The Final Countdown!

Today was a very very busy day. Starting off the morning we had three immigration presentations back to back. The first presentation was on the Filipino immigrants in Rome, the second on the Kurds, and the third and final presentation was on the “Roma of Rome.” Each group did a very nice job of going out into the city and finding people to interview even though they may not have had a good grasp of the language or prearranged contacts to interview. I was particularly impressed with George’s success in speaking Chinese with a Chinese restaurant owner to set up an interview with two Kurdish employees. One moment of excitement in the morning was when the Kurdish group (George, Jon and Won) lost their PowerPoint presentation and made an entirely new one during the Filipino group’s presentation. Nice save guys!

After the presentations, most of the class congregated once again in the girl’s apartment in the Rome center, due to our untimely removal from our classroom, to work on finishing our papers and get all of our work wrapped up for the end of our courses.

At 3:30 sharp the group left the portone to go to the northern part of Rome to Sant’andrea al Quirinale to see Jon do his Art History presentation. Sant’andrea al Quirinale is a product of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and De Rossi and was built over a period of twenty years, from 1658 to 1678. It is different from most churches we have seen so far because it is not in the shape of a basilica with a long center naive but rather the main chapel is in the shape of an oval. The church’s main contributor was Camillo Pamphilj and his coat of arms has proudly been put on display all over the interior and exterior of the church. For more information on this church please see Jon’s blog http://golden-skies.blogspot.com. After seeing the main chapel we went into the museum to see the old rooms and the memorial to St. Stanislaus Kostka. These back rooms were amazing because they looked the way they would have back in the 17^th century when they were created.

The next church we went to was right down the street called San Carlino. This church was remodeled by Borromini in the early 17^th century. This chapel was constructed in a more circular fashion than the church we had just been to. However, even though it had a similar feel to it, it was different in comparison to the other church due to its simple decoration, the other church was very complicated and eyecatching because it was completely covered with ornate marble and gilding. After Lisa’s oration of the chapel we took a vote on which one we liked more and San Carlino won because it was “easier” to go to church in because of its simple decor.

After the presentations we split up into two groups: one group stayed to watch the VCD students’ presentations in the Rome center and the other group went to the AS Roma vs. Inter Milan game. I’m sure the presentations were good but I was not around to see them because I went to the game. 18 of us went to the game all dressed up in our AS Roma gear but sadly after a tough faught game, with a great save made by the Roma keeper during a PK, we lost 0-1. I guess we will just have to have a reunion and come back to see another game where they win. Oh and on the way back from the stadium Ashish and Becca got lost!

Posted by Geoff