On Heaven's Altar

Today was probably the most stressful out of all the days I'll have here in Rome. It wasn't because I was left to find my way multiple times without the professors, or because I had to take the metro, or even because of the almost 20,000 steps I took today. No, it was because I finally got to step foot in the church I had been researching about for the whole semester: Santa Maria in Aracoeli, or Saint Mary on the Altar of Heaven.
It was more beautiful than I ever could have anticipated and I was so ridiculously overwhelmed by the whole experience. Presenting on it wasn't the hard part, though that went well, it was being in the church itself. Reading about Aracoeli did not even remotely prepare me for what I would see inside - the chandeliers gleamed, the gold and marble altar was more magnificent than any of the descriptions, and you could actually see into all of the chapels on the side of the church. You could even see the Santo Bambino. Now, it's a replica and not the original, but that doesn't take away from the complete majesty and awe that surrounds the baby Jesus wrapped in gold and adorned with jewels and a crown. It took my breath away, and I was able to walk right up to it. Just from researching the space, I loved it. Seeing it in person made me love it even more; The church is really mine in a sense. Most of this doesn't make a lot of sense if you haven't had the experience of really knowing a monument before you see it, but I think the fact that it's also in Rome just makes it that much more epic.