Do as the Romans do!

Sistine Chapel day coincided with Le Pope’s final speech, followed Rome’s stalemate voting…basically we are at the center of the most politically, spiritually, and economically dynamic/controversial place in the world right now. WHAT!? IS THIS MY LIFE?

Vatican rules-notice the tiny flamboyant gay on the 'no' side

Chapel was phenomenal, outside was PACKED. A flood of people, no a sea of humans, no A TSUNAMI OF BODIES rushed around me as I stepped toward Old Bridge for gelato...again. Shut up! Haters gonna hate. Today I got blood orange and coconut (vegan, duhh) THE BEST TASTE YOU CAN IMAGINE. SO MUCH CAPS LOCK!!!!!

The sun was shining, and we grabbed pizza for lunch. Marinara pizza with mushrooms. Heaven. (No cheese, duhh).

Spanish steps. Raced John up the stairs…I say it was a tie, but objectively I guess he may have kind of won. Sunshine abounds.

Trev Fountain.  Met some Bovarian’s at the fountain and delighted in speaking German with an older gentleman. Also, Hanna and I bartered with coins and a snickers bar for a Polaroid. It was hilarious (and creepy). Smiles abound. 

Obelisk:

TOO PAGAN...?

PUT A CROSS ON IT!

Metro home.

When in Rome...

Well you may have heard the Pope is resigning. First Pope to retire in like 600 years, one of the most powerful positions in the world, huge scandals going on, Scottish Cardinal just announced his resignation amidst sex scandals…kind of a big deal. The Pope is basically upstaging our tour, so we had to move our visit to St. Peter’s to today. I’m not complaining, it was incredible as ever. But let me start with our morning.

On the bus we meet our Rome tour guide. YESSSSSS! She is UNREAL. This woman makes eye contact with you to the point where you are shaking with laughter. She is in a continuous bow, varying degrees depending on whom she is leaning toward. This Italian gets inches from your face, her crooked teeth emphasizing that Marc Antony was here. HERE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? You nod, terrified. She leans in, her eyes locking into yours—“…and what do you see?” Confused, you ignore her question and nod, she points with her oddly massive hands, indicating some obscure statue, you take this opportunity to look at a building’s cornice, grateful to break eye-contact. When you turn back toward her, you nearly touch faces “The statues make the building appear taller,” SHE HAS SEEN YOUR SOUL AND YOU SHAKE AS SMALL STATUES STARE DOWN AT YOU. Her voice drops to a whisper (comical considering she is a tour guide and lecturing a group of 40 students) and you lose track of who is leaning into whom. “Do you understand?” she utters with the utmost solemnity, you bow and bob in affirmation. IT IS SPLENDID.

Doesn't convey intensity

Our guide also has an assistant who records everything the aforementioned Wonder says on a small device. She smiles at you knowingly. You’ll look up and meet a pair of grey orbs portentous of a tacit understanding though YOU HAVE NO MUTUAL AWARENESS. You find yourself smiling back, raising your eyebrows at a shared  comprehension THAT IS NOT REAL. You let out a small giggle at an inside joke WHICH DOES NOT EXIST. THESE WOMEN ARE FANCIFUL, WHIMSICAL SIBYLLS. Truly, they are a ridiculous team of bizarre birds and represent all that is right in the world.

As we drive to St. Paul of the Wall the assistant records dutifully as our tour guide points out walls and fields dramatically, “The third century… … … B.C.!” Suddenly she is pointing to the right, “LOOK! LOOK! TWO MEN KISSING ON THE RIGHT! HURRY-“ We all lurch to the right scanning the streets frantically. Confusion abounds. Hanna points to a small plaque of two men greeting one another. “That is where they say St. Peter and St. Paul met in Rome. Two men kissing, what did you think I meant? Now let us forget such nonsense, on your left you will see a wall from the fourth century… … B.C.!”

Divine.

So they take us to St. Paul of the Wall’s (erm, is that right?) and it’s HUGE and fantastic and there are Paul’s remains, no big deal, and it was glorious-- pun intended, yo.

Coliseum and Forum. No need to rant. Incredible.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

Cassie took a spill (a horrible-front-flip-10-brick-stairs-ouch-spill) and ended up having to go to the hospital. She later regaled us with tales of a bankrupt, socialist, healthcare system. Awful. Basically it was a lot of waiting, pain, patting, and muttering. Nicole, aka most loyal friend ever (recall barfing in Prague), stayed with Cassie and her and Father Mark plotted an escape form the hellish Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Father Mark ended up Piggy-backing a lock-Kneed Cassie two blocks to the get-away bus stopped in the middle of the road. Fantastic.

Amberlie and Sam fightin' to the death

 While Cass was experiencing a great lack of care, we explored the Forum.

Lend me your eyes, readers, this funk is astounding.

Forum from behind my sunglass lense

My life in ruins, eh?

St. Peter’s next. So much excitement! Devout Catholics were buying tickets for the Pope’s final speech; nuns were darting through security lines, and St. Peter’s stood proud. The dome designed by Michelangelo dwarfing tourists and Fathers alike. So, yeah, it was cool.

Did I mention we snagged some old Bridge gelato? I bought lemon and strawberry (vegan, duhh), pretty great way to end the day.

Metro home.

Pompeii

Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii in ash, preserving buildings bodies and brothels for your viewing pleasure.

The human remains preserved (looked at synonyms for ‘preserved’ and was delighted to see ‘pickled’) pickled by the volcanic material were wicked. Men grimaced, their arms covering their faces, women covered children, and soldiers looked stoic as their last moments became immortalized—sealed in molten clay…kind of like Hans Solo. Jabba the Hut would be pleased, well pleased forsooth.

Our Pompeii tour guide was quite sweet, but she had nothing on Nikki. We all missed our delightful Greek guide, who is now famous for quips like, “Brad Pitt, eh?” or “Greek backside, eh?” or “I prayed to Zeus all night, eh?”

Tomorrow…ROME!

A-holy-crap-olis...eh, not my best

Just some pics from the Acropolis in Athens...

Fabulous

Oh hejj Megan in front of Le Parthenon

View...

Oh hejj chile

This is Roland. He is our bus driver. He is too cool. Louis Vuitton day bag, drives a 50 seater bus better than I can walk, Italien-lives in Austria-whatta guy, whatta boss! We all adore Roland. 

live action clip. move aside Wes Anderson

I WANT TO GO BACK (Although Pompeii today was pretty spectacular)

Olympia

Let's visit the site of the first Olympics, where countries came together regardless of war to compete for glory. Let's check out the place where the Olympic torch is lit every four years, where the drama throughout all of Greek mythology has its first root, and where both victors and cheaters were made immortal--statues received honor or spit. CHECK IT OUT

Western pediment (LOOK AT THAT CRAFTSMANSHIP!!) showing the centaurs tryin' to rape...typical

Nikki (eyes closed, sorry) tells us about the HUGE ivory/gold statue of Zeus, one of the wonders of the ancient world destroyed by Christians...typical

Helmet of Miltiades--signaled Greek victory over Persians, prompted dude to run 26 miles and subsequently die...the marathon was born!

300,000 Euro to reconstruct this pillar

It was a splendidly beautiful day! Apollo blessed us with sunshine, and Demeter was being reunited with Persephone. Snapped a pic of my free time

FIRST OLYMPIC FIELD EVA

Eastern pediment. The charioteer race that started all the Greek drama. 

Starting line (marble slab with grooves as 'blocks')

Our fabulous guide Nikki

After our time in Olympia we had to get on an overnight ferry to Italy and leave Greece behind. Le Sigh. Greece was incredible-my favorite country, for sure. I know they're having some serious economic issues right now, but honestly I can't blame them. They deserve to sit around and eat oranges and soak up the sun (sunshine 360 days of the year in Greece), because Greece is perfect, and we owe everything we know/believe to the people of this flawless land. Except...ok, maybe they definitely need to get their act together...but I bow to the superiority of the Grecian life.

Nafplio

Nafplio. Free day. I'mma let you finish, but...

Hiked up to the fortress atop Nafplio with Hanna. It was stunning. Unreal views. Apollo graced us with the sun, and it was so lovely we couldn't help but rent bikes for the day. We biked around the city all day, along the coast, on the docks, I was so ridiculously content I could have died.

Hanna and I were looking for a place to snag some Gyros, but we didn't want to end up at some Tourist hovel so I asked a local for a recommendation. Turns out the guy was the director of tourism for Nafplio, and he directed us to this amazing place where I got a vegan gyro! Hanna got an ice coffee, and our delicious meal total was 2.50. WHAT?!

I'll post some pictures Hanna snapped later.

Greece!

Delphi. Awesome. Walked the sacred-way, saw where Socrates learned he was crazy-wise, amazing.amazing.amazing.

Rain in Delphi

Days blurring together....

Mycenae was INCREDIBLE. Saw the Lion's gate, beehive tombs, Treasury of Atreus...The sun was shining, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

Nicole and I doing our signature piggy-back pose under the Lion's gate

Athens was spectacular. There were riots the day before we arrived and flooding the day after, but when we were there things were marvelous. Walked up the acropolis and saw the Parthenon. It took the Greeks 9 years to build the Parthenon, and it is taking modern architects 20 to reconstruct the ruins. My favorite building was definitely this temple dedicated 1/2 to Athena, 1/2 to Poseidon. You may be familiar with the myth of how Athena became Athens protector (she and Poseidon each gave the city a gift, and the better gift-giver won patronage of the city), well this building was meant to assuage some of Poseidon's anger at not being chosen. SO cool. We learned all about these buildings in Fine Arts, and we've learned all about the Greek Philosophers in Metaphysics. Educational.joy.

Flea markets in Athens, ruins, museum, joy.

The museums we went in were spectacular. Our tour guide, Nikki, was a rockstar--her enthusiasm was really contagious and I enjoyed all her tours so much.

Temple on the Acropolis. Notice the recreated karyatids (4 of which are preserved in the Athenian museum), my FAVORITE.

So much more to say...

Greece

Ferry from Acona, Italy (where some of us hiked up to a cool church-thing overlooking the bay) to Meteora, Greece. Monasteries perched precariously on these sheer cliffs as a defense from invaders. Stunning. pictures not doing justice (wack Greek keyboard, forgive any and all spelling/grammatical issues) 

Kelsey's Instagram of the Meteora Monasteries

Ignore my face

SO SCENIC

Next day: One more monastery then off to Itea for lunch...which means I may have instigated a skinny-dipping party

Itea was lovely/sun was a delightful change from Autrian snow.

You may be familiar with the dance move The Jerk. Well, Hanna and I decided to have a Jerk Off to see who could jerk the best. Puns abound. I won by a landslide, despite falling in front of a very disturbed Greek. Video later. 

I have to go, but today we explored Delphi/turns out I'm an oracle/More later

General Update...

Midterms are next week...

ugh

But I guess it's alright since afterward we have a 25 day break, 3 weeks of which will be spent in Greece and Italy...

yeah, I guess midterms are quite alright.

Michelle and I downloaded The Wild Thornberry's grabbed some Frosted Flakes/soy milk and spent a morning elementary school style:

Then Michelle fell asleep, spooning her Frosted Flakes box.

Michelle and I walked around the Altstadt, past a wall of seagulls....

Things around the center are cozy and calm, except Beyonce's halftime performance is still played daily

Alright, back to the books

Meditation

Our tour of Greece and Italy is in 2 weeks!!1!1! and you know what that means…

OVER 10 HOURS SITTING ON A BUS WITH 40 OTHER PEOPLE! Sweet.

In preparation for our tour, I am reading The Agony and The Ecstasy, keeping up with the protests throughout Greece, specifically in Athens, and downloading Ted Talks by the bushel for a semi-stimulating bus ride. Unable to deny my piqued curiosity, though, I’ve already listened to the talks with the most spectacular titles: Meryl Streep’s Columbia commencement speech, Your elusive creative genius, and How meditation can reshape our brains.

The most interesting speech was the talk on meditation and neuroplasticity. You may stop reading this blog and watch the video now, or continue reading for an amateur recount of the brilliant lecture.

Basically this neurologist/researcher, Sara Lazar, started doing yoga and meditation and loved it, except for the unfounded benefits the yogi would talk about during the session. Lazar did feel better both physically and mentally after continued yoga and meditating sessions, and wanted to investigate if this was just a placebo effect, or if the practice was actually affecting her brain.

Insert science jargon here: MRIs, control groups, animal testing (boo), and statistics.

What Lazar found was those who meditated regularly (30 minutes a day) had more grey matter in the cortex (memory, decision making) than participants who did not. 50-year-old meditators had the same amount of cortex as 25-year-old non-meditators, suggesting meditation may slow down or prevent natural age-decline in the cortex structure. More studies, more tests…meditation and yoga help with depression, stress and empathy. Meditation also reduces the brain’s amygdala (fight or flight complex), explaining why those who meditate are generally calmer. Basically meditation can literally change your brain, and that’s pretty cool.

Methinks next month I'll lead a weekly meditation class. Meditation March. 

Ping-Pong

Hanna and I have drawn out the brackets for the Salzburg Ping-Pong Doubles Tournament, and things around the center are growing tense. Assuredly, I say unto you, this game is not for the faint of heart. The first round will conclude by Wednesday, with those who lost joining the loser’s bracket. Students are practicing between classes; trash talk can be heard during dinner, things are getting real. It’s not only students feeling the heat; Father Mark and our program director René have signed up, and rumor has it they have a private table set up for covert practices. Hanna and I have already won the first pre-Pong competition with the most creative team name: BLAZING PADDLES. Matches begin this evening…there will be blood.

First match: Nicole & Cassie vs. Father Mark and René...the students were CRUSHED

Sass

Saturday Lunch

Hanna, Michelle and I met with my friend Elisa for lunch Saturday afternoon. Elisa comes from Augsburg, Germany and is here in Austria studying psychology at the University of Salzburg.

Our conversation constantly oscillated from English to German as we compared American and European stereotypes. The German word for stereotype ‘stereotyp’ is adopted from the English word. In fact, Germany has had a huge influx of 'Denglish' words every year for a decade now, resulting in some heated debate amongst language purists. Verbs like 'relaxen' and 'shoppen' are replacing there much more German equivalents 'einkaufen' and 'entspannen'. Elisa noted, though, that the English language has borrowed German's ‘Kindergarten’ and ‘Doppelgänger' (not to mention 'eisberg', 'zeitgeist', 'angst' and 'apfelstrudel'). She recalled 'doppelgänger' specifically because she had read it in an English copy of Harry Potter. We then had to discuss what houses we’d be sorted into if we were at Hogwarts, which book was our favorite (Half-Blood Prince, duh!) and who our celebrity Doppelgängers were. I can’t remember which language any of us were speaking in the end, I just felt overwhelmingly pleased that Elisa didn’t fit the cold, reserved German stereotype we had had in mind back in August, and that she didn’t see us as fitting the superficial, uneducated American mold. Mittagessen macht viel spaß, und wir haben viel gelernt. 

On a side-note, I was told I have a little Meryl Streep in my countenance. I must now preserve my face to retain any possible shadow of The Goddess.

…IT PUTS THE LOTION ON ITS SKIN