The Matthew Online

In the library, all thoughts lead to Rome

Alexa Magdalenski, currently a junior at Boston College, attended John Cabot University in the Fall semester of 2007. Magdalenski was a correspondent for The Matthew Online during that period. Her latest report comes with a different dateline. 

(Photo: Magdelenski, second from the right, takes a break from the books.)

BOSTON, April 2 - It’s been four quick months since my semester at JCU.  And now that I am back in the States I am plagued by wistful thoughts of la dolce vita. You know: gelato, crazy motorinos, and incredible Aristocampo panini.

As I sit here in the BC library thinking of internships and assignments, I wonder: is it my selective memory bringing me back, or did I once live something out of the movies?  Looking back, the semester seems so surreal.

Rome is surreal. On any given day you can walk where emperors once walked and gladiators once fought. You are a part of fashion being created. It’s not uncommon on a Wednesday to see the Pope at St. Peter’s on a break from classes. Today, a break consists of an appointment with a professor about my latest 20-page paper.  I’ll be praying to the Pope for an extension.

JCU alum opens Spazio Officina, an art gallery in Rome

By Clara Peters

ROME, March 17 — John Cabot University graduate Jeanne Stavropoulou Rossi opened her new gallery Spazio Officina in Rome's Piazza Bologna last week to a packed house of admirers.

Rossi is passionate about contemporary art and is striving to create a vessel of ideas -- those of her own and of others.

Spazio Officina is located in Piazza Bologna on via della Lega Lombarda 48 in what used to be a factory for construction materials in the 1950’s. The gallery is one large and spacious room, with a simple style leaving the focus on the pieces.

JCU's new Career Services pro offers tips on life after university

By Maria D’Alessandro

Rome, Oct. 7 – Laura Delli Ficorelli, John Cabut University's new Career Services Coordinator, wants to restructure the department to better reflect student demands.

There will be more opportunities for students studying the arts, humanities, English and communications, the 34-year-old Delli Ficorelli says.

Increasing the quality and quantity of companies offering internships is her next goal. Delli Ficorelli is getting in touch with big multinationals and focusing on internships abroad.

JCU grad faces hunger, disease and war in Darfur

Abeshwa Tadesse , a John Cabot University graduate (Class of 2003), works with Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization in the Darfur region in Chad near the border with Sudan.  After Tadesse earned his BA in International Affairs at JCU in 2003, the multi-lingual Tadesse got his Masters in Human Development and Food Security at the Roma Tre University.

He was in Rome recently where another JCU alumnus, Fatin Al-Rawahy, interviewed him. Here's what he had to say:

(Picture at right: Tadesse in Darfur refugee camp)