Well, I've been really putting my immune system through a lot. 23 hour days working on conference planning, extensive travel across time zones, inconsistent food choices and eating schedule... the list goes on. Therefore it wasn't very surprising that when I got up at 4:30 am in the morning to catch a 6:00 am train from Ravenna to Rome, the starts of a cold that I had been fighting since I left the country blossomed into a full blown experience of death. I tried to balance seeing what I wanted to see in Rome with taking care of myself, but the synagogue and the catacombs came first. Perhaps I didn't have to push myself quite so hard since both days were plagued by rain and fridged temperatures but I saw what I wanted to see... down to the very last church that housed Michelangelo's Moses with Horns!

During my last two days in Rome, I visited the Jewish Synagogue and a few more Christian catacombs. The Jewish Synagogue provided a short by excellent tour outlining the history of Judaism in Rome. Jews in Rome immigrated from the Holy Lands and unlike other places in the world do not fall into the normal camps of Ashkenazi & Sephardic. Although all the Synagogues in Rome are Orthodox, I didn't see many Orthodox looking Jews walking the streets. Apparently the Jewish Ghetto, which housed all the Jews in Rome during the 2nd World War (and therefore was a place of great violence), is becoming popular among young people and very trendy. I find it interesting, especially in thinking about systematic oppression, that those Jews who were able to hold on to their property throughout the horrors of WW2 are actually reaping the economic benefits today. If only that could be said for other minorities!

For the last two days, I traveled to Ravenna, Italy to see the famous mosaics. These mosaics were featured in one of my books for class and I was able to attend a lecture by one of the authors this summer. I've been taken with the mosaics and what they represent theologically... but my silence these past few days has been due to some deeper thinking. I am thankful to my professors who have been pushing me to think beyond what I read in order to find my voice.... perhaps that voice will come out (at least on theological things).

This morning I toured a variety of churches. I got to see the Capuchin Crypt with the bones of 4,000 friars elaborately used as a massive church decoration. I also stood in front of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa in the Church of Saint Mary of the Victory. I wandered into a few other churches and walked through the Baths of Diocletian again. My plan today was to stay around the Termini train station so that I could hop on the train at 5:30pm to ride to Ravenna. The churches I saw today was my first part and then I was thinking of going to the National Museum.

I walked quite a distance today. My tour guide from yesterday (in apology that we couldn’t see more of the museum because of the physically impaired people on our tour) told me about a rare opportunity to tour the excavation sight of St. Peter’s tomb and the other tombs that are beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. After my tour yesterday, I found my way to the right office and the man gave me fifty reasons why all the tours for the next year were booked. “But I’m only one person.” I pleaded, “If there is just one cancellation can you fit me in?” After a bit more prodding, the man relinquished that if I came at 1:00 p.m. the following day and only if there was a cancellation… I could get in.

St. Jerome was an odd man. He was tormented by sex and punished himself by not washing for days. He forced himself to study Hebrew and Greek when the pleasures of the world seemed tempting. Yet he was good friends with many women and helped a few of them found monastic houses in Jerusalem. His biggest claim to fame was his translation of the Vulgate which in retrospect perhaps was not the most accurate of attempts.

Today I took a tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and three other Basilica's in the city of Rome. My tour guides were fantastic ( and thus marks the end of my formal tours) but the other people in my group were elderly and slow. I didn't get to see as much of the Vatican as I wanted so I'm heading back there tomorrow.

I can’t say I’ve figured out why exactly I’ve become obsessed with Christian Persecution. When asked by my History of Christianity Professor to write an essay for my midterm about it, my essay of 500 words took off. My notebook became full of charts and comparisons. My books are still open and scattered on my floor back home.

Well here I am! My flight got in around 8:00 a.m. this morning and I booked it to the train station. There were some very nice people on my flight that I had befriended in the Kennedy airport who let me cut in front of them in the custom's line. Then the custom's officer didn't even look at my passport when he stamped it, because he was was too busy telling me that a beautiful girl like me was bound to love Rome!

When I was in middle school, my English teacher would often ask us to get out the large heavy literature book that was under our chairs and read from the endless short stories contained within it's tattered cover. While I don't remember many of these stories, one has stuck with me over the years. I have no idea what it was called....