived, they were down 3-0. As we were walking into our section, though, Pujols hit a homer! Then they promptly scored 2 more runs and tied it up. In the 5th (or 6th perhaps, I can't quite remember), the Brewers pulled ahead again 4-3, but in the bottom of the inning the Cards scored a run on a Molina base hit (after they had intentionally walked the guy in front of him), so it was tied again. In the bottom of the 7th, the Cards had a runner on 2nd, then Pujols was intentionally walked, then Holliday came up...and hit a homer on the first pitch. Intentional walks just didn't work out so well for the Brewers that night. The final score was 7-6, because the Cardinals decided to let it get a little interesting in the 9th, maybe too much so, as the go ahead run was at the plate. Luckily, he struck out to end it. It was an all-around great game--great hitting, great fielding, great baserunning...but then again, nothing too special for the Cards this season. They've been totally dominating lately. It's too bad that I won't be around to celebrate when they win the World Series...


The view from our seats...the Arch is back there somewhere


Steve and I after the game

It was a good "bon voyage" night, as my mom called it.