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It was really amazing to actually be able to experience Boys' Town. We had to take two different buses to get out to Boys' Town because it was out in the rural part of Rome. When we walked up the lane to the "city," I was amazed at how truly beautiful they kept the grounds. All of the flowers were blooming, hedges were being trimmed and boys were painting signs around the buildings. Going to a place were every boy living there has come from a life a hardship, loss and struggle, I expected the atmosphere to be somber and depressing. Instead, all of the boys there were very happy and in a
joking mood. They were more than willing to welcome us into their community. I learned today that just because these boys faced so many setbacks in their life, that doesn't mean that they have to let that hang over them for the rest of their lives. These boys show everyone that you can overcome anything that faces you in life! I've included pictures of "Garden City" which is the house where the younger boys live. I also included a picture of three of the boys talking to us in the Assembly Room.
Walking to the small grocery store that is a few hundred feet from my apartment, I realized that there are a few small things that I am going to miss about living at Santa Maria in Cappella and going to school at the Sede di Roma. One of the things that I am going to miss about the school is the small bar where we get paninis right down V. Piè di Marmo from the school. At this bar, the owner is always behind the counter, almost seeming like he's waiting for us to come in and get our daily lunch of paninis. Speaking the only Italian we know, we all offer a friendly "Ciao!" as soon as we walk in the door. This white-haired, slightly overweight man gruffly responds in his throaty deep voice "Ciao," drawing out the "ow" part of the Italian greeting. I will also miss the other bar that is right around the corner in between V. Piè di Marmo and Pza. della Pigna. At this bar, the two young guys that are always working in the morning are happy to put a heart on the foam of your cappuccino. Closer to the apartment, I will miss the tiny grocery store I talked about earlier and the owner, although a friendly man, refuses to speak any English to any of the students who frequent his place. He sits behind the counter on his stool and will say the prices of things aloud (in Italian) as he slowly punches them into a cash register. Sometimes, (if you're lucky) a younger Italian woman will be working and will speak some English to you. If not, you are completely immersed in the Italian culture and completely lost in the Italian language. The thing that I will miss the most, however, is the doorman at Santa Maria in Cappella. Our doorman does not speak a lick of English (like the grocery store owner.) However, when a line of six or seven of us march through the main door, he always waves and offers a friendly "Ciao," to all of us. In response, without fail, each of the six of seven of us will respond with a "Ciao," of our own, not at once, but rather in the row that we process in with. As the time passes I realize that I really am going to miss the little things about Italy.
I saw a lot of great things while I was in Barcelona this past weekend. I noticed that the drivers there are a lot more considerate than the ones that are in Rome. They actually yield to pedestrians, which reminds me of good old State College where you can walk out into traffic and 9 times out of 10, the driver is going to stop. (They won't be happy, but they'll stop!) In Barcelona, I noticed that there were MUCH fewer mopeds than in Rome. I'm not sure if it is because Barcelona had a bigger and more efficient metro system than Rome or what, but there definitely weren't mopeds whizzing passed you constantly or driving up on to the sidewalks just to get around traffic. I was, however, able to get a picture of a large row of parked mopeds that reminded me of the way they park mopeds by the capitol in Rome. Enjoy : )
On my trip to Barcelona this past week, I noticed that they have a great deal of police officers constantly patrolling the streets. Although they don't have posted guard points like in Rome, there is a constant patrol on the streets of Barcelona. Although there are a lot of police officers patrolling, things like prostitution and drug dealing are a very large epidemic plaguing this beautiful city. I happened to be able to get a picture of two police officers right before they started yelling at me in Spanish to stop taking their picture. The police officers in this picture are the Mossos d'Esquadra which according to wikipedia.com is "the police force of Catalonia" and is "one of the oldest civil police forces in Europe. Some of their duties are "to handle terrorism, identity documents, immigration and other limited matters which the central government retains competences on."
The class is planning a field trip to Boys' Town this Friday. Boys' Town was founded in 1945 by Monsignor John Patrick-Abbing. It is a place that takes children under the age of 18 and gives them a place where they can live and work. It was started after WWII to take in orphans that were abandoned after the war. One of the most interesting aspects of Boys' Town is that it is a self-governing community. This basically means that Boys' Town has their own currency, their own laws and also have their own elected officials. This is something that I would like to learn more about. It is intriguing to think that children of such a young age are able to learn the rules of democracy and have a sense of civic responsibility instilled in them during their early childhood. If you would like to learn more about Boys' Town (of Rome) go to their website.
Today, the class went to Ostia Antica on a field trip. According to our guidebook, this was the center for commercial trade for Rome and also a military base. It was built around the 1st century BC. Today, the entire city is in ruins, but it is easy to get a general idea of what it used to look like by piecing together the different sections of the city. One of the most interesting and amazing things that I saw while at Ostia Antica was the theater. According to ostiaantica.org, the theater is attributed to the ruler Agrippa. It was built to be able to accommodate 3,000-4,000 people. Presently, you are able to go and see performances by dancers or plays. While I was at the theater, I was amazed. It was very
open and beautiful and you had an amazing view of the stage. There were actually dancers rehearsing while we were there. It kind of gave you a modern-day feel for what used to happen thousands of years ago. There were certain qualities of the theater that reminded me of the Colosseum. The seating was reminiscent of what the Colosseum's looked like (except the Colosseum's was limestone.) Also, there were giant archways leading into the theater. This is reminiscent of the Colosseum's numbered entry portals. It's intriguing to think that these were the "stadiums" and "arenas" of ancient Rome.
There are a lot of new noises that I had to get used to when I first came to Rome. All of the sirens for ambulances, police and firetrucks are completely different here. Being from a tiny town in western Pennsylvania, I had to get used to the noise of constant traffic at all hours of the night. I also had to get used to the fact that 99% of the conversations going on around me were in a language that I did not understand in the least bit. One of the strangest noises I've had to get used to, however, is a shrill alarm that goes off every time the wind blows extra hard or if the rain really starts to pound down during a storm. The foreign shrill noise? Moped alarms. Believe it or not, these hyper-sensitive alarm systems are on nearly every moped. There apparently is a big demand for security systems on mopeds which makes sense because they would be really easy to hot wire! I've included a picture of a nice seafoam green moped I saw on the way to class this morning. Enjoy : )
It was really amazing to actually be able to experience Boys' Town. We had to take two different buses to get out to Boys' Town because it was out in the rural part of Rome. When we walked up the lane to the "city," I was amazed at how truly beautiful they kept the grounds. All of the flowers were blooming, hedges were being trimmed and boys were painting signs around the buildings. Going to a place were every boy living there has come from a life a hardship, loss and struggle, I expected the atmosphere to be somber and depressing. Instead, all of the boys there were very happy and in a
joking mood. They were more than willing to welcome us into their community. I learned today that just because these boys faced so many setbacks in their life, that doesn't mean that they have to let that hang over them for the rest of their lives. These boys show everyone that you can overcome anything that faces you in life! I've included pictures of "Garden City" which is the house where the younger boys live. I also included a picture of three of the boys talking to us in the Assembly Room.
