Hello!

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. Things have been incredibly hectic. I only have a few minutes before I have to pack and go to our farewell dinner so I'll recap my last three days relatively briefly.
Wednesday was the day of our performance in the Vatican at St. Peter's. We started out with a tour of the basilica and some quick shopping. Then, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. We took buses back to St. Peter's square and warmed up outside St. Peter's basilica. We ended up drawing a crown, and we sang some of our spirituals and Chorale theme songs just for fun. The mass was a great experience. There's so much history in that building and it was great to be a part of something that significant.
Thursday was our day designated for visiting the city of Florence. We had a 5:30 wake-up call, and then we boarded the buses for the drive. It was a two and a half hour drive to Florence, but everyone was knocked out on the bus. We had a walking tour of the city, and then some free time which my friends and I used to visit the Basilica di Santa Croche. It held some amazing relics, in addition to the tombs of Machievelli, Galileo, Dante, Rossini, and Michaelangelo. It was definitely amazing to be that close to some of the brightest, though slightly decomposed, minds in the history of man.
Today started out with some free time, which we used to visit a little touristy location. It had an ancient stone face that was said to bite your hand off if you told a lie. We got pictures with it and went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the group. We then boarded buses to go back to the Vatican to visit the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel, both of which were incredible sights. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was more beautiful than I had imagined, although i found the building as a whole to be less attractive than the Gesu and St. Peter's.
Well, It was quite an amazing trip. My week was saturated with the beauty and the history of one of the most amazing cities in the world. I truly can't thank you all enough for the opportunity you've provided me, the knowledge you've allowed me to acquire, the friends I've made, and the musical experiences of a lifetime. I love you all, and I'll see you soon.

Yours,
Danny

Hello, again!

Today was a more relaxed day than the past few, seeing as we technically had the day off.  We still wanted to get out money's worth so we decided to check out a whole bunch of stuff that we wouldn't be able to see tomorrow and thursday.  We started off by walking from our hotel to the Basilica of St. John Lateran.  It was another beautiful church, which incorporated fantastic architecture and decoration from the high classical and baroque periods.  This is the church that the pope conducts mass in.  Some notable elements include enormous marble statues of each apostle, and gold statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, each containing pieces of the deceased saints' heads (kind of eerie), above the altar.

Afterwards, we visited the holy steps, which were the steps that resided in Pontius Pilate's residence.  Jesus walked up these stairs on the day that he was condemned to crucifixion, so the stairs are a major target of Catholic pilgrims visiting Rome.  The tradition is to climb the stairs on your knees while praying on each step.

After that we started to walk towards the Trevi Fountain, and we stopped along the way to take random pictures and gaze at the incredible monuments.  I'll admit, I've become jaded to the fact that the Coliseum is on the side of a road that I've walked down a whole bunch of times.  We stopped in a few more beautiful churches.  It's crazy that every church I've seen in Rome is more beautiful than those I'm used to.  They really are a lot to behold.  We then visited the Spanish steps, and tried to do some shopping.  It failed for me because everything was insanely expensive. 

Once we were done shopping (walking into a store, looking at a price tag, walking out of the store) a few of us took the metro back to the hotel to get ready for our class dinners.  The freshman class (consisting of 17 girls and 2 guys) went to a nice little restaurant down the road from the hotel.  I got ravioli, and met the few freshman who I hadn't met already.  Afterwards, we got gelato and went to sing Tollite in front of the Pantheon at midnight.

I just took a drunk kid back to the hotel (tenors can't hold their liquor) and I'm about to go to bed for my 7 a.m. wake-up call.  Fun stuff.  Tomorrow is our last performance of the trip, a mass at St. Peter's Basilica.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how beautiful the inside of the largest church in the world is.

Once again, I love you all, and Goodnight! 

Danny

Sorry I've been so terrible at posting.  The internet here is really sketchy and expensive.  Anyway, Sunday was an all around great day.  We started off by heading over to the Vatican to see the Pope's blessing, and everything on out person at the time was blessed by him, including our wallets, underwear, socks, etc.  Sweet!  Afterwards we got lunch at a great little pizza place right outside St. Peter's square.  From there, we boarded buses to go to the Church of the Gesu, where our concert was held.  The church was far too beautiful for words, and even pictures could not possible capture the gorgeous artwork, statues, and extraordinary amount of gold and silver.  The concert was fabulous, and I learned that my director is fluent in Italian.  

After the concert, we went out to eat at a nice little restaurant in Campo di Fiori (I think that's what it's called/how it's spelled).  The public transportation here is fancy.  I ate lasagna, which was awesome.  

This morning, monday, was also a great day, although it was relatively tiring.  We started out with a tour of the Catacombs, which was creepy and incredible at the same time.  Afterwards, we went the Coliseum, which was incredibly epic.  I have lots of pictures of all the things I'm telling you about, but the internet isn't as good as in the States and I can't upload them.  I'll be sure to when I get home.  After the Coliseum, we went to the Roman Forum (or what's left of it) and saw some neat Roman architecture.  After that we went to lunch, which was pretty bad.  Tourist trap.  Then we got on busses and went to see our last to sights of the day, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps.  The fountain was particularly beautiful.  It had sculptures of Roman gods, with Neptune in the center.  Statues of gigantic, naked, bearded men are very present in the city.  Along with Smart cars and gelato.  Afterwards I took a great nap, and then went to dinner by the Trevi Fountain.  Later in the night, we gathered in a circle to sing some of our A capella songs just for fun.  

Tomorrow is a free day so we plan on doing a little shopping and going to the SIstine Chapel and the Vatican Museums.  It should be a good day!

I'll try and update a little more frequently.  Sorry, mom. =)

Ciao!

Danny

Dear all,

           

            When I posted the pictures last night, the paragraph I wrote didn’t get posted with it.  So, I’m sitting in my room writing a new one, which I’ll post later once I get internet it my room.  The hotel allows us one hour of free Internet service per day, and I don’t want to use it now, so I’m writing this in a Word Document first.  But that’s not exciting.  Anyway, I’ll get started talking about my last two days.

            Friday and Saturday are blended in my memory into one long, ceaseless day, which I like to refer to as Friturday.  At one o’clock on Friday afternoon, we boarded buses and headed for Logan International Airport in Boston.  From there, we went through all the standard airport procedures (including eating Sbarro) and got on our 5:55 p.m. flight to Rome, Italy.  The flight was longer than any other flight I’ve been on, which was interesting.  I made a new friend because we had assigned seating, and we watched a movie on my laptop.  Good times.  The flight landed at 7:40 a.m. CET, or 1:40 a.m. EST.  I barely slept at all on the plane.  From there, we took buses to the hotel, where we dropped our luggage off.  Then we went to lunch at a Restaurant down the block.  I ate salad and pasta and drank a coke, which tasted drastically different.  I learned it’s because in Europe, Coke uses real sugar, rather than corn syrup.  That was probably the most exciting thing I learned (not really). 

After lunch we went back to the hotel, and I took a nap for a bout an hour and a half to help get me through the day.  From there, we boarded our buses in full concert attire and headed San Ignazio Church (similar to the St. Ignatius Chapel that we sang at in Chestnut Hill, MA only a week before).  This church was the second Jesuit church in the world, and it was absolutely stunning.  Most remarkable was a ceiling painting that created the optical illusion of a dome, because the Jesuits had ran out of money on the project.  I forgot my camera, naturally, but I’ll get pictures from someone else and post them.  We sang a mass at the church, and then went back to the hotel for dinner and some much needed sleep.  At midnight, in the University Chorale’s tradition, we gathered in a public place outside the hotel, and sang Tollite Hostia for our own enjoyment and for the enjoyment of some surprised Italian spectators.  It was incredible.  It’s 10 a.m. now, and we’re about to go to the Vatican to attend the Pope’s papal blessing.  I won’t forget my camera.

 

Much love and so many thanks,

            Danny