Rome via Brooklyn

519 words, 3 minutes read time.

Today was our last instructional day, and spoiler, our last full day in Rome. We started off meeting outside the Museo della Forma Urbis. It was pretty confusing to get there and Dakota and I were running a little late, but we figured it out and found everyone. We saw some great presentations by Shamiqua and Arden while sitting right next to a water fountain. We made our way into the museum and it was a big room with the map of Rome laid out on the floor!! It was so cool to explore the remnants of this marble wall that they etched the map onto.

I honestly didn’t want to leave because of how cool it was. I wanted to find and explore all the places on the map. But I’m pretty bad at directions and couldn’t find our apartment.
The next museum was right next door and we got to explore underground. I really liked the frescos on the wall below and learned that the peacock is associated with the god Juno and symbolizes eternity.

There was a modern art installation inside the ancient building which was interesting to see the contrast.

Next we visited some medieval churches, one of them had graphic paintings of martyrs dying all over the walls which was pretty gruesome. I liked the circular structure and saw the back of the priests chair which I thought was cool because you don’t usually get to see that.

We had lunch in the park and it was nice bird watching and talking.

After lunch we made our way to the arch of Constantine for Dakotas presentation. She did a great job teaching us what was originally part of the arch!

Lastly we got to see the remnants of the cult of Mithras underneath the church of San Clemente. Mithras was born from a rock in a cave, so caves and underground places are sacred to the secretive religion. It was really cool exploring so deep under a church. “The eleventh-century upper church contains a magnificent Romanesque mosaic, but also Renaissance wall paintings and lavish Baroque decor. Under its floor you can visit a fourth-century church containing fragments of frescos, one of them with the oldest description in Italian. Descending even further, some 100 feet (30 meters) below street level, you find yourself in a narrow alley in ancient Rome leading to a first-century patrician house and a Mithraic temple(culture smart 130).”

I noticed there was greenery and Professor Yarrow pointed out that wherever there is light (in this case from lamps) and moisture, there will be growth. I thought that was poetic.

We all met up again for our last dinner together and wrote each other endearing notes that made me cry :,). I’m so grateful for everyone and I had such an amazing time. It’s sad we had to leave a day early because of the strike but I’m happy it all worked out and everyone was able to get wherever they needed to go. Thank you Professor Yarrow!!! Ciao, till next time.