Warning: Really Freakin' Long Post

Oh, dear readers, an apology is in order. My last post was mid-September! You must have thought I’d disappeared off the face of the Roman Empire!

Today is certainly the day to update, as I’ve been rejuvenated by plenty of sleep and a REAL breakfast (made by yours truly, as Italians have not caught on to the wonders of the omlete…).

Plust, I’m onto my second cup of caffe, which always helps. Does that mean I’ll even have enough energy (and attention span) to write and mail postcards home, you ask? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, folks.

I’ll limit myself to highlights of the last few busy weeks, so here goes…

Art of Rome was in the forum the week I got back from Cinque Terre. I am in love with this class because once a class is finished as some famous Roman site, I have such a deeper understanding of it than I probably would get from a normal tour. I almost lost my mind walking into the curia (Senate house), with original marble floors still intact. It was astoundingly easy to picture the toga’d politicians carousing in the large building, their voices pinging off the walls as they discuss public affairs of the Empire.

That Saturday was Rosh Hashanah. Emmy, Molly and our friend Jon were planning on going to services for the New Year so we decided to wake ourselves up enough to drag around the Jewish Ghetto that Friday to explore. (Jon was not originally part of our band of explorers, but we ran in to him on the bus on the way there, so he joined in.)

Most everything was closed, considering it was a Friday afternoon before a major Jewish holiday AND it was during siesta when we got there. As Emmy puts it, “so many rookie mistakes.” But it was still a great time and a few cafés were actually open, so thumbs up all around.

We actually ended up wandering around town for awhile, stumbling upon the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and the best gelateria (kiwi and pineapple this time… such a good idea) in all of Rome. Not bad. Plus, we knew right where we were the whole time. YES.

I went out with a few people that night to a (fairly Americanized) bar in the Testaccio neighborhood. While walking in, my eyes immediately were drawn to a Drew Brees jersey waiting at the bar to order a drink. Yes, OF COURSE I went up to him, anticipating some great reminiscing about New Orleans. Lo and behold, it’s an Italian guy, who speaks little to no English, and has never been to the States. HAHAHA! A friend of his did speak a considerable amount of English, so I chatted with their group for awhile, before rejoining the others and eventually making our way back home.

Sunday was the much anticipated day of the weekend. We counted ourselves among the frenzied population of Rome, the diehard fans, the ticketholders to the Roma vs. Fiorentina soccer game(calico in Italian, pronounced cal-cheaux).

We clamored aboard a bus, then another bus, and then were greeted by the glowing lights of Tiger Stadium, ugh, I mean, Stadio Olimpico…. We grabbed a quick Peroni at a roadside stand and joined the last of the locals on a nearby bridge to gulp down the brew before heading in to find our seats. They had bottle openers and a little English, so of course we made friends.

The place was a madhouse. I felt right at home. The Roma side was jeering at the Florence fans, they were jeering back. It was great. The game felt so very Italian-- as in, not a tourist-trap, not crawling with Americans, and I was not within earshot of English (aside from our immediate group).

The bus back was easily as much of a spectacle as the game itself (Final: Roma 3 Florence 0). The masses huddled by the bus stop, craning their necks to see what number would roll up next. When our bus did show, it was like a crowd of tourists at Rex, hoping to get close enough to the float to get that pair of OMG-THOSE-BEADS-LIGHT-UP, except that this was just a ride home. There were about ten people per seat and 100 people per square foot of standing room on the bus. And then there was the cheering. Need personal space? Jump out a window.

We go home just fine, nothing stolen, just having rubbed elbows with more Italians than we ever thought possible. HA.

Oh, and p.s. we had gotten cheap Roma jerseys that morning at the market, so we were able to join the throngs of super-fans a little easier.

Another week of school soon started and another Tuesday means another episode of Art of Rome, this one set in the Vatican Museums. We saw ancient Roman sculpture, more ancient Roman sculpture, and then some more ancient Roman sculpture. It was so awesome, our prof taught us how to recognize people by certain attributes (Augustus by his hairstyle, Bacchus by the grapes, Hercules by the lion skin and club, etc. etc. etc.). We saw stuff that I’d studied in Art History at SSA, and there it was, right in front of me. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that feeling.

A few of us stuck around since we had some time to kill before having to get to the next class. We began to make the pilgrimage to the Sistine Chapel, and right around the corner, and another corner, and through another room, and then that hallway, and then another corner, another room, a bigger gallery, a smaller gallery, another million people to squeeze through, another gallery, yet another corner (you get the idea- this is why I used the term “pilgrimage”) we finally found it! The journey also involved happening upon THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS, my second favorite painting of all time. Swoon. There were so many times during this one morning I just stood and looked up, my jaw to the floor, in total awe. Awesome awesome awesome.
Wednesday night Kelly was going to meet up with some friends-of-a-cousin-of-a-friend something-or-other Italian people our age, so I tagged along. We ended up at a pub to watch the calico game (remember your vocab from earlier in this lesson?), this time versus Palermo. It was really neat to hang out with some (non-sketchy) Italian people our own age. I even had my fist vespa ride!!!!!! AAAAAAH!

The next day everyone was leaving for weekend trips and I was starting this weekend, full of plans to explore the city. Cristof (Vespa driver from the night before) got in touch with me to see if any of us were free to meet up for an aperitif (think happy hour, but instead of drink specials, you get free appetizers). It was just me still free, so we made plans to meet up at a Piazza in Trastavere when I got out of class.

He picked me up (school bag still in hand) on his (swoon) !VESPA! and zig-zagged through infamous Roman traffic and sped our way to meet up with the others a few alley ways away from the Pantheon. They all spoke great English, but when other friends arrived, everyone switched to Italian and I got quieter. Hahaha. It was so great though, I loved just sitting and listening, recognizing every few words. What a dream come true, I was just hanging out in a small piazza with a bunch of Italians! YES! Plus, my glass of chianti kicked ass.

The next day I had made plans to meet up with Fabio, a guy I met via Couchsurfing, to see the Appian Way. My friend Nicole joined the adventure and we met up with him near the Circus Maximus and began walking. We WALKED all the way to the Appian Way (Appia Antica) and then walked along the ancient rode. Yes, my feet HURT. But it was so very worth it, getting to know an Italian, getting to know the city. Such a great afternoon.

The Romans couldn’t bury their dead inside the city, so there are tombs all along the Appian Way. The crumbling tombs and inscriptions and relief sculptures are just plopped in the grass, like it’s absolutely no big deal. This puts the 17th century fabled New Orleans cemeteries to shame. It was nuts.

We also got to talk to Fabio a bit about Berlusconi and current Italian politics. Freaky stuff. He said the main two powers are the Berlusconi family and the Pope. Berlusconi owns basically all media outlets in the entire country, limiting the amount of news that comes out about his insane antics with seventeen year old girls. And we thought American politics were nuts…

I got home and, although Nicole and I had grand plans to head to San Lorenzo that night for a concert, the exhaustion took over. I settled in for the night and got to talk to Garret for a good long time on Skype which was wonderful, and got a solid nights sleep.

Today I’m going to head across town and find a café to people watch in, maybe do some window shopping, maybe a museum. I’m thinking Villa Borghese. I’ll let you know… Until next time dear readers! Sorry I have taken up so much of your time with my antics, but hope you enjoyed! Pat yourself on the back if you have reached this far, and if the time is appropriate (or hell, even if not) grab a glass of red wine. La dolce vita, y’all.