Fourteen Honors students (including one of our own bloggers) are studying abroad in Italy under Professor Alan Fox for the month of January. Below is an excerpt from one of their many blog posts, documenting their experiences abroad. If you would like to comment on any of the posts, please comment on this post and include the title of the post you want to say something about.
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Happy 20th Bi-Det Liz!
Today, I would like to give a huge twentieth birthday shout-out to one of our own group members, Liz Kirk.
We started off our day today with another 6:00 am wake up time to get a second good look at Pope Francis at the Papal Audience in Vatican City. While getting up this early is a little rough on the group, in the long run, it becomes well worth it when you get to stand a few feet away from the religious leader of about 1 billion Catholics worldwide.
After another deliciously simple Italian breakfast, we made our way to the metro station a short walk from our hotel. After three days using the metro, I think I speak for all of us when I say we are becoming pretty adept at making our way around Rome by train. To get to Vatican City it’s simply a one-stop train ride to Termini from Cavour, a transfer to Train B on the red line and then an arrival to your destination at the stop Ottaviano.
Security getting into St. Peter’s square was no trouble as we flashed our tickets for the Papal Audience. Mark informed us that on his trip in 2012, Pope Benedict held his Papal audience inside. However, Pope Francis’ Papal Audience was set up outside right on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica. We can only assume that since Pope Francis is estimated to be attracting 3 times the visitors of Pope Benedict, the papal audiences are now held outside in order to allow more “fans” to catch a glimpse of the popular Pope. Luckily, we were able to get great seats right along the aisle where the Pope would pass through on his “Pope-mobile” and not too far from the stage set up in front either.
Even YoUDee enjoyed the architecture of St. Peter’s Basilica!
It was our third time seeing St.Peter’s Basilica in three days, but I found myself still staring at it like I had never seen it before. The detail in the statues lining the top of the enormous building was enough to occupy me for the wait till the audience started…
Read the rest of the Honors students’ adventure here.
