So, I was so excited about my vacation, that I realized I forgot another VERY important visit. That’s right, my Dad, Linda, two of their friends, and my aunt and uncle (Joan and Shag) came to Italy! They stayed in Florence for the most part, and came to Rome the weekend before I left- October 16th. The reason for the visit? My great-great-great aunt was canonized as a Saint! The first ever saint from Australia, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop. I met them at their hotel on Saturday, and then we walked over to the Vatican for a tour. It was a long tour (about 4 hours), but I learned a lot. We were given headsets, and our tour guide would talk into her microphone as we walked. I’ve poked fun at tour groups with headsets here before, mainly because trying to walk around while tourists are trying to look around and listen can end with ones toes stepped on. And they are always a really bright color, so it immediately labels one as a tourist. However, I can vouch for them, that in a museum setting, they were great. I was able to stop and look, or move slightly away from the group to look at something, and not worry that I was missing out on information. After our tour ended, we checked out St. Peter’s- very beautiful. And the sun illuminated the clouds as we left- it was really pretty. Dinner was at a great place near Piazza di Spagna- a couple of them ordered fish…it came out complete with a head and scales! I think I got fried fiori de zuccini (zucchini flowers) for an antipasto, and roasted leg of pork (yum) for my piatto.
Sunday was the day of the canonization- an early start. Jen, Mira, Allie, and I met up with the family at 7:30 at a café to get breakfast and then wait in line to get seats. It took place right in front of St. Peter’s, in the square. We got in pretty early, and then I was facing front the whole time, but when I finally turned around, I couldn’t believe how many people there were! The Aussies were so proud. There were lots of flags waving around. We were there until about 1 pm, and then I came back home to do online check-in for my flight later that night. Dad, Uncle Shag, and Aunt Joan met me in my “backyard” (Piazza Navona), and I took them on a whirlwind tour. We only had a couple hours to see all the famous sights, so in about 2, maybe 3 hours, I showed them my apartment (which is inside the Cathedral, Saint Agnese in Agone), the Pantheon, Palazzo Venezia, Trajan’s Markets, the Foro Romano, and the Colosseum. I was so proud of them- my feet were hurting by the end of it. And then we walked to the metro and said bye. It was a whirlwind afternoon- I wish they could’ve been here in Rome for longer.
It was the perfect time to visit though, because on Friday, we had had our final review, so I was completely done with work and could be free to be with them. And then Mira and I left for Barcelona around 10 pm on Sunday.
This past week back has made my vacation seem like a really really long time ago. Our studio class was actually canceled on Monday, which was nice to have an afternoon to relax and get caught up. Every week we get emails from the Pantheon Institute about things to do, and on Monday, there was a free concert near San Pietro (Saint Peter’s). So Kristy, Marda, Andrew (Penn State) and I went. There were actually a couple other people from Penn State there, as well as some people from Kenyon College. We all get these updates from the Pantheon Institute. It was a good group, and I had fun. It was a very similar experience to seeing a band play in a bar in the U.S. Tuesday we had a sight visit- our new site is in San Lorenzo, near Termini Station (the main train station). No defined program for our project- that’s what we get to decide! Wednesday I spent the day at the Pantheon sketching for my Materials and Methods class. We had a pin up of our drawings today- our assignment was to choose a building we had talked about in class and analyze some aspect of it. I was looking more specifically at the structure of the Pantheon. Thursday was another day of class, but the fun part came afterwards. One of the professors for Penn State, Luca Peralta, was having the opening for an installation he did near the MAXXI museum. A couple of us decided to go check it out after studio. Turns out the client was a winter resort place in northern Italy, so the installation concept was an ice cube. They also had a little ski hill set up- for free. So I tried it out! Picture a treadmill. Make it 10 times as wide, and 5 times long, have white turf where the “track” would be, and put it on a downward facing incline, and that’s what I skied on. It was so much fun though! A little weird until I got a grasp on how to do it- the further apart the back of my skis were, the easier it was to move backwards, away from the grab bar in the front. When the skis were parallel, you went straight down again. After that, we went over to the auditorium, where they were having a Cinema festival, and we got to see Kiera Knightley. And then we walked the opposite direction to the MAXXI- designed by Zaha Hadid and our Materials and Methods professor. It was lit up in all these different neon colors-really cool! What an exciting 3 hours. And here I thought I was just going to be going to an architecture installation. Ha. 
Friday Mira’s parents took us out to dinner- Mira and I had scoped it out on the way back from studio. It was right near the Pantheon. I felt a little bit like a tourist, but I realize that I rarely eat out here. I end up cooking during the week, which is a lot less expensive. The rest of the weekend was spent working and fighting off sickness- we’re all getting sick to some degree. Saturday night Chris, a friend from school, arrived and we’ve been visiting with him. And last night, on Sunday (Halloween), Marda and I went to San Lorenzo, near our site. I wanted to see what it was like at night and compare the activity level to during the day…and the difference is night and day. Much more active at night. There was a market selling jewelry, clothes and food, and they had an impromptu dance class/show. Marda got pulled up to dance salsa- it was quite cute. We got drinks at a café nearby, and caught the bus home around 1:30 am. It was a good end to the weekend.
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