My cup overflows...

Wednesdays at Geneva are usually distinguished by Chapel. Wednesdays in Rome are distinguished by Excursions. Chapel is a great time to bring the entire campus together and draw everyone's focus on the "God who made you, who knows you, and who loves you." It's great to hear outside speakers come in and bring memorable messages that spark conversation throughout campus, and it's one of the few times that the entire student body and faculty are together under one roof. I know that I can honestly say that I will miss Chapel when I'm in the real world. Yes, in case it's never occurred to, college isn't quite the real world, but that may be for another day, another post. Anyway, for the past 3 years, Wednesdays involved Chapel for me, so I knew there was Chapel today. Today was probably a pretty sweet Chapel too because I think the main architect for PNC Park was speaking. That's awesome - a Christian as a leading architect in the world.

With that being said, I am okay that my Wednesdays look a little bit different here in Rome. We went to the Church of St. Clemente. The stories surrounding many of these saints are pretty extravagant and they either show the immaculate hand of God or wicked creativity of the Catholics. Google the story of St. Clemente if you want to know what I mean. Regardless, this was a special church as it had essentially 3 levels, and two of the levels were underground. I never quite thought about the fact that modern Rome is built on top of much the ruins of Ancient Rome. The church itself was not very large in size, but the ornate detail in the mosaics and relief sculptures were beautiful. 

Christ at the Tree of Life

Many of the frescoes about St. Clemente and his life events were underground, and Dr. Doyle was an amazing tour guide at explaining the narratives and backgrounds to each. The lowest level oddly contains a pagan temple that had some sort of worship to Mithras, a pagan god who brought the world into being by the blood that spewed out after he had slain a bull. Around the corner from the temple were some apartment-style rooms that were built in 1st century AD, which is the same time that Jesus was alive. As I was running my hands along the bricks and carvings of something this old, I realized how much labor and precision went into building this place, and for it to still be here is incredible. I was in rooms that were built in Biblical times -mind blowing.

After the we left the church, we had free time to wander, so some of us walked up and down streets on a whim and stumbled across a monastery that a great overlook of the the area around the Colosseum. We were feeling hungry and found some pizza near the convent. It was probably the best pizza I've had since I was here, so that place is bookmarked for later. 

We celebrated Kevin's birthday today at our community dinner and sang and had some cupcakes for him, which was great. Most of us were pretty spent from the day of walking, so we had a leisurely night around the convent and neighborhood. 

I have been staying up later just to read and write, so maybe that will prepare me to stay up for the SuperBowl on Sunday. I'm pretty sure we have a bar that will stay open for us to watch it...

I forgot to mention that worship through song during Chapel at Geneva is through Psalms. They get a lot of complaints for that, but the Psalms are truly beautiful. Since it is still Wednesday for you guys, it is fitting to tie this post up with a well known Psalm that rung my heart like a bell today. At the end of the community dinner, Lee Anne read Psalm 23 and while listening to the passage and imagining each visual I got chills, so I'm going to post the whole glorious passage: 

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Giorno della lingua

If I had to sum up today in one word, it would be language.

Today, I experienced both sides of the coin as I started today with our language course and essentially, finished by helping to teach an ESOL class. So, our Italian professor, Lucy, spoke nearly the entire lecture in Italian, and I was surprisingly able to follow about everything she said. She used a lot of repetition, one-on-one conversation with students, and pictures to help us grasp the phrases that she wanted us to get. We mainly learned basics, like - My name is...I'm from...I'm an American student...How are you doing...etc. My notes were kinda scattered because the way she spewed out information, but it was all good and I think I retained a lot of the verbal comprehension. The spelling and grammar were barely touched, so that can wait. But all in all, it was a sweet first Italian class, and I hope that I get proficient throughout the semester.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with Kristen to talk about how she can challenge me and hold me accountable this semester, and I got an idea that I'm pretty excited about for a first program. Hopefully Papin, Curtis, and Conn-man read this and appreciate this idea - Trivia Night. I wanted to do something not too extravagant and that could work regardless of the weather. I know that may not sound super exciting, but I loved going to trivia when it was around my hometown, and with some sweet prizes and fun/goofy questions, it can be cool. That'll be coming up in a week or so, so I'll let you know how it goes....

In our Humanities discussion, and we discussed the extravagance of God in our lives and the extravagance of Mary's nard offering to Jesus. We also talked about what it means to be human an to accept the pure everyday gifts from God, which was refreshing.

I went for a run that I should've actually done yesterday, but I was so busy I couldn't fit it in. Sorry Nick, I adjusted the running plan a little :) It was just a leisurely 30 minute run through a few parks, one of which goes throughout Benito Mussolini's house and grounds, which is a pretty neat site.

After a quick shower, a group of about 9 of us plus the Doyles headed down to Church to teach English lessons. There are 6 levels, but most of us stayed in level 1 because that was the biggest and needed the most attention. It was so uplifting to see and hear people longing and hungry to learn English. I don't mean that in a selfish "Amerricuh" way. But the fact that these grown adults have the humility to say, "I want help." The fact that they trust me, a 20 year old who knows nothing about the world, and were willing to learn for 1.5 hours after a long day of work showed me a desire and willingness to learn that is scarce in any academic arena in the United States. I couldn't stop smiling the whole time and for 30 minutes afterward. To see them grasp the phrases and concepts was great, and I didn't mind having to repeat or practice each phrase with them. This is something that I will definitely do every week.

Sorry there are no pictures today, but maybe I can leave you with a visual.

Today, I physically and metaphorically put my feet in three pairs of shoes - I was a runner, Italian student, and English teacher. I wear a size 9.5 Nike Free running shoes, which fit nice and snug. These shoes are comfortable as I've worn them thousands of times. The other pairs of shoes must have been size 22EEE because they did not quite fit as comfortably. In class and in my attempts to teach, I was humbled and realized that as a beginner at both of these, I have plenty of toe-room in these shoes. I guess that's a good thing because whenever I shopped for shoes as a kid, my Mom always told us to make sure there was "grow-room" because she knew that our feet would eventually fill in the toe box as we matured through adolescence. In these particular situations, I am like a child, and I think that God has placed me in these bigger shoes expecting me to grow.

Proverbs 1:7-"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

My First Day of School!

Okay, so not exactly. That happened like 15 years ago in kindergarten at Kingsville Elementary School. For those of you who want pictures, ask my mom, or just go to my basement floor at home because they're probably all still in piles, waiting to be organized...But yeah. Today was our first day of classes here, so the reality hit us all that this is not just vacation. Well, I'll tell you about class and let you decide :)

For Humanities and Italian Cinema, we have Dr. Doyle. Dr. Doyle is sweet. We started with the obligatory 10 pt. Humanities quiz as will be the case every Monday, and he lectured on Ancient Greek Art and their concept of Beauty. The hour and twenty minute lecture seemed like nothing. He's down to Earth, explains things well, and he and his wife love students. He also loves soccer, which is an added bonus.

We then had a book discussion meeting to talk about the concept of "Culture Making" and also to discuss announcements for our group. We were supposed to read the first chapter of Andy Crouch's book Culture Making, but there was a confusion in the syllabus schedule or something, so none of the students read it, and our Site Director kinda just gave us the highlights. A few of us chimed in because we were familiar with Crouch and the topic...

After lunch, we had Italian Cinema. I've never taken a cinema class, so this is a real treat. Watch movies, pick-up some Italian, write reviews and get credit. The movie we watched today was called Cinema Paradiso. It was made in the 1980s and won all of the big movie awards (Golden Globe, Oscar, and an awards at the Cannes Festival). It's definitely worth checking out, but heads up, it's in Italian with English subtitles. That didn't make it any harder to understand; we all understood it just fine. It's got this adorable boy who is fascinated in film and develops a relationship with a local film projector operator in a theatre that brings the whole community together. The boy eventually leaves the small town for Rome, but that's all I can divulge for now. I guess you'll have to go see it to find out how it ends...

So by 3pm we were free. Except, my cooking group (5 of us) was running the kitchen tonight so we went shopping and got to work in the kitchen. We had a blast working together and made stuffed shells and a big salad with chicken and veggies in it. To top it all off, we had gelato for dessert. Pretty sick first community dinner. We even set up the dining hall with a nice ambience and lit candles. Check it out:

Tables set like a pro from my days working banquets

The fruits of our labor

An added bonus for the night was that we didn't have to clean up because our system is set up for the "on deck" cooking group to do all of the cleaning. We helped out and did the big pots though :)

I was on duty tonight (every Monday and Thursday), but since it was pretty rainy today, no one really went out. We all just read for class tomorrow (Humanities discussion and Italian) and booked a day trip to Orvieto for Friday, which is a town similar to Tuscany in the hills of Italy. I couldn't pass up 8 Euro each way!

Next weekend a bunch of people are looking into a trip to the Amalfi Coast. Since we have a field trip to Pompeii planned, it's a short train ride to Sorrento, then bus to Agerola. I don't know where we're staying, but some people are staying in a B&B in Sorrento that looked nice, so it might be easiest to stay with the group even if it's not right near where we want to see. We'll see. I kind of want to plan it on my own and execute it. I guess that's prideful, and it is somewhat stressful to plan, but I think it's a good time to practice some independence. My plan for me and another friend might be: Pompeii to Agerola (via train and bus) for one day, then work back to Sorrento to meet the rest of the group on the second day. We'll see what happens.

Sorry this was a long post. Today was a full first day for our group in the convent, and I didn't post yesterday so I had some unused roll over words to spare... I can't guarantee a post per day, but I will try. Sundays are super quiet on the town and in the convent, so not much happened. We went to a Baptist Church near the Spanish Steps, and the pastor shared some things about sacrifice to God, specifically with Cain and Abel that were refreshing. It's always humbling to hear how much wisdom and insight some pastors have.

Psalm 1:1,3 - "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked...That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither- whatever they do prospers."

Night and Day

I don't know what it is, but when I pray about something and am honest with myself about a situation, I begin to feel more relieved and at peace. Actually, I know exactly what it is. It's God. When you are more connected in constant prayer, you can feel God moving in your life. Philippians 4:6 - 
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, submit your requests to God." He does a work in you that changes your heart and refreshes your mind. When you're feeling down one night and wake up feeling at peace and calm about the topic that you prayed about, it's God working on your heart. It almost like night and day.

My feelings today weren't the only things that were held in stark contrast for me today, but I'll start with them to kind of dovetail off of my last post. Yes, I removed myself from the stress of planning Spring Break and will plan that at another time. And today was the first day that we had freedom to explore some of Rome on our own. No boundaries, no large groups, no agenda. It felt good. Closer to Romans. We were more like "Rome-ing" today. There is something freeing about the spontaneity when you just walk and see quaint areas and catch a few major sites along the way. I guess you can say we saw a major site...

Humbled in the shadow of the Colosseum

An Italian lady understood our sign language and "per favore" enough to help us out.

To say that it was overwhelming or imposing or magnificent would be understatement. Right when I walked out of the Metro stop, it hit me smack in the face. My whole body couldn't really do anything but stand in awe. I felt so small and overpowered by something that was a site of impressive architecture and showed the progress of humanity, but to know that such brutality happened here too was unreal. One of my friends said to try and picture what it would feel like to hear it when it was filled. Louder and more raucous with more brutality than any football game is as close I could get. We walked around the neighborhood, kind of just wandering and circled back towards the Colosseum and checked out a 5 star restaurant just for because we could. Not quite in my price range :), but still cool! 

Our first stop before the Colosseum off the Metro was Eataly, which I can best describe as: Wegman's for Italian food that is bulked up on protein shakes and a heavy lifting program (or a lysing program if you live in Geneva Arms North 401 ;)). It's kinda like a mall, but just food from all regions of Italy. There's nothing that is technically called "Italian" because each region is different. The olives each provide a unique flavor, the grapes make distinct wine, and the tomatoes make a variety of sauces. Or so I'm told by people who can read Italian and by the maps I could read. I need to go back when I know the language better and have a phrase book to help me along in the store, but here's a view from the top:

From the FOURTH floor!

I had my first espresso, which was strong and invigorating. There also was a whole section dedicated to chocolate from all over Italy. Mmmm....Then we went for the metro which is pretty straightforward. 2 lines is considerably easier than NYC, so getting around will be a breeze, but just wait, I'm sure I'll eat my words when we get lost somewhere.

We also visited the Spanish Steps, which was cool and is a great place to people watch, but just beware of the guys who try to give you flowers or bracelets. We walked down what seemed to be a fashion strip at the base of the steps that had any and every designer brand that you can name. Amid the hustle and bustle of this vogue area, we stumbled across two Catholic churches. We weren't allow to take pictures inside, but talk about beauty and contrast. The churches were both dark, quiet, and full of power. It was great to be still before God, and I felt detached from the world and was surprised when we left that there were still people outside. Along the walls, there were frescoes dedicated to saints, and altars that almost force you to your knees by their grandeur. How could they do this sort of awesome stuff in the 1500s and earlier? (I'll get better with my Italian history specifics in class, don't worry). How did they build such high domes and structures, and how did they move and work with all of that marble? These two churches weren't even pictured on a map that I was using, so I don't know how I'm going to react when we go to St. Peter's Basilica.

I know it may sound feigned and unbelievable based on my awkward-feeling post yesterday, but this is how today felt. It really was a dramatic shift inside me. I have no anxiety about traveling or the bus or Metro. Night and day. I felt uncertainty last night, and assurance this morning. Night and day. I write when it's nighttime, and it's posted in the daytime back home. I was condemned to death before I knew Christ, and now I'm redeemed with eternal life. Night and day.

Ankle Deep

"I'm Roman..."Well, not quite. Actually, not at all. But I have a whiteboard outside of my room, and that is the phrase that someone decided to write on it. My conservative self proceeded to write a response message of, "Ehhh..." (Picture my response with a slight side head tilt, and in a high pitched voice indicating my uncertainty). Anyway, my thought process, as obvious as it may seem, it that we are in Rome. Correct. And that continually blows my mind as we walk the streets around and see Embassies from Afghanistan, Russia, Qatar, and tons of other places. It blows my mind that the Coliseum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain are just a bus ride away. I'm definitely loving the program so far (even as we are only finishing orientation stuff), but we stick out like sore thumbs here. We travel in large groups; we're loud in stores; we're professional butchers of the Italian language. Don't get me wrong, every chance that I get, I try my Italian phrases and embrace the food differences and want to travel, but it will take some time. Before I reminded myself of that, I was beginning to feel anxious because I feel that I need to know my way around town already. We have a whole semester. Good plans for trips and great relationships are already in the works, but Rome wasn't built in a day....sorry for the cheesy reference, what I mean is that both of those things take time. It's the third day. We don't need to play mundane things up as being incredible; except for the fact that it's all happening in Rome. I guess that's where my confused feelings are coming in. Right now, I'm going to just be in the moment, take it all in, and enjoy the experience wholeheartedly. I'm going to be shaped by the whole process, not just the first 3 days...

Again, don't read into this as cynicism. I'm just flushing out my anxious, and honestly confused, feelings that I've felt with everyone taking about buses and trains and being kindof hyped up on planning their perfect Spring Break. I can't wait to travel, and I never appreciated everything that went into it. But honestly for Spring break, I don't need to see 7 places in 10 days. Like everyone else who heard the words, "Plan now" from our SD, I wanted to plan the past few days too, but could barely think, and felt anxious when everyone started spewing out ideas and flights. I'm not confident enough to travel alone really, but the selfish introvert in me says that it will be easier to just do what you want an avoid the planning with other people. The good thing is that I've found some people whom I get along with and who want to go to similar places as me, so it will be sweet to share those once-in-a-lifetime experiences with them. Writing through this helps me; I don't need to worry about that right now. We'll sit down one day, find our deals, and go.

The past few days we've finished up orientation. We took a trip to the grocery store, bought our first gelato....Here's the post-original post picture:

I don't know if you can see, but I'm doing my best Italian model face...

We did a scavenger hunt through the neighborhood, which was really fun and was great for the group. We watched a slideshow of all the pictures and were cracking up at all the great poses. Here are some of my favorite from my group:

This dog runs the store, so watch out!

 Our group: Spaghetti Westerns

 In front of Mussolini's house!

 Gotta be careful at ATMs...

AS ROMA pride!

This orientation stuff is great because it bring our group together and gets us familiar with the area. But we're still not in the full swing of things. I am planning to go to Eataly tomorrow as well as the center of the city to check out the main spots, so I will definitely post about that. But for now, being less than a week in, I'm still feeling caught in an "in between" spot. I haven't dived headfirst into culture as a Roman. I am slowly getting familiar with Rome, and right now, I feel about the same as my feet felt this morning in the shower when the drain was slightly clogged - ankle deep in Italian water.

Micah 6:8 -"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

My New Room

I am happy to say that our group successfully navigated the Philadelphia and Italian airports. I have to say I was nervous going through the airport, always doing head-counts and making sure we were all together. Seeing the parents beforehand reminded me of my responsibility. Everything went well, and we actually moved more smoothly through FCO - Da Vinci Airport than in Philly...go figure :). Anyway, it was about an hour taxi bus ride to where we're staying and traffic was crazy with people driving up on curbs and in medians. Yes, where we're staying is a convent with real nuns, and it's on the outskirts of the actual city of Rome. They're friendly and speak mainly Spanish, so that should be fun. Everything except our classroom is on one floor which is nice, and IMHO, I have one of the best desk locations with a view of the a little courtyard and gardens below....

I know that God has chosen each person in our group for this trip and it's exciting to see us start to mesh. We have 3 girls from Azusa Pacific University and one girl from Judson University who have fit in well so far. We're all powering through our jetlag and are getting ready for dinner. None of us slept well on the plane, so we've all been up for a while. We're getting ready for dinner and are probably going out for gelato afterwards. Mmmmm... Tomorrow we get a tour of the neighborhood and get oriented with the bus and train stuff, so that'll be important stuff to remember. We don't start class until Monday, so the rest of the weekend will be other orientation related stuff. Because I'm not quite immersed in the culture, it still feels like a "retreat" and that we'll be back next week. It recently hit me that we're in this for the long haul, and I can't wait to experience the best that Rome has to offer.

Just an FYI, in case you were wondering, my address is:

John Shipley

Geneva College Semester in Rome

Via Nomentana, 333

00162 Rome, Italy

Our site director says to use anything but USPS to send stuff if you felt so inclined...

Psalm 86:9 - "All the nations you have made will come and worship before you Lord..."

Just Go

Let me take you back just a little bit through my college career leading up to where I am now as I am getting ready to go to Rome. Ever since I visited Geneva and heard about the Semester in Rome Program, I knew that I wanted to go. To me it was a no-brainer. Traveling to a culturally rich place, earning core credit, playing soccer, and eating pasta - what could be better! So, I took the prerequisite Humanities 103 class as a Freshman and enjoyed it because it made me think about life and what it means to be "human." For how much that first semester Humanities class stretched me, I knew that studying and traveling in Rome would make my Humanities experience even more enriching, and it was something I was looking forward to since day one.

Fast forward two years and here I am, on the cusp of finally going to Rome. I can almost taste it, but it still seems surreal. Over these past few weeks I've done a lot of thinking, I've asked for people's best travel advice, and I've done a lot of emotional reflection. Here's kinda where I'm at going into the trip:

Without a doubt, I'm excited. There's nothing muddled about that feeling. So what if I don't know the language, or if my best friends aren't going on the trip, or if I have to leave behind my comfortable niche at college. I'm going to Rome. Instead of just learning facts or reading from the great writers or about the architecture, I'm going to experience it. There is an inherent link between knowing and being. I am absolutely stoked about being in Rome because I know that it will be a transformative time in my life. God is going to use our group, class discussion and travel experience to open my eyes to how big His world is and all of the majesty that He's filled it with.

I have to confess that I'm a little anxious, I'm a home body and I'm hesitant to change. I like to be settled, have a schedule, and know how my week is going to go. Not that it's going to be hard to go to Rome (I mean really, it's going to be sweet), but the adjustment at first to the everyday idiosyncrasies of a non-American college lifestyle is going to be different. Growing in wisdom and knowledge often involves the unknown and often involves some element of risk. Even before I get into Rome, I'm sure there are going to be things that don't go exactly to plan, and when I'm over there, I can almost guarantee that I'll get lost or will have to throw my plan for the day out the window.

Even as I'm writing this I'm becoming less anxious and realize that I'll need to be flexible and depend on our leaders and God to take care of us. In my futile attempts to have all my bases covered, I've asked advice from my friends who have done the same program and friends who have traveled to Europe. I have greatly appreciated every single one of their words of encouragement, and I have written them down to remember for later. I've tried to "learn" as much as I could before I went, but in doing that, I've underestimated my faith and ability to learn by being immersed in the culture.

Now, I'm just ready to go. I mean...as ready as I'll be to go. I know that this is going to be an experience of a lifetime, but I have no idea of the incredible things that God has in store for me and how He's going to mold me. One of my friends told me to "forget everything, cling to God, and just go." So that's what I'm doing. I've said my goodbyes. My bags are packed. My passport is open. Rome awaits.

Jeremiah 33:3 - 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'