general audience of the Pope #WALSHLOBAL

The general audience of the Pope

Noah Drlik 

Walsh Global 9 

    Every Wednesday the Pope addresses an audience in the Vatican to give those in attendance an opportunity to interact with him.  Being the world-famous figure, he is, it is hard for him to meet and greet with every person, therefore he hosts a weekly meeting with those who wish to meet him.  Another attraction to this meeting is that the Pope gives a blessing to the audience.  This past Wednesday my classmates and I got the opportunity to attend the general audience of the Pope.  We had to catch the train very early in the morning into Rome, use the metro to get to Vaticano, and then walk to the security gate.  This is where the mayhem started.  The general audience is completely free to attend but only a limited number of seats exist, therefore a printed ticket is still needed.  However, the Pope wants a lot of people in attendance, so a lot of seats are available. Having a large number of seats but having the seats first come first serve is what causes all of the chaos.  Before entering the building for the Pope, we had to go through security, there were only four checkpoints opened for about five thousand attendees.   There was no organization at the checkpoints, there was so much pushing and shoving to get to the front, it got very annoying.  It was too early in the morning for all the unnecessary pushing.   Once I got past security, it was an easy walk to the building and the seats Danillo got for us, by rushing ahead.  It was about ten minutes of sitting and the Pope came out.  He had an aisle to walk down, and our sets were close to the aisle. I got the very good videos of the Pope, especially of him kissing a baby about five feet in front of me.  The Pope finally reached the chair and did a few readings in Italian.  When he finished, some cardinals came up and delivered the same readings in different languages.  For example, when giving the English translation the Cardinal gave shout-outs to some English-speaking countries that were in attendance.  One annoying thing that happened during the shout-outs was an American parish started singing really loud and out of tune.  It was annoying and got old really quick, it wasn’t needed. One really crazy occurrence at this general audience was a kid ran on stage and touched the pope.  Security did nothing to stop him after the kid went up to the pope he started messing with the Swiss Guards, and they did nothing! I was so shocked.  The readings kept going on while this little kid kept running around on stage, it was mind-boggling why they didn’t grab him and take him back to his seat. Another question to the kid ono stage was where were his parents? Why didn’t they stop him?  Parenting these days are getting worse. Once the kid was taken back to his seat, the Pope finished the meeting with a final blessing, I brought a bracelet for my mom to get blessed.  The general audience was then dismissed, and we went to Alice’s Pizza.  Overall, I enjoyed the General audience with the Pope and would go again. 

Jewish Quarter #WALSHGLOBAL 8

Jewish Quarter
Noah Drlik
Walsh Global 8
            This past week I got to experience the Jewish aspect of Rome.  This entire trip has been Catholic driven, it was nice to change sides and understand a new culture.  I see Rome as the Catholic Capital of the world, if not the capital at least the headquarters of the Catholic religion.  It has been this way for thousands of years and I do not see a change coming anytime soon. However, Rome is not just home to Catholicism, it is also home to the Roman Jews.  The Jewish Quarters in Rome can be found next to the River Tiber.  There is a reason the Jewish quarter can be found here and that dates back to 1555.  Pope Paul IV ordered the Roman Jews of that time to move into the Jewish Ghetto which boarded the River Tiber.  Pope Paul wanted to convert the Jews so badly, he segregated the Jews in the ghetto and placed Catholic Churches at the entrances to the ghetto, trying to entice the Jews to convert.  This was a perfect place for Pope Paul IV to place the Jews because it segregated them from the rest of Rome.   Pope Paul IV wanted Rome to be seen as the Catholic holy city and having Jews all around Rome does not help that image, therefore he placed them in a small area of Rome and cut them out from the rest of Roman society.  I do not agree with this action performed by Pope Paul IV, I believe that the Catholic religion needs to be accepting of all religions and not fight against them.  The segregation was lifted in 1870, but a majority of the Roman Jews still lived in the Ghetto because it became their holy place of worship in Rome.  The largest synagogue in Rome is in the Jewish quarters and is visited by the Pope every so often.  Pope John Paul II started the friendly relationship with the Roman Jews by visiting the synagogue and praying with the Jewish patrons.  This act by the Popes shows that the Catholic church puts the past of Catholics Vs. Jews behind them and wants to move forward together.  There will always be a difference in beliefs that there is no need to segregate one because of beliefs.  The Catholic Church finally understands that concept and I believe that helps them in growing the holy city of Rome.  Rome will always be a Catholic holy city due to the Vatican being located in Rome, however, Rome is big enough for all religions to call it their holy city. There is no need for fighting over which religion gets to claim the holiest land. Instead, the holy land is designed to be shared peacefully and for worship. I believe that because of the Catholic Church’s power, they should lead a peaceful push to make Rome the Holy Capital of the world.  The Church needs to show that they put the past differences behind them and are ready to grow with all religions to make peace among nations.  Rome is the Catholic Church’s holy city, its time they open the door and welcome other religions to the holy city of Rome. 

St Peters #WalshGlobal

Yesterday, November 19^thI was able to tour three main sites of St. Peters Basilica.  We received a guided tour of both the excavations of St. Peters tomb and St. Peters Basilica itself.  We also got the opportunity to climb the dome of St. Peters.   Our first tour was the excavations of St. Peters tomb, with Matteo our tour guide.  The tour started with the grotto under the Basilica, where historic tombs and mosaics can be found.  The grotto was not very big, because the main attraction is the excavations found underneath. The excavations where those tombs in the grotto were found, can be accessed through a set of small stairs at the end of the grotto.  The stairs lead to a dark and humid room where we were met with an ancient tomb. The tomb was massive and held the religious secrets of the times just after Christ’s death.  This tomb was also unique because it had four different religious depicted, Christianity, Islam, Roman pagan and Judaism. All of those religions in one tomb means that the family was split on religions and everyone in the family believed in what they pleased.  After the large tomb, we went through a series of tunnels that lead to the main part of the excavated necropolis.  Here we found tombs of many rich families, we could tell they were rich because the wills of the owners had the price of the tombs inscribed in marble. The cheapest tomb was around 20,000 modern day euros, while the biggest one exceeded over one million euros. After passing the necropolis we reached the graffiti wall.  This wall is important because this is what gave archeologist the ability to possibly discover Peter’s bones.  I say possibly because they did, in fact, discover bones in the graffiti wall and got them analyzed but are only 95 percent sure they are St. Peter’s bones.  The wall is the graffiti wall because the wall was covered with inscriptions, one that said in Latin that “Peter is here”.  This clue was what helps archeologist believe that the bones found are indeed the bones of Peter.  This was a truly holy place and feeling, I will never forget it.  The next stop was to the top of the dome of St. Peter Basilica. It was a long 500 plus stair walk, but it was well worth the view.  I got a panoramic view of Rome, it was truly mind-blowing.  After the short visit to the top, we got a personal tour of St. Peters from a seminarian, Matt. The tour was breathtaking, it is hard to realize just how big the basilica is in photographs.  Matt said that from the floor to the top of the dome alone could fit two space shuttles, to put into perspective of how big this place is.  The architecture is so beautiful as well as all the mosaics, paintings and sculptures.  The sculpture by Michelangelo was one to behold, I got such a holy feeling looking at the sculpture, it was amazing.  The basilica was beautiful and loved the tour, it was one of my favorite places I have visited on this program. I plan to go back more than once before I head home, and hopefully visit more than once in my life after I leave this program. 

Milan Trip #WalshGlobal

Milan 

Walsh Global 7

Noah Drlik

            The weekend of November 15^th through the 17^th is one that I will never forget.  I got an opportunity to spend those three days in Milan, my favorite city in Italy.  Milan has everything, culture, fashion, food, and design.  The only downside to Milan would be the weather, but coming from Ohio, the weather was nothing.  We went to Milan as a part of a business experience trip.  We visited three sites and heard three completely different discussions. We visited Bocconi University, the Milan tourist organization, and had a meeting with one of the owners of Brian & Barry.   The first meeting at the university was with a world-famous economist Fabrizio Onida, who gave excellent intuition into trade and finance throughout the world. Professor Onida is a bright man and would be a valuable contact for international business.   Our next guided visit in Milan was to the tourist organization, where we were given insight on the city of Milan’s secondary source of income, tourism.  It was a good meeting, but it was hard to concentrate on hat the guy was saying because right behind where he was siting was the Duomo. It was a gorgeous view and was very distracting from the speaker.  The speaker mainly just talked about how great Milan is compared to every other city in the world, especially Italy.  It was not the best meeting but was very informative.  The final meeting was by far the best meeting of the trip.  We got the pleasure to meet with one of the owners of Brian and Barry, Roberto Zaccardi.  He gave us business students great insight on the international business plan that Bryan & Barry uses.  We had the meeting with him on the twelve floor of the Brian and Barry palace, with a panoramic view of the city of Milan.  The time I got with Mr. Zaccardi is something I will never forget, and I thank him greatly for it.  After all the business meetings were finished, we were given free time to explore what is now my favorite city in Italy, Milan.  Milan is one of the four main fashion capitals in the world and that was very obvious.  Everywhere I looked there was a designer store, and I could not happier.  I love clothes and in Milan, I was able to walk throughout the malls and shops and admire at all the high-end clothes.  I bought a few things but nothing too crazy, one of my favorite shops was the Starbucks Reserve.  It was the biggest Starbucks I have ever been in.  There was a line just to get in the building.   Once inside the Starbucks, there were people everywhere buying gifts, coffee and food.  However, the main attraction of this Starbucks was the giant roaster in the middle of the store.  The roaster had to be over twenty feet tall and took up a majority of the store.  I could see the coffee beans in the roaster and got to watch them dump the beans in the mixing pot.  It was an experience every coffee lover would enjoy.  I also visited the Duomo, which is a gothic style church built in the 16^thcentury.  It is a gorgeous building, that allows for some great views from the top.  I bought tickets for a ride to the top of the church and could see the Swiss Alps from one of the corners of the walkway, it was remarkable.  This Milan trip was amazing and really made me fall in love with the city, I will defiantly need to make another trip back in my lifetime.

Food Week 

Walsh Global 6 

Noah Drlik 

         This past week I was given an opportunity to truly explore the Italian culture of food.  My classmates and I got to visit three different food places, Alice’s Pizza, Fassi Gelato, and the Casa Masca Farm.  The three sold three different types of food but shared the culture of Italian cooking and sticking to their roots.  The first visit we had was Alice’s Pizza, an Italian owned and operated pizza chain.  I got the pleasure of meeting with the owner, Domenico Giovannini, and asking him questions about his business.  He is a really nice man and cares about the customer. He wants to make sure every slice of pizza made by Alice’s, is the same great quality, no matter on the location of the restaurant. We met with Mr. Giovannini in Alice’sRome headquarters, where Alice’s Academy is located. This academy is truly unique and shows just how determined Mr. Giovannini is to create the perfect slice of pizza.  The academy is for any aspiring pizza chef to learn hands on the pizza perfecting techniques. Here is where future Alice’s Pizza chefs are trained on the basics of creating the above average standard that is Alice’s Pizza.  Mr. Giovannini believes this training both four months in the academy and then a few weeks at the restaurant is what makes Alice’s pizza so special, and I would have to agree with him.  After our meeting with Mr. Giovannini, the academy made us sheets and sheets of pizza for us to eat there and bring back home.  The pizza was phenomenal, and I hope that an Alice’s Pizza franchise opens up near Canton.  It was a great experience and I thank Mr. Giovannini greatly.    Our next stop during the “food week” was to Fassi Gelato, located in Rome.  This Gelato is all-natural Gelato made in-house.  The company is over 100 years old and is located in Rome and Seoul, South Korea.  The locations in Korea are not Fassi directly rather they are a side brand of Fassi that uses similar gelato making styles.  The only difference in Korean gelato Is that they use less cream, all other techniques are the same.   The shop itself was massive, we got a tour of the kitchen, the dining rooms, and the private dining room.  Fassi Gelato was very generous for allowing us to come and visit their Rome headquarters and learning the business of Gelato.  Our final stop for “food week” was to a small family run farm known as Casa Masca.  The farm was started over thirty years ago with the idea to bring city children back to the Italian roots of cooking and agriculture.  It is called a zero Kilometer farm because everything made and eaten on the farm is grown within the premises.  Our trip consisted of the cooking and aspect.  We spent the entire day there and we started the day off with the preparation of gnocchi’s, that we ate for lunch.  After lunch and exploring the farm we made pizza that was cooked in a man-made brick oven.  Both meals were very traditional and completely home-made.  The Casa MascaFarm experience was very special, it showed me the traditional Italian ways of cooking and tips that I will bring back to the United States.  I really enjoyed “food week” Italians are very proud of their cooking and I was glad I was able to enjoy the food with some of the biggest names in Italian food.

Papal Palace castel Gandolfo #WALHGLOBAL

Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo

Walsh Global 5

Noah Drlik 

            Last week, I was given the opportunity to tour the Papal Palace in Castel Gandolfo.  The pontifical palace was a beautiful structure full of history, but it did not really catch my attention.  I was not very interested in the tour and did not pay attention as I should have.  Looking back, I regret not listening very much because of it possibly being a once in a lifetime experience.  The tour was split up into two sections, a tour of the museum that was full of papal portraits and memorabilia and a tour of the Papal apartment.  The first section was an audio tour of the museum which mainly consisted of artifacts and portraits, it was not very interesting to me.  I was able to go back in the photos I took while there to refresh my memory on some of the interesting facts.   One of the interesting things about this museum was that there were displays showing off papal clothing. The museum had a pair of Roman slippers, still intact, worn by St. Pius V of the 16th century and Blessed innocent XI of the 17th century.  It felt weird being close to something someone wore over 400 years ago.  Another artifact I found interesting from the audio tour was about the Papal cars, now known as the “Pope Mobile’s”.  The cars were not Italian cars.  The cars on display were Mercedes, Land Rover, and Toyota. I was expecting the Pope located in Italy to have Italian manufactured vehicles such as Fiat or Alfa-Romeo.  I knew the Pope would travel in a luxury car such as a Mercedes, but I thought that the Vatican would help boost the Italian economy by buying an Italian car.  Another unique artifact that defiantly caught everyone’s attention when walking through the museum was the triumphant chair and Flabella of Pope Pius IX. This was a display in the middle of a room surrounded by manikins dressed as guards.  The chair was obviously used by Pope Pius IX because you could see where he sat down.  The interesting fact about the chair was that he was able to be carried while sitting in the chair.  The people treated the pope like a king and pampered him to the fullest degree because the flabella was used to fan the Pope to keep him cool.  The portraits of every pope had information about their life, but that really did not catch my attention.  I was not very interested in the lives of every pope, so I did not listen to the portrait’s audio guide very often.  I remember one point that I found interesting about Julius the 2nd and that was he was called the warrior pope.  I found this ironic because as the head of the Catholic church he is supposed to show love and peace but being called the warrior pope shows he must have liked to fight. Julius the 2nd did not want foreigners in Italy, therefore he swore that he would not cut his beard until all foreigners were removed from Italy.  That was all I could remember from the museum tour, as I did not pay much attention because it did not peak my interests.  The second part of the tour was far more interesting as it was a tour of the Papal apartment.   The tour was given by one of the guards and showed where the Pope slept, his office, his private chapel and all of the meeting rooms.  I liked this part of the tour more because I got to walk where the Popes walked and talked. It gave a holy feeling that I did not receive in the museum.  Overall, I wished I was more interested in the museum section of the tour and paid more attention. However, I really liked the Papal apartments tour and would go back if given the chance.

Caritas

Walsh Global 4

Noah Drlik

            I have now settled into life here in Italy and the Catholic experience Walsh offers.  Part of the Catholic experience Walsh offers is the ability to volunteer. Us students get an opportunity to volunteer at a non-profit soup kitchen known as Caritas. This past Monday was my second trip to Caritas and it was a completely different experience from the last.  My last trip I had the job of separating the unfinished food of those eating there, it was not joyful. This week I got to sit behind a glass window and check food passes.  This job was far cleaner, which is what I liked.  The job did however bring in a challenge that was not in my last, and that was the language barrier.  This job included more human interaction and communication.  The people that wanted food had to bring me their pass, and I had to verify their information on the card as well as have them sign in.  This involved learning a few key Italian words, so the patrons could understand what they needed to do. A majority of the visitors would also try and talk to me in Italian and of course I could not understand them, so my response was always, “no parlo Italiano.”  I felt bad for not being able to interact with the visitors because most of them are homeless and see very little human interaction.  For some, the soup kitchen is all they have in terms of talking to others. Therefore, they would come to me expecting to carry on a small conversation, but because of my little knowledge of the Italian language I could not deliver.  Another eye-opening experience working at the check in desk was observing the fact of people not be able to read and write. I come from a town where illiteracy is non-existent, this was my first exposure to it.  A majority of the people could not sign their name, they would just make the same shape as the time before and that was there signature. The shape had no meaning to the letters in their name it was just a random writing.  One man for example simply wrote two horizontal lines as his was of signing his name.  Another man could not understand me when I would say Noviembre as the place to sign. The page said Noviembre in bold letters, but he could still not understand, I had to point to the exact place he needed to sign.  It became frustrating for me at times, but I had to take a step back and realize what kind of people I was dealing with.  These people had little to no education, so I should not have expected everyone to understand what they needed to do. With all of that being said, I really enjoy working for Caritas and serving the less fortunate and cannot wait to see what the next few weeks bring.

Caritas 

#WalshGlobal 3

Noah Drlik

            Being a practicing Catholic means that service to others is at the forefront of my beliefs.  While living and studying in Rome for the next eight weeks I will get to fulfill my service to others through Caritas.  Caritas is an organization run by the Italian Bishops conference that promotes charitable works throughout the Italian community. The Caritas organization we visited was located in Rome about a ten-minute walk from Roma Termini.  This location for Caritas is a soup kitchen focused on feeding the poor.  This Caritas estimates that they feed about four-hundred people a day.  The workers here are all volunteers, mainly retirees that want to lend a helping hand to the Rome homeless.  There are different jobs for each of the volunteers, some include checking in members, distributing food tickets, serving food, and cleanup duty.  The job I got to experience fell under the cleanup duty section.  I was on trash/recycling duty.  My job was to sort the trash and plastic that was leftover by those who ate in the soup kitchen.  It was a gross job, but one that has to be done in order to meet the recycling standards of Italy.  Most volunteers that I got to work with were happy to have me there helping.  The novel, Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, made it seem that non-Italians are not liked by the general Italian population.  The Italians view tourists or immigrants as outsiders and really don’t respect them as much.  Italians show their emotions very well with facial expressions.  They typically don’t smile or say” Ciao” back to an outsider.   However, that was not the case in the soup kitchen. The Italian volunteers treated us with respect and tenderness that I have not really received just walking the streets of Rome.  The typical response from an Italian on the street when I say “Ciao” is that they look ahead and don’t say a word to me.  In the soup kitchen all the workers attempted to talk or interact with me, they saw me as one of their own.  I really enjoyed working with the Italian volunteers, however, I was not the biggest fan for organizing trash.  The people receiving the food were very diverse.  The novel, Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, spoke about how diverse just a little Piazza in Rome can have people that represent most countries of the world.  That case is the same in the soup kitchen.  There were people receiving food and care that stretch from all ends of the earth. It was not just Italians receiving food from Caritas, there were immigrants from Africa, Asia, The Americas, and Europe.  The majority of poor that were fed by Caritas was very gracious of us volunteers.  They knew that we were not required to be there helping them and gave the best present they could offer to us, a simple thank you.  However, in rare cases a few of the people did not treat us volunteers with respect but looking back at it I understand why.  They were most likely embarrassed to be in Caritas reviving free food from a soup kitchen. They just wanted to get in and get out without being noticed, therefore, what seemed to be disrespect was just them protecting themselves from embarrassment.  The Caritas program is one that fulfills the Catholic teaching of service to others and I am very pleased to be a part of this program for the next eight weeks in Rome.