Last legof Italy tour!

I've made it to Venice and I have Internet access. Unfortunately I won't be able to upload pictures till I get home.

Florence was amazing! I loved it and didn't want to leave! The views from Piazza Michelangelo and the top of the Duomo were worth the climbs (duomo was 500 steps). I can't wait to share pictures.

In Venice I'm staying right in Piazza San Marco. I'm heading back out on the water bus for a tour of the Grand Canal. Ciao!

sorry for the lag....

It has been a crazy last week in Rome! Our course assignments were all due, including our presentation to the class and our final paper.  I have a ton of pictures...but I have to resize them all in order to post, they are taking way to long to upload!  Rest assured there are many great food pictures!!

As of yesterday I am officially done with my doctoral coursework and I couldn't have picked a better ending experience. The course was amazing and my classmates were bright, engaging and challenging!  I will be plugging the courses offered here at the Rome center through Loyola for years to come!

I'm leaving Rome and heading for Florence. Duomo today, Uffizi and Galleria Accademia tomorrow!  I will post more!!!

Happy Saturday!

Vatican Visit

Today was our much anticipated visit to St. Peter's Basilica and our "private" visit to the Vatican Museum. It was quite a moving experience.  And you will see LOTS of pictures.  For those who have been to the Vatican museum and were surrounded by hundreds of people...I sincerely apologize. Our 2 hours of time was serene and moving.  And our group of 60 had over 45 minutes to spend in the Sistine Chapel. Some in our group had been before and shared with us the experience of moving through a line, not being able to take pictures and spending less than 5 minutes there.

We had a chance to view one of the gardens, the Garden of the Pine Cone, with an a relatively new piece of artwork.

 A highlight for me was seeing Raphael's School of Athens and his depiction of the leaders in schools of thought, science and art. 

Just a few photos below from the Sistine Chapel....It was a fantastic experience and i'm so glad I could have some quiet, reflective moments.  I'll be sure to share more of the many (like over 100) pictures I took when I get home!

Spanish Steps

We visited the Spanish Steps in our small groups for a field observation on Hofstede's Cultural Value orientations. The Steps area is a wonderful area where many different people converge.From high end shops, to a small working class neighborhood behind the steps, it was a fascinating place to watch people and the norms and practices of the culture. 

The Forum/Coliseum

( I was having trouble uploading photos...so there is a delay)
A busy and productive day visiting The Forum and the Coliseum. As our class first identifies power and authority, our day focused on the origins of power and the types of authority imposed on in Roman society.

The Forum was home to many statues, etc to honor past Roman leaders. Many leaders would tear down one monument to put up another.  Much of the Forum has stone upon stone upon stone.  Also, much of the marble was stripped from the monuments for other monuments, including St. Peter's (which is on tap for Thursday!) I was stunned with the enormity of the building capacity. You are immediately struck at how hard many had to work to have this level

The arc of Titus represents true oppression.  Titus ruled Rome and war and exile forced over 50,000 slaves from Palestine, to walk to Rome. Titus killed 1000 jews each day till the end of the end of the war.  The Arch represents Romes spoils from the war.  Notice the menora on the head of a soldier.

 

The Colisuem was also enormous and a vivid portal of the use of authority. I didn't know there was an  entire "lower level" where animals and gladiators where kept. 

tomorrow is the 4th...we are visiting the Spanish Steps and having an celebration pizza party!

Piazza Trastavere-July 2

Today's class focused on evolving leadership theories and beginning conversations on the role of power and authority. Our readings looked at disposition of power vs. situation.
Our Rome experience took us to Piazza Trastavere a wonderfully ecletic section of Rome where modern and old Rome meet. 

During the day it is quiet and quaint. At night, it is filled with bohemian energy. The area is filled with old, narrow cobblestone streets.

We visited what will be the first of many churches

Our wonderful faculty member treated us to an appertito: small meal before dinner. We had bruschetta, caprese salad, mussels, fried vegetable mixed plate, WINE...it was so good and there was so much of it, it became dinner!

Sorry not much time for content today...we are off to the Coliseum and Forum!

Heading to Piazza Navona-July 1

Not far from the Felice Center is the 990 bus, our gate to the rest of Rome. After a 20 minute or so bus ride we arrived at the Hall of Justice.

  


We then crossed over the  Tiber River, which runs through Rome.

Remains of the "old Piazza Navaro"

And what is today

A small group had dinner at Cafe Dominica in the piazza. Today was the Euro Cup finale. Spain vs. Italy.  We saw many fans from both sides wandering the piazza. Our waitress told us that win or lose, Italian fans would gather in this piazza at the end of the game.  No sooner did she says this when 2 caravans of Italian police arrived. They patroled the area for much of our time there. After a wonderful dinner of pizza and pasta...we had to end with gelato!

Sadly, Italy was not successful. They lost the EuroCup Finale 4-0.

After a long day/night of travel...and a day of walking around in the hopes of getting rid of jet lag. I was beat!

On to Rome....

With only four hours of sleep, I got up on Saturday, 6/30 at 6am to start actually packing. I had pulled out items, but didn't put anything actually in my suitcase. With a last load of laundry done, I ventured for one last Target run. It's amazing how quiet Target can be on a Saturday morning.  Below is my packed bags. Yes...that is a carry-on with a  backpack.  With the train travel I will do post-Rome, I didn't want to lug around a large bag. Especially through the cobblestone streets of Venice. 

At 5pm I said Ciao to Boston.....and after an uneventful 8 hour plane ride I arrived in Rome this morning to this....my first Italian capaccino and a chocolate croissant (i mean Nutella!!!).  I met fellow classmates and we hitched a ride to the John Felice Center in Balduina, just north of Vatican City. We are heading to the market now..we are also in search of where we will watch tonight's big soccer game. More to come!