Studiare Day 10

Posted on July 12, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Today my classmates and I started our group facilitations. Each group was assigned a book to read and then create a group field trip and activity to go with it.

My group read A Thousand Splendid Suns about women in education in Afghanistan. I hadn’t known prior to reading this book that during the Communist control of Afghanistan women were allowed education, but that right was taken away by the Taliban.

For our location, we choose the first Montessori school, which was started by Maria Montessori here in Rome in 1907. I didn’t know earlier that she was also one of the first woman doctors in Italy. Her story is really interesting,and if I weren’t so tired right now, I’d tell you more.

image

Another group presented today, and they led us through a fun activity at Termini, the main train station.

In the afternoon, some classmates and my professor enjoyed a nice pizza lunch. Then we had the obligatory gelato snack. If my Italian classmate Bonita is reading this, she’ll be happy to know I went to Il Gelatone, and my banana and chocolate gelato was delicious.

image

Later, we were taken on a private tour of the rooms were St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, lived and died here in Rome.

One of St. Ignatius's old rooms

One of St. Ignatius’s old rooms

We also visited two key Jesuit churches. See my Facebook page for a video.

In the evening, I went with some other students at the Rome center for a Chinese dinner. How funny to see Chinese dishes written in Italian! Wish I had taken a pic of the menu, but the food was delicious!

image

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Studiare Day 9

Posted on July 12, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Monday had us back in class, but class here often means a field trip, so we headed to Refugee ScART. I wish I could properly convey how amazing this place is. It was started by a woman (with a Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance!) who wanted to help the refugees back in 2011.

Without any background in art, she and some refugees started collecting trash around the city (mostly plastic bottles and bags) and recycling them into beautiful and useful works of art, such as bags, pencil cups, iPad cases, and more.

Goods for sale at Refugee ScART.

Goods for sale at Refugee ScART.

The pencil cup I bought :)

The pencil cup I bought 🙂

The refugees keep 100% of the profit of what they sell. The city of Rome donated the space for their business. The Roman citizens who help out there are volunteers. The material they use is the recycled goods they pick up off the street, so not only are they earning their own living, but they are cleaning up Rome at the same time!

This refugee spoke Italian better than I do, but I still managed to ask if I could take a picture of him holding one of the bags he made. :)

This refugee spoke Italian better than I do, but I still managed to ask if I could take a picture of him holding one of the bags he made. 🙂

They are given dignity through being able to work and contribute to society. They wouldn’t talk about their extremely difficult journeys from their homelands, but it is too painful for them. But they hope to go home someday.

In the afternoon, we had time to work on our two big projects that are do this week. In the evening, we went to the opera at the Baths of Caracalla, so now I can say I’ve been to an outdoor opera in Rome!

image

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Days 7 and 8

Posted on July 11, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Oy! I don’t have enough time to tell you about everything that happened this weekend. I’ll try to hit the highlights. In the morning, I took a train to Orvieto, a small hillside town about an hour north of Rome. The train was running late, so I didn’t get there until noon.

You have to take a funicular up the hill from the new town to the old town. At the tourist office, I bought a “key to the city” (La chiave per la città), which gave me access to about ten sites. Within one afternoon, I visited all but two of them.

image

I visited St. Patrick’s Well first. This required climbing all the way down and then all the way up the dual spiral staircase inside this old and very deep well. Then I visited the Duomo (cathedral). From the outside, it reminded me a lot of the cathedral in Siena because of its black and white stripes. Inside, most of the church was pretty plain.

However, there are two side chapels with frescoes that tell important stories. One chapel tells the story of the miracle of the body of Christ, which happened in a nearby town when the Blood of Christ miraculously appeared on the altar cloth during Mass. The cloth is stored at the Duomo in Orvieto, but it was not visible to me. They only take it out on special occasions.

Then I had some yummy gelato while sitting in the shade in the piazza outside the Duomo.

image

Later in the afternoon, I did the Orvieto Underground tour. This takes you into two of the 1,000 man-made caves under the city. It was nice and cool down there!

image

I also visited several museums and climbed all the way up their clock tower. See my Facebook page for a video from up there.

Dinner was back in Rome after another delayed train ride. Thankfully, my classmate had booked us a very fancy dinner at a rooftop restaurant. We splurged on this meal. We had five courses and a bottle of Riesling. To escape the heat of our hot dorm rooms, we shared a hotel room near the restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed getting a good night’s sleep there and the lovely shower in the morning.

Sunday morning we slept in and made it to St. Peter’s Square just in time for the Pope’s Angelus at noon. He talked about the Gospel reading of the Good Samaritan and how everyone is our neighbor.

image

Next, we went inside St. Peter’s , where I had Confession (my first time in Rome) and then a 1:00 Mass.

We were very hungry after that, so we had lunch at a nice place near my Italian language school. We had left our overnight bags at the hotel, so we had to retrieve them and bring them back to campus, where we spent the remainder of the afternoon and early evening.

For dinner, I got to meet up with my author friend Leslea Wahl who is touring Italy with her family right now. It was fun to have our first in-person meeting in Rome!

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Day 6

Posted on July 9, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Friday morning we all looked like zombies. We were tired and hot, and news of the shootings back home didn’t help.

Our class session in the morning was only a few hours. Then we were basically let free for the weekend. Many people left town right away, but I’m sticking around, basically.

I spent a good amount of the afternoon working on one of our final projects. It’s a linguistic landscape presentation. Basically, we need to take lots of pictures of the signs around town, and then code them in such a way that we can present our findings. For example, my partner and I have been taking photos all week, so we started looking at how many signs around town are just in Italian, how many are in English and Italian, and how many are in three or more languages.

image

We’re also looking at what might influence which language is written on top, which is written in bigger font, and which signs need images with them.

image

In the evening, my partner and I took the long bus ride into town for dinner at a cute place near my Italian language school. We had a good meal for a cheap price. Then I took a walk across Ponte Sant’Angelo to get to the bus stop I needed. You can see video of my walk across the bridge on Facebook.

image

Tomorrow is a special day trip. I’m navigating on my own, so wish me travel mercies!

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Day 5

Posted on July 8, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

I’ve taken enough trips to Italy now that I’ve got a system down for getting over jetlag. What I haven’t quite figured out is how to get my body to adjust faster to the Italian custom of drinking coffee every morning. You see, I’m not a coffee drinker back home, but I’ve grown to really enjoy Italian coffee, particularly a cappuccino in the morning.

Alas, coffee has an effect on your digestive system. Add to that the heat (90 degree temps every day) and the long bumpy bus rides (at least an hour to get anywhere in town from our campus location), and my stomach ended up fairly queasy Thursday morning.

Nonetheless, I headed out with my class to Centro Astalli in the morning. Centro Astalli is the Jesuit refugee services center. Our guide Chiara explained the many ways they help the refugees in Rome: language lessons, soup kitchen, showers, a post office (so that they can have an address so that they can apply for asylum), and outreach services to schools to help teach about the refugee crisis.

Pope Francis had visited during his first year, and we got to sit in the same little chapel where he did. They do amazing work at Centro Astalli, and it was great to talk with them.

The chapel at Centro Astalli

The chapel at Centro Astalli

After the visit, we had a short time to visit the Vittorio Emanuele Monument and then took two buses back to campus. It was an hour and a half long trip back, and my stomach was not enjoying it very much, so I had a light salad lunch back at school. Then we had class in the afternoon.

In the evening, my stomach was feeling a little better, but I didn’t want another long bus ride, so a classmate (who’s been having swollen ankle issues) and I went to a local pharmacy to get her some help. Then we walked to a nearby restaurant, where we had a nice fish and potatoes dinner. The university is in a very residential neighborhood, so this was an authentic Italian restaurant with just Italian spoken. I also got to try suppli, a fried rice ball with cheese, which my Italian teacher told me I absolutely had to eat while in Rome, so if anyone sees Mario, tell him I had the suppli and it was delicious!

Suppli!

Suppli!

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Day 4

Posted on July 7, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Wednesday brought several great experiences. In the morning, we had class and more great discussions, but our plans for the afternoon had to change last minute. We had planned to visit a particular place called Refugee ScART, where refugees are working, but as it was the last day of Ramadan and many of the refugees are Muslim, we were notified that there would be little for us to see there.

Thus, we spent our afternoon scoping out various locations for our group presentations, which will occur next week. My group had been assigned to read the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is about several women in Afghanistan in the decades leading up to 9/11  and the time right after that. We have decided to focus our presentation on women and education, so we visited the very first Montessori school started by Maria Montessori as well as the University of Rome Medical School where Maria Montessori had been the first woman to study medicine in Italy.

University of Rome School of Medicine & Psychology

University of Rome School of Medicine & Psychology

In the evening, we had a very special private after-hours tour of the Vatican Museums. I’d been there twice before, but this was really a unique experience. Two guards had to accompany us and our tour guide around, but otherwise, it was just us.

Practically alone in the Sistine Chapel

Practically alone in the Sistine Chapel

 

If you’ve ever been to the Vatican Museums, you know it ends with the Sistene Chapel, which is incredibly crowded and you are ushered through fairly quickly. We had the chapel all to ourselves and got to stay for over a half hour. Not only that we were actually allowed to take photos inside as long as we didn’t use a flash. Usually, you get kicked out if you try to take any photos.

Yummy profiteroles for a birthday dessert

Yummy profiteroles for a birthday dessert

We finished up around 9:00 p.m., and a few of us went out to eat and celebrate one of my classmate’s birthday.

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Day 3

Posted on July 6, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Tuesday morning we had a regular class. Our discussions about reaching students who are culturally and linguistically diverse are so rich that I fear we talk so much our professor can’t get through half her lesson plan.

In the afternoon, we had time to work on our big group assignment, which meant I spent part of the afternoon doing research for my section of our group project in the library.

Rome campus library

Rome campus library

In the evening, we headed to the beautiful Trastevere neighborhood to meet with someone from the Community of Sant’Egidio, a group dedicated to prayer and caring for the sick and the poor. We meant with one of their members who discussed the wonderful things they do , including helping refugees safely leave the countries where their very lives are at risk. We had a fantastic visit there, and our guide Paolo was truly filled with the joy of the Gospel that Pope Francis keeps encouraging us to demonstrate. The Community of Sant’Egidio is really living out that Christian mission of caring for the sick and the poor.

A 1,000-year-old olive tree in the courtyard at the Communità di Sant'Egidio.

A 1,000-year-old olive tree in the courtyard at the Communità di Sant’Egidio.

We got to see the beautiful former convent where their community meets and then we got to join them for their evening prayer at the incredible Santa Maria in Trastevere Basilica.

Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

Afterward, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant. It was 9:00 when we left the church, so we were eating at the typical Roman dinner time. 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Studiare Day 2

Posted on July 5, 2016 by AJ Cattapan
image

U.S. Embassy

So here’ show I spent my Fourth of July in Rome.

In the morning, I had one more orientation meeting. Then we had a little time to ourselves, so a bunch of us walked several blocks to visit a little grocery store and a fruit stand. Armed with nectarines, cookies, and yogurt, I had headed back to campus for lunch. We have a nice snack bar on campus where I got a salad and Italian soda for 7 Euros. Breakfast is the real deal with a cappuccino and cornetto for 2 Euros.

In the afternoon, I had my first official class, and it was nice to start talking about all the books we had to read in preparation for this class.

In the evening, a classmate and I visited the Spanish Steps, but we couldn’t walk up them because they are under renovation. Last summer, it was the fountain in the square that was under construction. This summer, it’s the actual steps. Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. This is it’s third summer under construction.

Next, we got gelato at Giolitti’s. I had a lovely raspberry and black cherry combo. Then we walked to Santa Susanna, the American national church. We thought it was appropriate for the Fourth of July. And guess what? It was under renovation for the third summer in a row, too!

Santa Susanna

Santa Susanna

The we headed to the U.S.Embassy where we tried to sneak pictures, but got the finger wag and “No foto!” from some guards.

 

Finally, we had dinner and headed back home.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Studiare Day 1

Posted on July 3, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Welcome to the first day of the 2016 Rome trip!

Blog posts may be short and infrequent, but I’ll try to write a little. If for no other reason, then to let my dad know I’m still alive! Ciao, Papa!

The flight went well. It took a long time getting our luggage, but eventually two of my classmates and I made it out to our pre-arranged driver. Nice large car, easy ride, good price, and they meet you at the airport with a sign with your name.

image

This afternoon was simply lunch, an orientation meeting, and then a group lesson on how to ride the bus into town. We get a month long bus pass so that’s pretty sweet. A few classmates and I walked around for a bit and then had dinner at Polese, one of my favorite Roman restaurants.

Then we walked to St. Peter’s for a photo shoot and then took the bus back to school.

image

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Angelhood named a finalist in the 2016 Carol Awards!

Posted on July 1, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

In case, you didn’t already hear through other social media outlets, my young adult novel Angelhood was just named a finalist in the young adult category for the 2016 Carol Awards. These are *the* Christian fiction awards of the year.

The winner won’t be announced until the gala dinner at the end of August, but I’m excited just to be named a finalist in this very tough category!

Other awards Angelhood has already won include a Gold Medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and an Honorable Mention in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. It has also finaled in the Grace Awards and been long-listed in the INSPY awards.

Carol Award Finalist horiz

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment