Life of Beauty

While the Renaissance has obvious important contributions to history of Italy, our tour guide at the Vatican Museums mentioned a unique reason it is still impactful today. The Renaissance taught the people of Italy to create and appreciate beauty and Italians will go above and beyond to make life more beautiful for those around them. I experienced this first-hand in Rome. On our last night, Kristin, Angelina, and I went to a restaurant called La Dispensa just a few blocks from our hotel. We were immediately greeted with a friendly smile and seated inside. After an exchange between a few waiters, however, we gathered we were pretty much blocking the space for the servers to walk through and were asked if we would like to be seated outside instead. We moved to the outside table and as soon as we sat down we were each given a glass of champagne for our inconvenience of moving tables. Moving outside really was no inconvenience for us, but we gladly accepted the complimentary champagne. Our waiter pointed out I looked cold and asked if I was okay. Even though I told him I was fine, he took off the suit jacket he was wearing and placed it around my shoulders. Since I was a bit chilly, I appreciated the gesture and left his jacket on through our entire meal. All waitresses ourselves, the three of us kept noticing differences between the workers at La Dispensa and those back in the States. It was the little things that impressed us the most like opening each individual wet nap package after we finished our plate of mussels. Angelina remembered what our tour guide had said that morning and attributed the exceptional treatment of us to the Italians trying to make our lives more beautiful.   Things I saw in Rome:   T

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When in Rome….

Going abroad, whether it’s your first time or something you’ve done before, can be a culture shock to anyone. Meals, customs, and signs of respect can be different across the globe. There was a lot that was weird to me as an American being in Italy for the first time. The weirdest thing to me though was the breakfast that was served in the hotel – there wasn’t many things that Americans would consider breakfast. There were a few bowls that had cereal options or fruit and there was a tray of pastries, but what threw me off the most was the bowl of pickles and the meat and cheese plates. I’d never considered eating a pickle for breakfast until I came here. Where were the pancakes and waffles?! I did get adventurous the one day and eat some turkey, swiss cheese and pickles for breakfast, but for the most part I stuck to yogurt and a bowl of fresh peaches. The food for lunch and dinner were more “normal” to an American and were incredibly delicious. There was one thing that really upset me when I was in Rome and I really noticed it in the Vatican when we were touring the Sistine Chapel. I am not a religious person, but I understand that many people go to the Vatican for religious pilgrimages and sacred reasons. I understand that it’s also a tourist attraction but the blatant disrespect that many people had in the Chapel blew me away. Upon entering the Chapel we were told to be silent and not take any pictures. I can kind of understand taking a picture or two as long as there is no flash photography, but it was incredibly noisy. The loudspeaker continuously asked the crowd to be silent, but many people either ignored it or mocked the instructions. I thought that this was extremely disrespectful to the people that went to the Chapel for religious reasons. I wondered how many people simply wanted to pray in the Chapel but were unable to because of the lack of space or noise. I think that many of the people were ignorant as to how their actions might make someone feel that holds the Sistine Chapel in high regards. That’s the biggest thing I think people need to be conscious of when they are in public places is how their actions affect the people around them, especially when they are in places where the culture is not their own.

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