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!

Weekend Reprise

After the first week of classes, I am exhausted but excited for more. To balance out the never-ending number of churches, ruins, and interesting spots of the past week, most of us headed out to the beach today. The beach is past Ostia Antica (so about 30-40 minutes on a train), but is definitely worth the commute. Their beaches are filled with volcanic sand that attaches to everything, so black was the colour of the day for me. Black feet, black towel, black sand. One thing: you're not allowed to lay directly on the sand, so you have to rent a chair. Which turned out to be better than laying on the sand because of the whole turned skin black thing! The water was pretty cold for a few minutes, but felt really nice after that. And there were enough clouds that no one burned...a nice change from the norm.

Tomorrow looks like it's a flea market in the morning and then a free day at the Vatican Museums. It'll be mobbed, but it's something like 30 euro for a ticket on most days, so I'll take crowds over that any day. Ciao!

Orientation

Tritone Fountain


If I had to sum up Rome in a few words: big, small, smell, taste. Seems to be a city of opposites! Every building is so huge, but yet every detail so small; there are smells here worse than anything I could've ever imagined (but good ones as well!); and tastes- the sweet mixes with the salty and everything is delicious! My first few days in Rome have really been an orientation to the city and the area around our dear Hotel Ercoli. We are in the northeast section of the city that is much quieter and restrained than the rest of the city- probably due to the fact that this is the area of consulates and dignitaries- but it is still beautiful. I feel as though we have walked the entire city hundreds of times, but I know we haven't even begun to cover it- we haven't even visited the huge ruins yet!

What really gets me is the way in which the Romans have seamed the old and the new. The Pantheon (which is being restored right now, as are many monuments here) is smack dab in the middle of towering 19th century buildings and modern cafes and tourist traps. There are huge obelisks in the middle of every other square, it feels like. All with some form of commemoration to the ancients, yet surrounded by the modern. It's really very odd to think about Caesar or Trajan walking these streets (indeed, most of the large streets today follow the ancient roads).

Tomorrow we set out to an Etruscan museum. The Etruscans, having been the predecessors of Romans, truly laid the groundwork in which the Roman Empire was laid- so it should all be interesting. Arrivederci!

Night before jitters

The nervousness has begun! I board the plane in less than a day... Atlanta to Chicago, Chicago to Rome via American Airlines. I can't believe it's time already, but I imagine I'll be saying that when it's time to leave Rome as well. I can't wait to update with exciting news and fun pictures--provided that the internet is stable, of course. Saturday I take over Rome by storm.....Move over, Caesar!

T-Minus 3 Days!

Hey everyone! This is my travel blog for Rome 2010. I'll update it as often as humanly possible with thoughts and pictures and the like, but no promises as the internet is a government-run shindig over there. Arrivederci!