Visiting the Vatican; Everyday Life

So. Last Wednesday, classes were cancelled and we were encouraged to attend a papal audience. At least half of the student population went and we saw Pope Benedict XVI, flanked by various cardinals (who I would now like to affectionately refer to henceforth as Bennie and the Jets). Bennie was great, starting the show off with a cough or two, which the audience promptly oohed and ahhed at. Then we were greeted in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish. Each cardinal read a verse or five from the Bible. Next, Bennie talked on for at least 15 minutes in German-accented Italian. I'm gonna guesstimate that 20% of the audience dozed off at one point, myself included. Next, the cardinals introduced in their various languages the "pilgrims" of each language who were present that day. Loyola University Chicago was the last group listed of the English-speaking groups. We cheered, looked cute. Didn't prepare a song like many of the other groups did. I'm going to give the award to the group from Nigeria for Best Vocal Performance, but an honorable mention goes to one of the French-speaking groups. They had color-coded accessories.
Along this vein, at one point a manic Polish woman grabbed me by the arm and began posing for a picture, taken by her also-middle-aged-Polish-woman accomplice. The entire time she was rambling on in Polish, which I don't happen to speak. I kept saying, "Non capisco polacco," "Cosa stai facendo?" but just as I don't speak Polish, this determined woman doesn't speak Italian. In an adrenaline-pumping spur of the moment decision, for my own personal safety and for the betterment of Western civilization, I decided to give the camera my best half-smile. Afterwards she thanked me in another wave of Polish gibberish, despite our physical struggle in front of the whole crowd with her latched onto my arm. The only word I understood was "Dziękuję" (Thank you) and this still doesn't help my comprehension of the situation very much. A nun, sitting a row or two back from this moment, laughed at me. She definitely spoke Italian because her laugh was provoked by my asking the woman, "Cos'hai fatto?" with a bewildered expression. I still don't know what happened. We later decided either I look like someone she knew, she mistook me for a celebrity, or she enjoyed my outfit.
Somewhere in Poland, a middle-aged woman is uploading a picture of me to her computer. Should I be concerned? Possibly. But I'm not. What good is a visit to the Vatican without a totally unexplainable anecdote?
And then there's my everyday life at the John Felice Rome Center. I have to admit, during the week there are days I don't leave the building. One day last week I spent about sixty seconds outside, and that was to pick an orange off a tree and walk back inside. Have I mentioned either of those aspects of my life? We have everything in one building complex: our rooms, classes, cafeteria, computer labs, blah blah everything. Also, we have fruit trees in the courtyard. A row of trees with clementines, and one other tree with blood oranges. Oh, and this short tree with some lemons on it, but I'm not so interested in that.
On the weekends, it's hard to say yet what I typically do. I've now stayed here for three weekends (well, let's not count that arrival weekend) and traveled for one, too. Yes, of course I've gone out. Of course I've stayed in. I apologize that I haven't described it in more vivid terms. I'm making attempts to make my life more exciting. Anywho, I've been downtown more than before and am just starting to get a big picture of the city. It's certainly not the hold I've got on Chicago and its mass transit system, but it's a start. Until then, I plan to keep on roaming Roma. Below is an example of something I happened upon this Saturday. I noticed that barricades were set up all over the place, but wasn't sure what was going on. Then, after stepping out of H&M (no, I didn't buy anything, I was with friends!) I saw a parade passing by. Renaissance people on horses, jugglers, random Carnevale stuff like that. Neat!