After another night of sleep following a long day, I got up to go eat some breakfast, eating basically the same thing as yesterday. Immediately following, I went back to my room to get ready for the day ahead.
We met in the lobby to leave to speak with representatives from Vatican News. The speakers informed us what their jobs mainly consist of, including broadcasting live events that take place at the Vatican (around 250 per year are broadcasted), how Vatican News established social media platforms for news on the pope as well as for the pope.
I found it interesting how the social media accounts run. Although they are meant to to be social, the Vatican uses it to spread the message of God. I was also intrigued when I found out that the Vatican actually pays for Vatican News, so they do not use advertising to pay for the publication. With this being said, as journalists, the employees are still held to some journalistic standards. They must take the information from the Vatican and project that information out along different platforms and languages. We kept talking about how knowing different skills is very useful in this field. I also noticed many similarities between the change from “old” to “new” media that we’ve been taught in classes. It was useful to know that many platforms in different places are facing the same problems.
Following our time at Vatican News, we walked to Vatican City where we met our guide from yesterday, Katja. She walked us through the Sistine Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. This was interesting to understand more of the religious history of Rome, which is a huge part of their culture today and from the past. Everything was gorgeous beyond belief, but there were so many people that it made the conditions tight. The price you pay for the view, right?
After seeing the Vatican, we stopped at the gift store then broke off to either go back to the hotel, go to a broadcast dinner or go venture off by ourselves. Kelsey and I chose to go back to the hotel and freshen up after the long day. Wet shoes are my least favorite things, and after the downpour, my feet were soaked.
Andrea may have accidentally took us on the wrong bus. As we were packed into the bus like sardines, we got off the bus and found the right one. After catching the tram, we returned to our hotel to change. Instead of going out to eat, we got take out and ate in the lobby of the hotel. Although we did get lost (again, get lost to find yourself!), we had a fun time.