Week 2, Go!

Rome is an odd city. No, really. Just odd. You have a picture in your head of what you think Rome looks like, smells like, feels like. Big, beautiful, old, overwhelming. And then you get here and you live amoung the big, beautiful, the old, and the overwhelming, and you start to not notice those things and you really get to see the city for what it is. Granted, it is every single one of those things, but it's also so much more. But what I like about it most is that it is not perfect. There's work being done on every corner and on every other monument, yet you still feel like you get the whole experience. And the Roman people-- now there's an odd bunch of folks. On one hand, they name lots of their streets after famous ancient people and things and do a great job preserving what's left of the Roman Empire (even after the Catholic Church basically wiped everything out). Yet on the other hand they seem to sneer at those coming to pay homage to the ancient civilization and almost turn a blind eye to all that is ROME. Maybe it's just because I'm only a temporary Roman (yes, I feel like it already!), but I think that the natives could learn something from us as well as vice versa.

Just to give y'all an idea of what's going on this week in case I don't get to update again, I'll briefly go through an itinerary. Tomorrow is late Republic to early Augustan Rome, of which relatively little remains. Wednesday is a national holiday here, but fear not- we still have class! Not sure where that'll be yet, but it will be interesting. Thursday is a museum day for Roman art AND orientation for our excursion to Pompeii, the Bay of Naples, and Positano, which will be this Friday to next Tuesday.

I'll leave you all with another picture from our excursion to Tarquinia last week. This is the inside of an Etruscan tomb, circa 800 BCE.



Ciao!