The Pope Stole My Water Bottle

We began the day with a run on the Tiber, where we found ourselves in the throws of a street protest with police on one side of the thoroughfare and megaphone-wielding Italians on the other. People were waving plastic boats and demanding something that had to do with riverfront housing. It was the first day we didn’t have a meeting set up so we spent some time compiling our audio recordings, footage, photos, and handwritten notes and making more phone calls when we returned to the apartment.

Today we ran on the Tiber,met up with some ND students,and went to mass with the Pope

We headed straight to Notre Dame’s Global Gateway to meet our friends Pauline and Kelsey for lunch at a nearby pizzeria. They gave us a solid suggestion for a beach for the weekend and recommended a nearby gelato place they had been to “literally every day.” After lunch, we decided to utilize ND’s blazing fast wifi and rooftop deck, booking our next flight and Airbnb.

We left in time to walk over to St. John Lateran’s to see the Pope, who was presiding at an annual mass there. As we walked through security, I opened my backpack to reveal my camera and water bottle. The guard gave the metal canteen three taps and shook his head. Placing it on the ground, he said, “non plastica.” I assumed I could get it back at the end, but of course it was gone when I came back.

We found a perfect spot in the shade less than 100 yards from the altar. Even though I had travelled to Philadelphia with Nick to see the Pope in the fall, this was the first time we saw him in person. Mass was beautiful, especially given the diverse group of people attending.

After mass, we got to hang out with a semi-local, Rachel, who had studied in Rome through Notre Dame for the past 5 months. We went to dinner with her and a couple of her friends. Dinner began with the chef bringing out complimentary “somethings” (kinda fishy deep-fried bread balls but not sure, they were good). The cook was kind enough to snap a photo with us as we were leaving. On the bus ride back, we casually ran into another group of ND students. I guess I can kind of understand the “ND takes Rome” Instagram captions.