Tuesday, February 9th

Today was a different sort of day than yesterday. It began with Italian language class from 9-11 am. We had a little lunch break, and then met again at 1 o’clock for our Roman Borders “Graffiti excursion”. After a short bus ride, a few wrong turns, and another bus ride, we began our tour of the outskirts of Rome. Maria Teresa Natale, a graffiti artist and the creator of a graffiti website, showed us another side to Rome. We walked through dirty, impoverished, immigrant neighborhoods, full of low rise apartments and: graffiti! The graffiti art was fascinating, and some of the artists are really impressive. My favorite part of the tour was the hidden... for lack of a better word “lot”… that we walked through. The place was completely covered in graffiti art from the past 30 years. It was fascinating, and great for photos.


After almost three hours of walking, we were given the option of being done for the day or continuing with the tour to go see Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church. I went to see the church, despite the fact that I was freezing cold in my thin North Face fleece. The church turned out to be well worth the extra hour and a half of shivering- it was amazing! So modern, totally different than anything we’ve seen here in Rome.

It took an hour and a half to get back to the Campo de’ Fiori. After a six and a half hour excursion, I finally collapsed on my bed at 7:30. It was a long day, but a stimulating and refreshing one as well.