Rome: The Last Days

All things come to an end. Nothing is forever. We are here for but a short time. We have finals and then we leave our beloved city of Rome. 'Tis sad, I know, but our memory of the world we've left behind will stay with us. No heart goes untouched by Rome's hands.

Before the madness of finals beset us, we visited Rome for the last time as a group. We split ways, visiting some last-minute sites we'd not seen yet. I went on my own, venturing off to visit Santa Maria della Pace where St. Josemaria Escriva is buried. The front of the church appeared closed, and no one seemed to be nearby. Not seeing his tomb would be such a disappointment. Just as I was about to give up, a priest (who looked like he might be from Opus Dei) walked past. I stopped him and asked in my best Italian if the church was closed. We somehow switched to speaking Spanish and he directed me to the side door to where the Women's center attached to the church. I thanked him and after taking a few steps and looking back, he'd disappeared. He may have been Josemaria in disguise, maybe a fast walker, but he was definitely providential since I rang the bell to the door that the priest had indicated and I was greeted by a numerary. We were able to communicate in Spanish (even though mine is moderate, not perfect), and I was eventually passed up to a numerary who spoke a decent amount of English. I was given a tour of the place and was privileged to see the tombs of Carmen (St. Josemaria's sister), Dora (the first numerary assistant), and Alvaro del Portillo (the first successor of Josemaria). Afterwards, I visited the actual church where St. Josemaria was buried and prayed there for a short while. I'm sincerely glad I made this trip.

On my way back to find the church where some of the UD students were being confirmed, I got lost. The Mass was optional, so it wasn't all that bad that I'd missed it, but I still wish I could have gone. Still, I was able to see some of the beautiful Christmas lights of Rome. Rome actually has a nice night life which I had never experienced until now. I did make it to to dinner on time though. Genuine Italian pizza was a great way to say goodbye to Rome. Some of us left early to get some studying in for the upcoming finals, so I won't ever know what desert was. Oh well...on to the expansion of my brain capacity and I.Q. for the next few days. My motto/theme for finals? Wreck-It Ralph's famous phrase: "I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Final #1 - People & Places
I don't know why I stressed out about this single credit, pass/fail class. I'd paid plenty good attention to the lectures and I'd read and re-read the material for those classes. I guess I just stress out over everything. This exam turned out to be a breeze and thankfully I passed it. I still could have used that extra hour and a half it took me to take that final to study for Philosophy...

Final #2 - Philosophy of Man
This was the first of the scary tests. Then again, it wasn't all that bad since I'd studied my brains out for two days before the final. I understood it as I wrote it out, freezing up on a couple of occasions, but not for longer than thirty seconds. More often than not, my brain was running faster than my pencil. By the end of the long essay, I really felt like I'd grasped the concept.

Final #3 - Western Theological Traditions
Second scary test! Well, not scary, but I didn't feel as ready for it as I could have been. Stressing out about it beforehand gave me some relief during the test since it asked more questions that I was familiar with than not. I actually felt pretty good about it once it was over.

Final #4 - Literary Traditions III
Okay, I think this was turned out to be the scariest test in the end. I'd spent so much time studying for the previous two exams and was so wiped out that I didn't have enough time to study for the quote ID section of the exam, though I knew the plots and the outlines. Some of the quote IDs were so difficult I had to guess after reading then nearly a dozen times, leaving them and returning to them again. We'd already been given the essay prompts by Dr. Osborn two days before, so the essay portion was a lot easier, especially since we'd had enough time to prep for it. Overall, it was kind of a "meh" final, but I still felt more or less good about it, especially good on the essay.

Final #5 - Art & Architecture of Rome
This final was like eating candy. It was actually quite relaxing and really fun to take as I had completely mastered all of the slides, and the 60 questions were more like fun trivia questions, only two or three of which I felt a little shaky on. The final essay question was a kind of "choose your piece from the given slides" which was really nice. If there's one exam I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that I did well on, it was this one.

*almost able to breathe properly now*

Final #6 - Western Civilization I
This was the do or die exam. I'd prepared well for the essay section of the exam, but I didn't have all my dates down well. The night before the exam, I stayed up with a few other students as they wrote out a timeline on the white board. I listened and paid as much attention as I could. I dozed off every once in awhile, avoiding looking at the clock so I wouldn't remind myself of how exhausted I was. I eventually fell asleep on the floor with my backpack as my makeshift pillow at around what I would guess to be 4am. I woke up shortly before 7am to find the imprint of my backpack zipper streaked across my face, the white board covered with dates, names, time lines, and the words "Jesus I trust in You" written in the corner which made me smile as I saw everyone sprawled out on the floor asleep. They sirred shortly after I did and one of them asked, "Did we finish?" Yeah, I think we were all ready for this to be over. The test wasn't all that bad actually. It could have been way worse, but most of the questions asked were of people and places with which I was familiar. The essay questions were pretty easy too, thanks to my preparation. Towards the end of the exam, as the first people were beginning to turn in their finals, one student who finished went outside and he shouted a long, loud "YEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" which induced an eruption of laughter from the rest of us test-takers. Needless to say, we were all joyous upon the completion of our last hurdle. Even the sun broke through the clouds as if on cue.

After spending the rest of the day packing, turning in books and room checks, all of which was followed by a tornadic, ice-cold hail/rain storm (sans tornadoes thank God), we had a closing Mass and a closing convocation where Dr. Hatlie, the director of the program, announced our class name. Every semester class is given a class name which describes what the class was like. Last spring's class was called "The Class for All Seasons" because they dealt with every kind of weather imaginable, from sunny summer weather to snowy winter weather. Our class name? The Uncharacteristic Class. Sure, lots of students were pretty upset about this. It sounded pretty unflattering. I, for one, agreed with the class name, thinking that many of the students (though not all) were pretty shallow in character. I think many party-ers tend to be like that. Dr. Hatlie explained that the reason he called us the Uncharacteristic Class was primarily because neither he nor the staff knew what to make of the students. The students left the faculty thinking "Who are these guys?" I couldn't agree more with them. However, it was not meant to be taken so negatively. Dr. Hatlie explained that the idea of "Uncharacteristic" had more of a meaning of unpredictability. One day the students were angelically good and obedient, and then next day they were rogue party monsters.

I kind of wish I wasn't stuck with the class that had this name, but in some ways the class name provoked me to think about my own character. Now that I thought about it, I am a bit strange in that some people don't know what to make of me, whether I'm a sweet, big-hearted philanthropist or a cold, quiet, and recluse loner. It's like a split personality, and I never know which one is going to surface. I guess that can be pretty "uncharacteristic," huh? I guess I lived up to the name to a degree. But I still got to thinking how my character had evolved over the course of the semester. Looking back, I'd definitely come a long way since I'd first arrived in Rome. I'd learned a great deal about myself on both the good and bad terms, and I'd overcome some of my previous fears (or at least started to overcome them). What matters is that I pull a lesson from the naming of this class, and I believe I have.

A sit-down dinner followed the closing convocation where a group of Italian musicians and singers comparable to Mariachis came and performed for us. They had us dancing and singing along. Then for desert the kitchen crew brought out a huge platter of custard-filled cream puffs drizzled with chocolate. The sound of fireworks outside interrupted our cheers and we raced outside to see Nino, the head chef, lighting fireworks for us. The display lasted a few minutes. It was so touching that they had done something like this for us. I think many of us teared up if we didn't get lumps in our throats.

After desert and more music, we headed into the Aula Magna (the big classroom where we've always met for meetings and such) and the awards ceremony began. Special gifts were given to the SAs (Student Assistants) who'd worked so hard in keeping the rules of the campus enforced when the RAs were not around. Then the awards were passed out to two people in each category: the Spirit Award and the Rome Award.

1) The Spirit Award, presented by the Rome VP Ryan Reedy, was given to Karen Bless and Luke Sterns who both exemplified the spirit of the Rome program in their participation of campus life/activities and how they made the community the best that it could be. Both winners really deserved their prizes and titles.

2) The Rome Award, presented by our Art & Arch. instructor Dr. Lisot, was given to Michelle DeRoche and me, each for specific reasons, but both of us exhibiting an intense appreciation for Rome and visiting it often. In specifics, Michelle won her award for her frequent visits to Rome and seeing all there was to see. She was literally there all the time and I don't think she ever missed a site. As for me, I received the Rome award for my expression of appreciation for the sites in Rome based on my discussions with my instructors, and even more prominently in my writings on my blog and art journal. I was really surprised at my winning as I hadn't even been trying to win any particular award. It was even more special that I received the award from Dr. Lisot, with whom I already had a great relationship. I opened my award later which was a book filled with recipes of authentic Italian dishes right from Rome. Great way to carry the taste of Rome back home with me!

Superlative awards were given next (though no material award was handed out this time since nearly half the class received the awards). They were all crazy things like "Most likely to get lost in Rome," "Biggest spender," "Best smile," etc. I halfway expected just one of the superlatives to land on me, and that was the "Most likely to hog the Vonage phone." My response was a shrug and a humble nod acknowledging my fault. I'm not a big phone person, but some of my family members are, so that kept me on a little longer. Moreover, because I'm so far away from home and because I'm doing so many amazing things in Rome, I have much more to talk about and end up chatting up a storm sometimes. But I agreed that I deserved that superlative, bitter-tasting as it might have been. After superlatives came the big slideshow which included pictures from everyone all compiled into one slideshow. It was pretty cool and really sad at the end since we realized that this was it and we would not be doing the Rome semester again. I ended the late night finishing my packing and avoiding the drinkers in their last hours of drinking freedom before returning to the States.

I only caught a couple of hours of sleep before wakeup call early in the morning, eating my last Italian breakfast and saying goodbye to all of the Rome faculty and staff. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye to all of my professors, but I did get to hug Dr. Osborn (and his daughters), Dr. Lisot, and Dr. Hatlie goodbye. The entire faculty and staff waved goodbye as our buses drove off to take us to the airport, a moment which I will remember forever through eyes slightly blurred with tears. After a few hours, shortly before noon, our plane left Roman soil. We would later arrive nearly ten hours later, safely in Philadelphia, PA and I would transfer to San Antonio, TX after a couple of hours, tired but surprisingly without a trace of jet lag (don't ask me how, because I don't know).

But before being frozen in 4-hours' time on the long flight across the Atlantic, I thought back on the memories I had made in Italy -- the splendor, the beauty, the glory of the ancient world. It had waited for me to see it and had left its fingerprints on my heart. The spirit of Rome promised to stay with me wherever I went. A duet sounded in my head, with Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli singing the sad yet beautiful Italian song: Time to say goodbye...