Ciao, Roma!

I’m sitting right now on a McDonnel Douglass A330 Jet in a tiny crammed seat, my legs tucked under me, and my back aching. I think I will write this, and then go for a walk around the cabin. Anyway, I’m heading home. That’s it. Rome is over. My time in Rome has passed. It was an incredibly educational experience. I learned so much, both about Roman history, and about living outside my Redmond-UW bubble. I am incredibly grateful for doing this. I will definitely miss many things about Rome. Here are the first ten that I could think of:

1.) The Gelato from Giolitti

2.) Living amongst the beautiful, historic structures of Rome.

3.) Walking around the narrow cobblestone streets.

4.) The water fountains everywhere.

5.) Getting to see what I’m learning about in front of me as I study it.

6.) Going to the market every morning and getting fresh produce.

7.) The pizza in Italy.

8.) Cappucinos for less than a euro.

9.) Being able to hop on a train and be at the beach within a half hour.

10.) The disorderly mishmash of traffic.

Rome really feels like home to me. I really love the less pretentious, more honest culture in this city. It seems like there’s less of a false front people put up here. The city seems much more honest to me. Even though the mass of people and constant mess where I lived and language barrier made living in Rome hard at times, overall I really enjoyed my stay. Nevertheless, I’m happy to be back home.

That’s it, thanks for reading!

Police Lambourghini

I love this car, but I think it’s probably the worst police car I’ve ever seen. Why? Well, because even though it might do a great job of promoting the wealth of the Italian state, this car doesn’t do its job well. Sure, it can go faster than most cars criminals will be driving, but a police car must also be able to get criminals to pull over. And while this car might be able to get some minor criminal who loves fancy cars to give himself in just for a ride in a lambourghini, most criminals won’t pull over at the site of a lambourghini police car. So, the lambourghini will have to ram cars in order to stop them. But who in their right mind would ram a lambourghini into another car? It would cost a fortune to repair the smallest scratch on a car like this. The maintanence alone for this car would probably buy several ordinary, and much more useful, police cars. Also, it would be virtually impossible for a car like this to maneouver in Rome’s narrow streets. As a result, a lambourghini police car would be completely useless as a police car. Nevertheless, it’s still the coolest car I’ve seen on this trip. Someone from my program told me that this police lambourghini was the highlight of their trip here. I wouldn’t go that far, but it was definitely pretty interesting.

Dirt

The trash bins are overflowing with garbage, dirty glasses litter the tables, and flies buzz around a half-eaten peach that someone left yesterday. The stuffy room is punctuated by coughs and sneezes, and the hot, humid air only makes it worse. It is best to sit in this room, because it is impossible to walk around without tripping on someone’s feet, a laptop, or a powercord. This is our room, in all its crowded glory. At times, we have upwards on 20 people in this one room apartment barely big enough for five. Usually we have something like 10 people here. Our room is bacteria heaven; no wonder so many of us are sick here.

Red Medicine

I was sick today. This put a damper on the immigration center visit and Italian lesson we had today. My head was a giant bubble stuffed carelessly into a skull far too small for its size. My nose was a river, my eyes two small depressions in a face that was sweat-ridden and weary. Yet I tried to listen. I remember being amazed at how something as complex as an immigrant center can be made simple using a system.

Of course, I'm not the only person that is sick. A combination of torrential rain and spending a large portion of our time in a tiny, stuffy room (my apartment) full of coughing individuals created the perfect haven for our little epidemic. As a result, our Italian class was punctuated by regular sneezing, coughing and hacking from all of us infected honors students.

I was pretty sick. But then, I decided to try some red medicine. It was a giant red ball, millions, maybe billions of times larger than me. It was only a bus, a nap, and a train away. When my sister and I first walked through the portal to the sandy land of the red ball, the ball wasn't there yet. Instead, there was a vast, empty strech of sand, greeted graciously by the rolling sea. I sat down and waited for the red ball to come.

Then I saw the ball, in all its deep red glory. I know this red ball is giant, but when I looked upon it, it seemed so small. I wanted to pick it up and carry it back to the Rome Center so that it would heal everyone else. I tried, but it was too hot.

It's too bad, really. I really wish we could all be better.

It's a good thing we'll be going home soon.

Chasing Pigeons

I'm very tired, so this will be a short one.
My sister and I did a lot of running today. first it was after the pigeons. Then, it was from the rain.We finally found solace in a restaraunt near where I live which served one of the best dinners I've ever had. It was a nice end to a strange day.

My Sistser

My half sister, Dasha, came yesterday. She is pretty fun. We went to Orvieto together. It rained, but that was okay. We had fun wandering around the little town anyway.

Somewhere along the way we saw a cute dog. I took a photo of this cute dog.
Some images to remember the day by: Narrow streets, pizza, crossing the train tracks, night, authentic Roman pasta, guitar, singing, sleep.

Hidden Treasures

"All Roads lead to Rome"--I took this photo just outside Rome's wall. Notice how all the cars are going into Rome.



It's funny how sometimes you find the most amazing things when you go wander just a little bit away from the beaten path. We went to this place called Villa Borghese today. The museum there was incredible. I wish I could spend my entire day there, looking at every painting, examining what each person in each painting was doing, and what each painting meant. But, we left after only two hours.

At the end of our excrusion, we all gathered in the front of the museum and sort of just stood there. I don't like standing still long. So, Jenn and I decided to just go off and wander for a bit. We didn't head directly back. We sort of just knew the general direction which we were going, and sort of wandered that way. Along the way, we saw a mysterious clock tower in the middle of a pond, a beautiful, serene, giant puddle, and the most amazing view of Rome I've seen.

I also got some awesome photos. I really like the color in these. Nature is pretty amazing when you look beyond just what you're supposed to see. Anyway, enjoy.


A rose on the base on a vandalized statue we saw.Part of a palm tree.

Someone painted this lion's toes!

Our Crest

As part of our education here in Rome, each apartment is required to create a family crest. The above crest was ours.

Like most family crests, ours is filled with symbolism. Allow me to explain.

Each person in our apartment is represented through some sort of image in the crest. Because Johanna's favorite color is orange, and because she is so well known for her orange "ho-bag", our crest is orange. Instead of the papal keys, we have clubs because I love to juggle so much. The Medici-like juggling balls also harken to my juggling, and represent the number of balls I can (sort of) juggle. The small flip flop on the right is Julie's, and reminds us of the hardship she went through when it broke. On top of the crest we have a culinary tiara which Shannon, our Honors Chef, is represented in. And last but not least, the butterfly represents Rebecca, for reasons I am not entirely aware of. But, it does.

Each part of the butterfly's wings has a letter, one for the first initial of each of our names. There is also an "H" in the lower left portion, which stands for "Honors".

Oh, and we mustn't forget the flowers and snake, which lie in the center and serve to represent the apartment as a whole. At a first glance, the symbolism seems obvious: we have a snake because we're in piazza del Biscione (the piazza of the water snake), and a flower because we're near the campo de fiori (the field of flowers). But there is a bit more to it than that.

We don't just have any flower, we have a yellow rose, which represents friendship. Because everyone in our apartment gets along so well, and our apartment is the main hang out spot for Honors students when they have nothing to do, friendship and community is a huge theme for us here.

Anyway, that's our apartment crest in a nutshell. Our apartment is incredibly diverse. Yet we somehow manage to get along really well. And I'm really happy about that.

Rain Rain Rain

Laura twirling in front of the pantheon

I'm terribly sorry that I didn't post yesterday. I don't even remember what happened yesterday. Oh yes, it was a lot of paperwriting. And juggling. Oh YES now I remember! I presented on Eastern European immigrants. Well, there isn't much to say about that except that it happened and now I'm done.


Amy barefoot in the rain.

Now, onto more interesting matters, namely, rain. It was my first rain in Rome. And boy, did it rain. It didn't just rain. It poured. Some of my friends were absolutely ecstatic to get a taste of Seattle here in Rome. In fact, their enthusiasm bordered insanity as some points. But it was all good.

We also saw St. Peter's Bascilica in the Vatican today. I actually like it more in the rain. It is more gloomy, and makes the interior more tangible and real. When it's sunny and all the gold is shining, I find it incomprehensible. The clouds made St. Peter's bascillica more real.

Some cool facts: part of the cross Jesus was crucified on is in the Bascilica. In addition to the cross, part of the spear Christ was stabbed with as he was on the cross is also in the bascillica. There's a lot of cool stuff there.

Pigeons and Swordfish

I think I could sum up the interesting portion of my day using two images: pigeons and swordfish:

Pigeons


We went to the church of Santa Maria today, a church supposedly dedicated to the virgin Mary. However, given all the family emblems and family imagery, it looked more like a church built for the glorification of its commisioners. In the front of the church was a fountain with a bunch of pigeons drinking, bathing, and striking all sorts of funny poses. This was one of them.

Swordfish

After seeing a giant fountain on the top of a hill, I ended up wandering around Rome on my own again. I found this awesome swordfish near the campo and took a shot. It felt so out of place in the campo--a spiny, dark, solemn figure amid florid joy and ignorance.

Most of my time was devoted to writing up a presentation. I'm actually very excited to share all the stories I've collected in the past week from various immigrants. The stories are fascinating; everyone has something to share.

Oh, and I went for a run at around 10 pm with Jenn, which was refreshing. It's nice to finally burn off some of the gelato I've been eating.

Bug Bites

I don't know if anyone has posted about bug bites yet, but I just wanted to mention what a pain they are. Bug bites pester almost everybody in the program. Almost everyone has at some point had their shoulders, arms, legs or faces dotted with bright red marks that they couldn't kep from scratching. They are ugly, and very itchy. Every night the bugs feast on our bodies, and in the morning we wake up with these welts. I woke up with bug bites all around both my ankles this morning, and they have been bothering me all day.

I know I shouldn't scratch, but as some very wise person said, "there are three things you can't resist: eating when you're hungry, sleeping when you're tired, and scratching where it itches"

About Rome...well, we went to the tomb of St. Peter today. It was very intersting. The tombs were dark, wet, and stuffy. They were also very small. However, we got to see tombs that haven't been moved since since they were put there 2000 years ago, and urns filled with dead people's ashes. But the coolest part was the sliding glass doors in the middle of these harrowing crypts. I felt like I was walking along a tunnel to Dr. Evil's secret lair.

In other news...today I spent a moment of silence remembering those that died on September 11. I can't believe it's already been five years. I remember that day as it it was only a yesterday. I wonder how this event will be remembered. I wonder how it will go down in history. As the spark of one of mankind's greatest conflicts? Perhaps. Probably not though. But then again, nobody knows how the future will play itself out.

Coincidence

So, I wake up this morning (okay, it was more like midday), and check my email. I see one of my friends has told me that I needed to do three things here in Rome: go to San Crispinos and visit churches. Since I hadn't planned anything for the day I figured this would be the best thing to do.
So I headed out.
I got the gelato, which was the second best gelato I've ever had (behind GIolitti, which gives more and tastes better). With the gelato in my hand, I made my way over to the nearby Trevi fountain, and dipped my feet in the water while I finished my gelato off. It was a piece of heaven I'd found.
After getting lost for a little bit, I finally found the church, which was all right. Before I went into the second church I decided to go into a small secluded park to get some reading done. But instead I met two immigrants!
One was fromt the Ukraine, and the other was from Siberia. Both were very interesting. Perhaps most interesting of all was that one was a former chess champion of all the Ukraine. She used to be a chess champion, and now she's a domestic worker. Kind of sad.

La Notte Bianca

It was people. It was many people. The people spilled onto the streets so that cars could no longer get by. It was crowds. It was getting pushed in every direction all at once and barely being able to move. It was a colorful barge towering over a sea of heads.

It was beer bottles strewn on the floor. It was beer after beer for those foolish enough to get drunk on such a night. It was joy, it was sorrow. It was people partying until morning. It was those same people rolling on the floor in agony a few hours later.

It was coffee and gelato until morning. It was sitting in cafe's and just chilling. It was walking from one end of Rome to the other, seeing all the performances there.

It was color, it was light. It was purple, blue, red, green, yellow. It was a night of every color. It was a white night.

Busa Roma

Eye-a went-a on-a bus-a Rom-a today.
It-a waz-a small-a and-a went-a through alleyways.
Eye-a gott-a see-a the-a city-a through a glass-a window.
It was pretty cool.

News

Today will be a very interesting daily diary entry because we went over to a monastary that's been built into a mountain, and to a villa of endless fountains. We went on a giant double-decker bus complete with tables, beds, and a panoramic view. I felt very peaceful during this trip for some reason. The monks must have rubbed off some of their serenity on me.

I have two semi-interesting photos from today.Me sitting in front of the row of 100 fountains in the fountain villa. Apparently, parts of the Lizzie Mcguire movie were filmed right where I was sitting.


I was surprised at how active the communist party is in Italy. You can see the hammer and sickle everywhere on city walls, and communist posters are everywhere. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about politics to say whether this means anything about Italy's polical state. Any thoughts on this would be welcome.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say what news I had: today I got a record amount of money from juggling. I got 25.29 euro for juggling for less than an hour in front of the pantheon.

A Yellow Day

Carrissa was having a hard time coming up for a way to describe the day. She spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out a way to describe the day. This was a very hard day to describe. Eventually we settled on "today was an indescribable day". Well, I have news. I found a way to describe the day.

(A stylized version of my broken clock. I spent an hour trying to fix it, but nothing came of it except a fun little snake and a funny photo)

Today was yellow.

Why yellow? Well, first of all, it was hot, and everyone knows that hot things are yellow. The sun is yellow, summer is yellow, and fire is yellow.

We also visited a jesuit church today--Il Gesu, which was very yellow on the inside. It was so yellow and gold that I remember a student (who shall remain anonymous for security reasons) remarking that this amazing interior was "too yellow for me".


And, the bowl with the best salad I've had in Italy so far that we made for our apartment's group dinner (which Carrissa, who is not from our apartment made. Thank you Carissa, it was delicious) was yellow.

By why else? Well, according to bout.com, "On the one hand it denotes happiness and joy but on the other hand yellow is the color of cowardice and deceit." I know I am extremely happy here in Rome, but for some reason I feel like there might be some sort of deceit brewing in the back alleys, as is natural for a group of this size that's forced to be together for a month. Why was today a cowardly day? It wasn't really. But, one thing I have noticed lately is that many people do things in groups. It takes a lot of courage to go and do something on your own, and it sometimes seems like we're all sort of cowards in that way.

What Ukranian Immigrants Have to Say

They pyramid in Rome is where all the Ukranian immigrants hang out. I visited them again today, and talked for several hours with several of the Ukranians there. Here are some of the things they said:

"When you tear a tree out of the ground and replant it, it takes a long time to regrow its roots. This is how we feel here."

"Italy to us is just work and money, nothing else"

"The motherland (Ukraine) was home, is home, and always will be home"

"Mamma mia! There I go in Italian again! I have too many languages mixed up."

"Italians think this: They are gods and kings, and we are shit"

Fountain Day

This morning I decided to go around Rome and see as many fountains as I could. It was relaxing, and fun.

Walking alone is peaceful. You don't have to worry about what you're going to say, or listen to anybody but yourself. You make your own decisions, and everybody listens to you. I used to think it was scary, but now I realized it's just great.

I talked to three immigrants as well: Lyuba, Odessa and Sasha. More on that later.

Sensory Overload

Today I went to a private viewing of the Vatican Museum. We went in after it had closed. The guards pulled the gargantuan doors open just wide enough to let us in, and we scrambled inside. The rooms were devoid of people, yet each one was filled with such beauty that I could barely examine a thousandth of it. Each corner of the Vatican museum was filled with art of excrutiating detail and exquisite beauty. I tried to imagine how much time went into even a room of the museum. Each room was at least a few years of several artists' lives. The museum had in its rooms centuries of people's effort, their genius.


Note: This is not a photo of the prophet. A photo wouldn't justify the statue's impact.

What I remember most vividly was the statue of the prophet and his two sons being pulled into the sea by serpents. The ancients created such a strong, real depiction of anguish in the prophet's face. I will never forget the creased brows, the pained mouth, the eyes turned upward in pain that made this the perfect portrayal of suffering so real. It was perfect.

Each room in the vatican had objects from centuries, maybe even millenia ago. So much beauty has lasted from so long ago. It makes me wonder what will remain from our time after a millenium. Will anything I do still exist? Probably not.

Unwinding

I got back exhausted.

For over a week now, I'd been travelling in my travels. I'd been to NaplesFlorenceTuscany bambambam. Just like that. My clothes were dirty, I needed a shower, and my camera was full. I hadn't updated my blog in a week. So I got home and did that.

Oh by the way. Rome is home now. It's as close to home as my hometown is. There's something about the markets, the people, the lifestyle that makes this city a place I feel very comfortable in.

A Break

I needed a break from the city. I needed to bike and swim and sit and talk and talk and sit and swim and swim and bike and walk and swim and swim and talk. So I did.

I biked.



I swam.



I walked.

I talked.

A Schizophrenic day

Travelling days are always weird. They seem twice as long, because of the different locations and the great divide of travelling between the two. This was one of those days. The first half was yet another shopping day. For some reason our group really liked to shop in Florence. In fact, I think that's all they did. I don't really like shopping as much as most do. I always believe that I can get whatever I want cheaper on the internet, and always feel that shopping in a place like Florence would be a waste of the precious time I have to experience the city.

So, instead of shopping for the first half of the day, I just went to the market to take photos.

The second half of the day was filled with adventure. You can read all about Steve's bicycle adventure in the daily diary (under the same name), but here is one photo I took of Steve riding to our hostel on his road bike.




Tuscany is beautiful. It is peaceful, and serene; a nice complement to the busy frenzy in Florence, Naples and Rome. Tuscany is all about rolling hills dotted with rows of grapes and big skies.


The minute I got to our hostel (which was more of a luxury cabin than a hostel) I immediately jumped in the pool. After we came from our walk and had dinner, I jumped in the pool. As I lay in the pool, I could see the milky way. People thought I must be freezing in the pool, but I was actually quite warm. Apparently I really like swimming.

Stargazing after swimming would have been nice if it wasn't for all of the people. I really prefer stargazing in silence. It's nice to be able to just look and think about the universe on your own, or share your thoughts with others. But, I guess nobody in our group was comfortable with that. They preffered to talk about something I don't even remember now.