A 'Roo in Rome: Grace Auth's JanTerm Abroad (Week Two)

JanTerm is more than just another month at school for the students of Austin College—it's an adventure between traditional semesters where students immerse themselves into unique opportunities. Grace Auth, a junior on the Kangaroo women's soccer team, is using the opportunity JanTerm provides to travel abroad, taking her all the way to Rome.

Grace checked in recently with PART ONE of her adventure abroad; below, the All-Conference women's soccer player checks in with the second part of her experience in Italy.

Week Two

Week two in Rome was filled with a little more traveling outside of Rome in comparison to the first week. However, we saw many places within Rome such as multiple bath complexes, museums, St. Peter's Basilica, catacombs, and many churches. Out of the various things we saw, a few personal favorite places of mine were the baths and St. Peter's Basilica.

Grace's Photos from Week Two in Rome

The bath's intent was to keep the population of Rome healthy. The olive oil they used as soap stuck to the dirt, so when they scraped the oil off, it was an exfoliator. Just like all Roman things, the baths had to not only be complete, but done in a very grand, elaborate way. The bath complex covered about sixty-two acres and had columns with heights above twelve meters. Comprehending the size of this can only be done in person. In each bath complex, there were various workout areas, hot baths, warm baths, cool baths, message rooms, and relaxation areas. Basically, the baths were elaborate spas. It was hard for me to imagine how enormous these baths were until I was standing within one. In that moment, I realized how thousands of people could be within one of the baths at the same time. To see how the Romans built grand, marble baths with many mosaics and beautiful statues was truly wonderful.

St. Peter's Basilica is a monument of Rome that is known throughout the world. It was originally built on top of St. Peter's remains, which were buried in or around the Circus of Nero. This was the place where Christians were executed. Obviously, St. Peter was one and his followers would come and praise him and leave things at his grave. Eventually, Constantine built a church over St. Peter's remains. The most interesting part to me was learning about the structure of the church itself. The four pillars that support the church itself contain the four most important relics to Jesus. These relics are the spear that stabbed Jesus, pieces of the original cross, his image on the face of a cloth, and the skull of St. Peter's brother. The church inside is extremely impressive. Its large size and grand details were done in such an elaborate way to honor God. Seeing this church in person was so surreal.

We traveled outside of Rome to see places like the port town of Ostia, Pompeii, and the Minardi Vineyard. My favorite of these were Pompeii and the Minardi Vineyard.

Pompeii is often referred to as "the city stuck in time"; however, this is far from true. Once the volcano erupted and covered the city in ash, the volcanic gases were trapped within the ash. So, when people that tried to loot the city dug tunnels, the gas was released and killed them. Eventually, some looters made it in and looted some of Pompeii. While exploring this city, it was astonishing to see how big it was. Hearing my mother talk about it as a child, I always assumed it was a smaller resort town. However, once I walked through this city, I realized my childhood depictions were wrong. Seeing all the houses and shops and theatres made me appreciate the experience of being there to experience what life would have been like at Pompeii before the volcanic eruption.

On our second off day of the trip, my friend and I went to a vineyard in Frascati. This day was like a dream. After our arrival, we were greeted by a wonderful Italian woman named Jo. She was the most joyous woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. This woman took me into her hometown and made me feel right at home. I talked, drank, and ate with the locals as if I had lived there my entire life. Once we got to the vineyard, the family welcomed me to their home with open arms. Here, I was given a tour and taught about the wine business and tasted great wine with wonderful homemade food. Following this, I went to the top of the volcano and looked out over the entire city. In this moment, I felt so at peace and so satisfied. This day I truly felt at home.

These past two weeks have been surreal. I am still so unbelievably grateful to be able to have an experience like this where I get to experience another culture and learn about the history. If I could advise anyone to do anything here at Austin College, it would be to travel abroad in JanTerm.