When I wrote my last post, it was a Monday night and we had just finished taking our history final. At that point, I had thought that the hardest final day was over. I was wrong. After studying most of the day Tuesday (which was a national holiday in Italy), we had to face the hardest Wednesday of my life (On a scale of 1 to exaggeration, that was about a 7). Our first final on Wednesday was Theology and it started at 2:30, which meant that we had all day to wallow in fear. The test was a 90 minute final consisting of two essay questions. Needless to say, nothing makes a person's hand hurt more than writing non-stop for 90 minutes. And we weren't done.
The next final was Art History, the subject that I knew least about coming into this trip. Though this test was only an hour long, it started a mere 60 minutes after the Theology final ended. It consisted of four long questions and 12 slide identifications, in which the teacher would show a piece of artwork on a projector and we would have to identify it's name, artist, date, and current location (and we couldn't just say Italy...we needed to know the museum and city). After both of these tests, my mind was like moldy porridge. I basically had retained all the information that I needed to know right in the front of my brain and then exploded like Vesuvius onto the tests. Once again, what happened to this trip being easy?
The next two days were our last in Rome, which meant that we got to frantically run around and see all of our favorite sights one last time. Thursday mainly revolved around St. Peter's Basilica. Earlier in the trip, we had booked a reservation to visit the Vatican Necropolis (the underground "city of the dead") where St. Peter himself is buried. Our tour was at 3:00, but we decided to get there a little early and do another exciting Vatican event...climb to the top of the dome.
The dome of St. Peter's was designed by Michelangelo himself in 1560. It stands a whopping 404.8 feet, making it the tallest building in Rome. To get to the top, we had to wind up a ton of stairs (we were too cheap to pay the 2 extra euro to take the elevator) that brought us to the roof first. From there we could look out over the Vatican museum on the left and stand in the shadow of the dome that towered above us. The next flight of stairs took us inside the dome, but at it's base. This was cool because you could see down into the basilica with the floor 200 feet below. Finally, the last set of stairs wound us around the interior of the dome. It was a tiny, shoulder-width staircase that gradually slanted with the curvature of the dome until it almost was impossible to climb, at which point it finally moved straight upwards and over the crest of the dome. We had reached the top.
The view that awaited us when we came out of the dome was mind-blowing. Directly in front sat St. Peter's Square, upon which thousands of people walked around taking pictures of the basilica. Beyond that was the entire city of Rome, sprawling into the horizon beyond. To the north was the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel, looking quite small from our great height. To the west was the rest of Vatican city, including the Swiss guard headquarters and the Vatican Gardens. Finally, to the south was the Vatican auditorium and the suburbs of Rome. There is no way that my feeble writing skills can describe what it was like up there, but hopefully the pictures that I took will help you out.
After the journey to the top, we continued on to our journey below the basilica. The necropolis was like a buried cemetery, with giant mausoleums and even old chapels buried in the dirt around us. It ended at the site of St. Peter's tomb, two stories directly below the modern day main altar. Bone fragments of his body sat in tiny glass cases, allowing us to view the remains of the Rock of Christianity. After that, we were brought one floor up into the room of the recently deceased popes where John Paul II is buried. The whole experience from top to bottom of St. Peter's made for perhaps the best day of the trip.
After a Friday of goodbyes, cleaning, and packing for home, we were ready to leave Rome. Bill, Ryan, and I left Saturday morning bright and early and headed off to one last destination before leaving Europe for good: Dublin, Ireland. Arriving in Dublin was like coming home to the Shire. I had this song in my head the whole time. The air was nippy but joyful as Christmas lights filled the streets and people milled around the city. Since we were only there for a day and a half, we were forced to take it all in quickly. On Sunday, we toured the heart of Dublin's social and economic infrastructure...the Guinness brewery. The entire building was shaped like a giant 7-story pint glass and served as a monument for Arthur Guinness' 250 year rule over Ireland (metaphorically speaking, of course). We tasted the roasted barley, watched how the "liquid gold" was formed, and finally poured our own perfect pints (but that doesn't necessarily mean we drank them). The final floor of the building was a 360 degree view over all of Dublin, allowing us to take in the city in one fell swoop, continuing our trend of visiting a city's highest point on our final day (for those who don't remember, we did this in Paris, Athens, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Florence, and Rome as well).
Monday morning was our last in Europe. We woke up early and hopped on a bus to the airport after saying goodbye to our last hostel. I unfortunately had ran out of deodorant, effectively becoming European on our final day. After a 7 hour plane ride, a 4 hour layover in Chicago, and another 1 hour plane ride, we were back in Minnesota. And now, I'm back in my bed.
I guess the best way to end this blog is to once again look at the goals that I set out to achieve in writing this.
Goal 1 was to "inform family and friends of my whereabouts while studying abroad this semester in Greece and Italy while also telling insightful stories and tidbits about what it's like to be a college kid in a foreign country with a bunch of people who don't wear deodorant." I feel as if I achieved this goal, but I guess that verdict is up to you.
Goal 2 was to "become a big enough internet sensation that Taylor Swift would finally notice me." While this blog became bigger than I could've ever expected (as of right now, it's had 1,131 hits), it unfortunately wasn't big enough to get the girl of my dreams to notice me. She instead started dating a werewolf from Twilight who some might say looks more manly than me, but again, that verdict is up to you. Hopefully this last post will finally push my blog over the edge and into the Hollywood mainstream.
So I guess this is finally it. When I thought about what it would be like coming home, I was scared, not sure whether home would be the same as it was when I left. Would I be able to find home again? Even after returning, who knows whether my life will ever be the same. But, I feel that everything that happened did so for the better. I guess only time will tell. So now, like the ending of most of my favorite movies, Scott in the Rocks will now sail into the sunset and the great beyond. Goodbye, Chasers. It's been real.
And one last time...here's Taylor Swift. And some pictures from the final days if that's more interesting to you.
Final Special Shout-Out of the Day: All the Chasers. Obviously, this blog for me was but a journal of my experiences that I thought maybe someone else would like to read. It turns out over a thousand of you wanted to. So thank you to everyone who cared enough about me, CSB/SJU, or the entire continent of Europe to read what I had to say about it. You stay classy, Chasers!
Final European Insult Tally:
Bill: 1 - Bill, I expected more out of you...I really did.
Scott: 4 - Winner of the European Insult Tally. I would like to thank the academy, the writer of Scott on the Rocks, and of course the Europeans (mainly the French), who without I wouldn't have anyone to insult. Should I get 5 points now?
Matt: 1 - Matt never was able to get past his first insult point and was thus never in contention for the winner's trophy. But, I guess this should've been expected. The only person that Matt ever seems to insult is me...and thankfully I'm not European.
Ryan: 3 - A surprise loser in the insult tally. Ryan's honest comments usually can spark controversy and anger, but he was apparently able to keep it in check around Europe. I would say this could count as personal growth, but the point of this was to be competitive and win the Insult Tally, but Ryan's competitive side never really showed.
For the last time...ya digg?
Your friend or family member (or random acquaintance)
Scott Twelves
Thanks Scott for following thru with this blog throughout your semester abroad. It was fun and informative and will be a good record of the travels you and the other guys enjoyed. You take awesome pictures!
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