Monday, March 31, 2014 2 comments

Rome’s Evolving Reflection Pool


We enthusiastically arrived at the cafe to start our Context Travel tour of the Colosseum because we could finally see the place that we had studied so much about in the months leading up to our trip.  I was excited for us to explore the Colosseum on a Context tour, but it turned out to surpass even what I was expecting.  I thought that we were going to focus on the long history of bloodshed of both the gladiators and animals that were harmed in this location. Our enthusiastic docent, Dony, showed us the main tourist attraction of Rome in a whole new light. Dony was small in stature, but he had a loud voice, which kept us interested in the wild history of the Colosseum.



              Did you know that the Colosseum was never originally called the Colosseum? Initially, it was called the Flavian Amphitheater because it was built during the Flavian dynasty. The mind boggling part was that it was not always an amphitheater! When Dony asked this question of us, I wracked my brain, trying to remember the answer. I thought our docent was asking us a trick question. But no, to my surprise, it was Nero’s reflection pool! Nero was the emperor of Rome from 54-68 A.D., and he was quite the egotistical emperor. His “reflection pool” was bigger than the Colosseum!

While on the Colosseum walk, the one thing that really piqued my interest was how many times the Colosseum changed throughout history. Each emperor used it for a different purpose. First, it was Nero’s reflecting pool. Many years later, the new emperor, Titus, had it used to entertain the masses of the Roman people so that he could gain favor after Nero’s evil reign. It was turned into a Naval fighting space, so boats could battle for entertainment - and up to 300 people would die during each show. He would fill up the bottom of the Colosseum with water, and put in not just boats, but huge military naval ships to battle each other! I could see the water splashing the audience, like the whale shows at Six Flags. I imagined the slaves hauling in huge ships, just to keep the Romans happy at their expense.

The next emperor, Domitian, totally revamped the place into an amphitheater. Elevators were put in, to bring deathly surprises to the gladiators, and white sand was put onto the floor, so spectators could see the bloodshed more clearly. It was almost as if I could smell the scent of death and loss.

Another shocking thing was its use in Renaissance times, where it was used as home for many families who had nowhere to go. These families lived in a giant theater where so many people had previously died; talk about home sweet home!

Once again, like in every story of Rome, the Pope had to butt his head in and turn the Colosseum into something that he owned. Pope Benedict XIV, in the 1600s, “Christianized” the place by putting up a huge cross where emperors once sat to watch a show of a complete slaughter. As our docent Dony explained this timeline, the Colosseum evolved right before my eyes. How could one building withstand all the changes of time and the whims of emperors, and still serve as a place for entertainment? I think the answer is because people still get enjoyment out of something so old. For example, today people from around the world come to see the Colosseum in its extraordinary glory. Very few visitors, however, come to the Colosseum know that this building  has progressed right along with mankind.


          
              Today, I saw the Colosseum in a whole new light.  It is more than just an amphitheater of blood, but a building that still stands because it evolved. This walk taught me through example that even though someone may have a bad reputation, you won’t know who they are until you talk to them. The Colosseum is known for violence and bloodshed, but I never appreciated the history of one of the world’s greatest monuments until I got to know it.

Myriah Catalano





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Discovering the Power of Art in Rome


          Today I realized that we only had one more day to spend in Rome. Time really flies when you're having a fantastic time learning and exploring. To think about leaving such a beautiful place filled with such a humble culture, great food, and history makes me so sad. It's hard to admit, but I'm truly heartbroken that we have to go. Ten days wasn't near enough time to fully experience all aspects of the Roman humanities. There are definitely some places that I need to revisit in the future, as well as some places I plan on showing my parents so they can experience what I have felt these past several days. It is an amazing feeling to actually connect with something on a higher level of thinking, especially when it's unexpected. The many different docents I have had have all opened my eyes to new topics in history, and all have encouraged these connections I'm having, especially with art.  Here are descriptions of my top three “aha” moments with Roman art and architecture.
1.  Borromini and Bernini rivalry and effective style of baroque art in complementing the counter reformation. I found it very interesting that these two brilliant minds didn't get along with each other, but it's understandable because they were complete opposites. One was always trying to outdo the other which made them both produce to their full potential. They both basically created stepping stones to a new style of art and architecture that they perfected very well. Bernini's sculptures were breath taking, the movements and the aura they gave off made them seem like they were alive. Borromini's fantastic architectural style really demonstrate his hard work and dedication towards how serious he was about his art. Their influences on church architecture were amazing, both making you feel warm and close to God.
2. Caravaggio's paintings really made me feel some type of way. He related to poor people and changed a lot of ways we look at art. He showed true emotions portrayed through suffering, not only other people but his own. He showed emotions through painting realistic characteristics of actual people which was breaking the rules at this time. His renegade approach to living life was very vivid and spoke to me.
photos courtesy wikimedia commons

3.  Seeing Michelangelo’s Last Judgement was emotional – more so than I had expected. Because we had learned about Michelangelo’s situation when he painted this (doubting his destiny after death and possibly battling the faith that he’d heavily believed in his entire life), the painting was brought to life for us in a new and unexpected way. This painting was a broad summarization of his understanding of life – which turned out to be a beautiful work of art. It made me sad to an extent, but also brought joy to my soul in an odd way – because even though the story was sad, I felt joyful because I understood his clear message.

photos courtesy wikimedia commons

            Before we left for Italy, all I could think about was food and how delicious everything was going to be, which it was, don't get me wrong. But when I stood and looked at a painting or a sculpture and analyzed them with insightful docents from Context Travel, it was like I could feel the emotions and all the characteristics of the artist. In that moment, I could picture what the artist was trying to share and connect them to my emotions and personal experiences. It's a beautiful process through my eyes, and I am so excited to make connections between the art history skills that I have developed and all of the art at home and abroad that I have yet to experience.  
- Malik lee







Saturday, March 29, 2014 4 comments

Filling my Five Stomachs in Naples


           I awoke feeling refreshed and excited not only to see Naples, the center of the culinary world, but to taste it as well! Every time we told someone that we were coming to Naples, the first thing that came out of their mouths was some variation of "delicious food". This was good for a variety of reasons, including that all of us – myself, my fellow student Myriah, and our faculty advisor, David, share a love of great food. Knowing that, we couldn't wait to see what different tastes the city would offer us.
Photo credit: David Marks
          We were in Italy to take part in several ContextTravel tours. Our fantastic docent, Fiorella, took us to an amazing pizzeria that was famous for serving the best pizza in the world. It was a great environment with classical music, great servers, and families having a fantastic time. From our entrance until we sat down, all I could smell was the old fashioned brick oven doing what it does best. When our waiter took our order, I felt stuck between two emotions…total excitement because I felt like this was about to be the peak of my whole entire experience of being in Italy, and on the other hand, doubt. What if I had come all this way in search of great food that might not even be appealing to me? But...I never back down from a challenge. I had come way too far to be second guessing myself, so I ordered the most meat-filled pizza on the menu and waited patiently for the moment of truth.
           As you could guess from a true foodie, my heart was beating fast, and my taste buds were tingling in anticipation. It wasn't long until the saints brought me the most elegant and beautiful piece of pizza I have ever seen in my whole life. Strangely, I felt as if the world stopped. All eyes were on me. I paused for a second, then took a very deep and confident bite...
           This moment was when I became a man in the food world. That first bite almost brought tears to my eyes, and in that instant all I could do was smile with my mouth full and my taste buds satisfied. This bite? It totally changed my view on pizza. I realized that nothing - and I mean nothing - will ever compare to what I was eating in Naples…and this was just the start of my gastronomic journey.
           The next day after breakfast, another amazing docent, Alberto, arrived to take us on a culinary tour of Napoli. He took us to several local farm markets to pick up fresh ingredients. We arrived at a fish store, where they had a live octopus that Alberto and I touched out of curiosity. While the octopus had behaved itself for Alberto and I, it got a little friendly with Myriah. She jumped, screamed, and ran across the street, as far away from the moving tentacles as possible. After everyone was finished laughing, we proceeded onward with our walk since we knew we had a lot of shopping to do.  After scanning the stand that had fish, eels, shrimp, and assorted marine life, we bought a kilo of Naples clams that were so fresh that their little eyes were stretching out of their shells. We entered a small delicatessen with ham hanging from the ceiling, and sampled buffalo mozzarella that was so fresh that milk came out of it when it was cut.  Our shopping basket quickly filled with the rest of our amazing ingredients: bitter greens, fresh baked bread, hard bread for bruschetta, and olive oil, lots of olive oil.    
           
Photo credit: Malik Lee

              With our arms full of goods and watering mouths, we headed to Alberto's house to cook a traditional Neapolitan dinner. Alberto was an excellent teacher for Myriah and I, as neither of us had cooked these recipes before.  He guided us perfectly through the making of many Neapolitan dishes, including making pizza dough, pasta, friarielli, and the proper way to cook clams. After all our hard work, we got to reap the rewards The clams with linguine sung in my mouth with the taste of perfectly al dente pasta swimming in briny goodness.  Caprese salad held the perfect culinary blend of Italy’s trifecta: mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes.  Although our hand made pizzas were delicious and a notch above the American variety, they could not hold a candle to the pizza of the restaurant, where they have 900 degree ovens and bake the pizza for no longer than 90 seconds!  Our bruschetta held the perfect crunch of the bread with a simple cherry tomato and basil tapenade.  We had made an extraordinary and very delicious Neapolitan meal!  Myriah and I were happy that our hard work and hands-on learning experience was so satisfactory to all those lucky enough to be seated around the table. We ate until we were stuffed, and then ate some more. While, as a growing teen, I can eat a lot, this was the first time I’ve ever felt like I filled my five stomachs. Luckily, my memories will ruminate with me for a lifetime.
-Malik Lee



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Enjoying an Espresso with Michelangelo


                About a year ago, I was helping my mom cook dinner when a gum commercial came on, depicting a dad and his daughter experiencing amazing life events together, including a baseball game, riding the train, and her birthday as they got older. Then the commercial showed the daughter moving her stuff into the car and going off to college. As she was making one last trip hauling stuff to the car, she dropped the box and out poured  hundreds of origami gum wrappers made into cranes! This scene triggered an emotional response in me like I had never had before! While I have always been an emotional person, nothing could have prepared me for seeing Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
Photo credit: David Marks



It was a rainy Tuesday in March, and we met up with our wonderful Context Travel docent Cecilia and 3 other tour mates to start our adventure of the day, which was the Vatican tour. Of course, I was bursting with excitement because I was about to see the Raphael rooms, Bernini’s Baldacchino, and Michelangelo’s dome. These pieces of art and architecture have a huge impact on art we see today, and they have been emulated throughout time.

After seeing the Raphael rooms, we made our way down to the Sistine Chapel. Our amazing docent Cecilia forewarned us not to look at The Last Judgement until we reached the middle divider so we could see the full wall perfectly. As soon as we stepped foot into the chapel, a guard kept yelling, “No cameras! No pictures! No talking!” This was quite a shocking experience, because the Chapel was not as big as I thought it would be, and it was filled to the brim with people. What surprised me was that I felt like I was one of the only people in the chapel that day who experienced magic. I was surprised to see people acting as if this visit was a daily, normal thing – because it was quickly becoming a life-changing event for me.

The Sistine Chapel is a space where Michelangelo spent from 1508-1512 just painting the ceiling, and again in 1535-1541 painting The Last Judgement on the front wall. When I saw Michelangelo’s depiction of Genesis (the first book in the bible), my eyes started to get blurry, there was a pressure in my chest, and my body started heaving. When I saw Adam and God nearly touching, it took my breath away. To see how Michelangelo depicted how the start of mankind and God were so close really got me thinking of his religious beliefs then…and how it would change during his painting of The Last Judgement.

Picture Sources: Google Images


As I made my way to the center wall, I turned around and automatically zeroed in on Michelangelo himself. His painting of himself really unnerved me because I felt his presence so strongly while staring at him. I saw his despair in the way his mouth is slightly open, I felt his agony in the way his skin is loose, and his position in which he is halfway to hell and halfway to heaven. He painted the hell so violently and creepy. I felt his doubt in the church, as something he so strongly believed in came crashing down once he possibly started to experience the corruption in the church. I was stunned, shaken to my core. To see a religious struggle right there, for everyone to see, as painted by a master, was an experience like no other. I stood there, astounded at the religious struggle and transformation happening right before my eyes.   

Picture Sources: Google Images


“SHHHHHHHHH! NO TALKING!” The guard interrupted my reverie and brought me back to the present. My eyes gushing like a Roman fountain, I looked up at the ceiling and noticed Jonah who got swallowed by the fish - and he is huge compared to the other characters. In between the tears pouring down my face and my nose starting to run, I started laughing - because I could see Michelangelo painting Noah first, and then thinking, “Oh dear, better scale it down a bit.” I noticed that people were giving me crazy looks, possibly because of the trifecta of laughter, tears, and a runny nose.


Near me, a man with his hands in his pockets bumped into the man in front of him on accident. The man in front yelled out “Hey you, watch out! And don’t touch my bum!” The guy behind him said, “I didn’t even touch you, my hands are in my pockets!” Then one of the guard rushed over and says in his best English, “Calm down, please!” As my dramatic moment with Michelangelo was put on pause for the men’s melodrama over bum touching, I reassembled myself and then returned to Michelangelo and my discussion through our hearts. I looked around at Malik and Mr. Marks, expecting the same reaction I had, but they had no tears! I guess people react to things differently.


Sooner than I thought possible, Cecilia rounded us all up to leave. I had thought we’d be in there 20 minutes, not just five! I didn’t want to leave, but at the same time I was happy to, because I was crying fiercely, my stomach was heaving violently, and my head was throbbing. I was overcome with emotion - and I was the only one in the Chapel wearing my emotions on my face. I could not form one coherent thought or barely move my feet to walk out the door. My brain was going a thousand miles a minute while the rest of my body was on autopilot.


          Upon reflection, I figured out why I reacted so passionately to the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo talked to me just as if we were sitting down having espressos and pastries like best friends do. I finally recognized why I cried for the gum commercial after this; because the commercial showed me such amazing life experiences and I felt them as I’ve gone through my life. However, being in the Sistine Chapel was just like having Michelangelo right behind me, whispering everything he thought about each character in my ear. We had a Hallmark moment. I really believe Michelangelo still lives in the chapel, or at least his soul does. I don’t know when I will ever go back to the Vatican, but when I do, I hope Michelangelo will chat with me again like old friends who catch up easily after a long period of time apart.

          I am so grateful to Context Travel for helping me understand and see something that has affected countless people through the ages, including myself. I experienced the Sistine Chapel, and feel like I should win an award, just as after you eat a dozen spicy hot wings and win a t-shirt. I want an “I experienced the Sistine Chapel and managed to make it out of the room” t-shirt. I think Michelangelo would like one also, I’ll ask him the next time we have an espresso. 

-Myriah Catalano







 
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