7 dayssss....

I can't believe it's the last week of my study abroad experience. The thing I've been looking forward to for the past 3 or 4 years is over? What? The last few weeks have been weird with that thought hanging over all of our heads. We saw some villas and some baths, but it's been clear during our last few field trips that we're nearing the end; No one's really taking notes, and we spent most of last Thursday's field trip frolicking in the fields by our sites.

Race to knowledge? Nope. Just racing.

When we got back from Campania it hit me that we really don't have much time left, and there were things I wanted to do in Rome that I hadn't done yet! One of these things- soccer match! So, on Saturday night me and 4 of my friends went to see a Roma-Napoli game. What an experience. People waving flags and throwing smoke bombs every 5 minutes (which was completely normal), and yelling chants that we mumbled along to because we didn't know the words... It was great. Unfortunately the game was tied 2-2, but that didn't stop fans from continuing their celebrations after the game ended... the bus ride back was quite an experience in itself... 

See all the smoke?

Sunday was quite exciting as well- Dylan came to visit! It was great to hang out with a friend from home, and it made me realize how much I miss everyone else... but also how accustomed I've become to my friends here, and how I've changed here and there during the semester... 

I took Dylan on a 3-hour tour of basically all of the important things in Rome, which I'm sure (or rather, hope) he repeated in detail the next day. On Tuesday, since it was Labor day, we decided to check out what was advertised as 'Free rock concert, 2PM-11PM'. When we got to the location, it was just a stage with giant speakers, blasting pre-recorded american songs while Italian youths drunkenly danced... so we left. We climbed the Aventine, where there is a very cool gate- if you look through the key-hole, you can see St. Peter's dome!

We also took advantage of the day's 1-euro museum entry fees and went to the Palazzo Altemps, where we saw lots of Roman statues... 

Dylan left Wednesday morning, and we went on a fieldtrip to EUR, the facist-designed area of the city. We saw a lot of interesting and slightly shocking Facist art (nazi salutes all around) and ended at the Museo di Civilta' Romana. The museum is filled with models of different statues, monuments, and other things from Roman history, and a giant plastico map of Constantinian Rome. It was like walking through a video montage of our semester, and spending an hour looking at the giant map, being able to identify most buildings on it, made me realize just how much I've learned here. 

The over-all aura of finals and endings has gotten me thinking a lot about going back. Of course, I still have a week in Paris and a week in Dublin before I get back to the States, but the actual ICCS program ends in exactly one week. It's a very bitter-sweet feeling, as these things always are. On the one hand (men), I am very much ready to never ever have a Centro field trip again. On the other hand (de) when I woke up Thursday morning and realized the day before had been my last ever Centro field trips, I felt a little bit empty inside. There are a lot of things I'm excited to go back to in the U.S., like burritos, burgers and toilet seats. But there are more things I'm sad to leave behind- pasta, coffee, the Pantheon... And of course friends. It's funny to look at my first post on this blog, where I wrote about my fear of coming to a strange place where I know nobody- and now I'm leaving a city I know quite well (at least the ancient version!) and some great friends. Now, instead I worry about what it will be like going back. The thought of $1 bills makes me confused, and the idea of understanding what people around me are saying is strange. My friends back at school have spent a semester without me, and naturally friendships and dynamics have changed completely, which will be weird to return to, being totally out of the loop. Also, after spending 3.5 months in the Classics bubble, I worry what I will seem like to my friends, and what I will do when people don't understand my Latin grammar jokes and why Tufa and Opus quadratum are hilarious. 

Wow, this has been quite depressing... I'm gonna get back to finals studying now!

French Week in Italy, Part 2

Here I am at 11 PM again, blogging. I never learn...
Time for the second half of my Campania trip! Where did we leave off? Monday? Monday!
So, Tuesday! We went to Benevento, where we saw a really cool church with a lot of weird angles and arches and such, called the Church of S. Sofia. We also saw an arch of Trajan, but the rain added to the hour or so we spent just standing in front of it kind of took away from the general excitement...
After a rainy lunch we drove on to Sepino for an autoptic. I must say, the two dogs mating while I was trying to figure out how a tomb showed a man's power was quite distracting.
Wednesday! Wednesday was kind of a fail of a day. We said goodbye to the Villa Vergiliana and drove to Pozzuoli. After seeing the macellum (or rather, the kittens by the macellum) we were supposed to go into the amphitheater and see the tunnels underneath, but we weren't allowed inside. After this, we were supposed to go climb a volcano. But there were too many children/tour groups there, and the professors inexplicably decided that this was a good reason not to go, and to rather give us about 5 hours of free time in Naples. If you read the last post, you know I did not really enjoy Naples the first time around. So this made me sad. One good thing Naples does have to offer is the Archeological Museum, which has many wall paintings from Pompeii and interesting sculptures from Rome.
That night we stayed at the Motel Villa Dei Misteri, where the food, unfortunately, could not measure up to the food at the Villa Vergiliana. But really, could anyone?
Thursday was Pompeii day! We spent about 10 hours there, so instead of talking about it, I will just post some pictures.

 Awesome body casts of people suffocating in the ashes

Villa of the Mysteries

 Pompeian street

 Brothel, of course

Amphitheater

Just to explain the blog title- there were SO MANY FRENCH PEOPLE in Pompeii. And everywhere else, for that matter, but Pompeii especially. So much so that the cashiers in the snack bar were speaking french. It was culture week in Italy, meaning everything ancient was free, basically. Free=french, apparently? Anyways, end rant...

Friday morning we all woke up, took Advil for our feet (Pompeii was painful!) and went to Herculaneum. We spent most of the time there doing autoptics on different houses, which was cool. Many of them still had the 2nd story, which was something we hadn't really seen before.

We had lunch at a pasta factory, and then got to go on a tour. The tour itself was cool, but by far the best part was the coat and shower-cap type things they had us put on to go inside. Everyone looked like a lunch lady, in the most unflattering way possible. 

After that fun, albeit random, tour, we visited the Villa in Oplontis, another area affected by Vesuvius. It was fun walking around a mostly intact villa and getting a better idea of what they would have been like in ancient times, wall paintings and all. 

Saturday was pretty laid back, as it was our last day of the trip. We started the morning by seeing the mithraeum and amphitheater at Boscoreale. We finally got to go underneath the amphitheater! Cool stuff.

the secretive under-tunnels of the amphitheater

In the afternoon we went on a tour of a Bourbon palace in Caserta. Since there was really nothing ancient in there, apart from one statue, no one really listened, including the professors. I did make note, however, of how many rooms in that palace had nothing in them but chairs. Who could possibly need that many uncomfortable chairs? Rich people... After the tour we had some time to walk around the giant gardens in the back, so my friend and I strolled around speaking in British accents and pretending we are the rich ladies who live in this palace, our 'early autumn home'. Yeah. We're normal. 

We got back to Rome for dinner that night, and to celebrate Rome's birthday, I went to sleep early. I know, livin' large. 

Well, that's Campania done. At some point I'll write about last week... it wasn't terribly exciting, but (spoiler alert) I did go to a soccer game!

French Week in Italy, part 1

PompHEY GUYS
I spent this last week in Campania, which includes exciting things such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a bunch of other towns no one's ever heard of/cares about! The trip started on Saturday, when we visited Terracina. As a city built on a cliff over-looking the ocean, it should've been a beautiful place. Unfortunately, we spent most of it undercover or battling umbrellas in the wind, as it was raining quite hard. It was still pretty, just... in a gray way. After that fun experience, we continued on to Sperlonga, where Tiberius (I think) had a really cool dining room/fish pond inside a huge grotto. With the rain and fog and all, the grotto looked a lot like the horcrux cave from Harry Potter. By the end of the visit, I decided that a grotto will be one of the many features of the Roman villa I build. Just as soon as I become a rich Roman emperor.

This was in the museum. There's also a pope on the side I didn't get...

You can almost see Voldemort if you look closely

That afternoon we had an autoptic in which, as a group, we had to draw a plan of a small town we had never seen before. It was a painful experience. 

That evening, and for the next four nights we stayed at the Villa Vergiliana. It's basically the Centro, but in Campania, run by Franco's sister. While the food was amazing, and there were baby goats in the yard, it was quite an old building, and the bouncy bed and cold showers made the experience not as enjoyable as it could have been...
On Sunday we went to 'the Flesh-Pots of Baiae', an ancient Roman sulfur bath resort thing. It was cool, but by far the most exciting thing we saw was this UPSIDE DOWN TREE. Seriously, how is that even a real thing?

 WOAH

After the biggest lunch I've ever had, we went to the ancient site of Cumae, where we saw, among a bunch of ancient stuff, the place where Franco and his wife Pina would run around when they were 'courting'. Adorable. 

When we got back to the Villa Vergiliana, it was baby goat time! Here's a picture- no words needed.

So fluffy!!!

Monday was an Art History day. We walked around Naples while the art history professor lectured about different churches and such. While it was very interesting, it was also very relaxing- since I'm not in the art history class, I didn't have to take notes, and was able to just enjoy the sites and information without the stress of a quiz or a test. Unfortunately, apart from the old stuff, Naples is pretty icky. We had an unnecessarily long lunch break which was not the most fun.... ah well. Not every Italian city can be awesome. 

Well, that's about half of the trip. Since it's 11 PM and I have not done any work today, I'm going to cut this in half. I'll be back soon with more about Campania, and back less-soon with this week's adventures!

No Pope This Time

First off- that chocolate egg I said would last for weeks? It was gone by Tuesday morning. We're still trying to solve that mystery...
Anyways... this week's been exciting! Monday was a weird day- since the day after Easter is a national holiday in Italy, we had no food served at the Centro. It made the day feel like a weekend, because we were feeding ourselves, yet we had classes... What a hard life.
Tuesday we went to Ostia! As my professor described it, it's 'Just like Pompeii, but without the terrible people!' Now, I personally disagree. I haven't actually been to Pompeii, but from what I've heard and seen, it's pretty damn cool. And 100-500 years older, which pleases the antiquity elitist in me...
But that's not to say Ostia is not a cool place! We got to see a theatre, some houses, flour mills and latrines. And- most exciting- the most ancient synagogue found in the western world! For our Ancient City course, we each have to give a 10 minute presentation on something at one of our field trips, and mine was on the synagogue. Which was amazing. I think the presentation went well- I was told I have a good 'radio-line' voice.

Post-presentation Inbar is happy and in synagogue

Menorah, shofar, lulav and etrog. FROM 2,000 YEARS AGO

While Ostia was quite awesome, after 10 hours there we were all close to crawling on our way out... On the train ride home, we all admired/pointed out each other's lanyard tans (we have to wear our headphone-radio machine things on our necks all day...) Mine is more a burn than a tan... Ouch.

Wednesday was graciously left free of field trips, probably to avoid any riots. When I decided not to wake up for breakfast, I was woken up instead by my friend Quinn clambering (with much difficulty) into my (top bunk) bed yelling, 'you weren't at breakfast!! I missed you! I'm falling!!' The day could only get better from there... But really, I did nothing all day, except go to one class. It was just what I needed after Ostia.

Today we finally went to the Vatican Museums! Since there was an unusual amount of crowds (even for summer, apparently) our visits to certain things took longer than planned, and the professors had to leave before we saw everything we wanted to. Fortunately I planned to stay later, so I got to see the Laocoön statue and the Sistine Chapel, which was pretty underwhelming. I'd imagined it would be much bigger. And less crowded and loud. (the guards 'shhhh'-ing everyone all the time didn't help). In true Centro fashion, of course, we got to go into a whole bunch of closed-off rooms while crowds of tourists stared in curiosity, or, as always, tried to follow us in only to be turned away by guards.

This evening we had a lecture about Campania to prepare for our week-long trip next week. After a short intro to the Naples Museum, we had one of the strangest lectures from our Italian professor/PhD student, Massimo. It involved 100 slides (about 20 of which were covered in the hour we had), google-earth, elaborately illustrated cartoons of people burning alive in Herculaneum, a Discovery Channel volcano-making website, and warnings about how Vesuvius could erupt any moment. Hardly any Pompeiian history, which was what the lecture was about. But we'll learn it all there, I guess? During our 11-hour day on site in Pompeii... 

Parent's Week and the Pope

Since I just realized I'm sitting in my room watching a video titled 'Mini Kittens Pat Things,' which is exactly what it sounds like (Don't judge, I know you're looking it up on youtube right now), I decided I'd at least be pseudo-productive and update my blog! My parents were here last week! Things happened! I saw the Pope! All this and more- right here.
My parents and grandparents got here on Saturday, which was very exciting. On Sunday morning, after they had settled in and all that, we went to the Porta Portese market, which, after all I've heard about it, was pretty disappointing, Mostly just a flea market with normal street-vendor things... ah well. After that, we walked around and made it all the way to Piazza Navona and Campo Dei Fiori. After a much-needed afternoon nap, we headed over to the Victor Emmanuel monument and went up to the top- WOW. I've gotten so used to Rome and seeing all the beautiful monuments that I've almost forgotten how beautiful they all are when put together in this city. From the roof of the monument, though, not only can you see the whole landscape and how it works together- you can't see the crowds. It was amazing.

Hey... I live here!

It was also fun walking around all of the forums, explaining them, and actually knowing what I'm talking about, and being able to show that I've learned stuff this semester!!

Monday, as usual, was uneventful... 

On Tuesday, we had quite an exciting field trip. We started at the Forum of Trajan, which we got to go inside (once again... I'm the only one excited by this, aren't I?). After lunch we went to the Pantheon, and after learning that 'if you measure the distance from one end of the circle... to the other end... so to say, the diametrical distance...' (classics majors aren't good at math!!) we got to go INSIDE THE WALLS OF THE PANTHEON. That's gotta be exciting to someone other than me, right??? 

See the wall. And Professor Bucher walking into it.

The rest of the day was full of other, less exciting, things. You know, the usual 2,000 year old temples and such. I did manage to drop my pencil into a ditch in the temple of Hadrian... that'll confuse future archeologists! Hehe. 

After the field trip I met my family at Trevi fountain and we walked over to the Spanish steps. After 2 months, I finally saw those! (I fail at Rome...). 

On Wednesday we toured the remains of the Baths of Diocletian, which was cool, because they're located within different buildings spread out through the area, like churches and even a planetarium! Then we went to the epigraphical museum, which wasn't too exciting. I found an inscription with hebrew on it, which was nice, and we got to see the inscription that is our final project for latin. Which wasn't nice. 

Thursday was, once again, uneventful. On Friday my parents, sister and I went to Florence! Honestly, Florence in February, despite the unbearable cold, is much nicer than Florence in April. SO MANY PEOPLE. It was interesting to compare walking into the Uffizi in February, buying tickets on the spot and getting in right away, to waiting in the reserved tickets line in April... hmmm. I saw David and Venus again, and got some leather goods. That was the good part of the trip :). 

Sunday was Easter! With his magical powers, Franco managed to have an unlimited number of tickets to the Easter Papal Mass, so I went with my family. We got there a bit late, so we didn't get seats. But I got to kind of see the Pope? 

I'll admit- this is my friend's picture. But I was there!

That evening I said goodbye to my parents, sister and my winter coat and headed back to the Centro. Where a 16 pound chocolate egg was sitting in the living room. Franco and Pina are the greatest. Unfortunately I missed the throwing of it on the floor to open it, but there is still plenty of chocolate... and will be for a few days. 

Finally, the Colosseum!

Sorry, I've been behind my unnaturally good blogging schedule. We have the first draft of our term paper due tomorrow night by dinner, and everyone is very very stressed. So, let me tell you about the last two weeks!
Last week we had yet another day on the Palatine. This is probably the 4th time we've been there. And yet, we still saw things we've never seen. The Palatine hill, right by the Roman Forum, is just a giant mess of ruins that I will have to somehow make sense of before my final... quite intimidating. After wandering around Nero's giant house, spending more time trying to orient ourselves on our maps than actually looking at the ruins, we saw the arch of Titus, which was cool because that's where Israel got the design for the menorah that is now the seal. And then, as promised, we went to the Colosseum! ...which we only saw from outside. There was a mix-up with our tickets and reservations, so we did not actually get to go in. Instead, we had a pointlessly long lunch break, and then visited a museum by Termini, where we saw Pontifex Maximus Augustus. It was a nice 9 hour long field trip to ease us back after Sicily and spring break...

What a great guy, huh?

Wednesday, surprise surprise, we were back at the Forum/Palatine. This time we went into the (special-access!) Temple of Peace, from where we walked to the Forum of Nerva, and then, in a wonderful surprise, they decided to let us into the Forum of Augustus. We saw it a few weeks ago from outside, and it was terribly exciting to actually be inside (especially since we got to see the tourists looking on from where we had been standing last time). Oh, and we also got to go inside the Colosseum! Our professor worked it out so that 13 students were allowed to go in with our ticket, and I responded to the email in time, so I got to go! It definitely lived up to my expectations- amazing, but after 2 months in Rome I've definitely seen more amazing things. If only it wasn't full of tourists all the time. 

Yayyyy

On Thursday night we had a speaker who researches Jews in Rome, and part of her talk mentioned something very close and related to my term project. Apparently I, along with 2 other students, have a meeting with her sometime next week (not by my doing, but hey, I'll take it!) so that will be helpful for life! 

The weekend was very laid back and anti-social. I was collecting my energy for this week, which is the busiest one I've had in Rome yet.
This Tuesday we visited Portus, the ancient port city of Rome. We saw some ruins of warehouses and columns. Not the most interesting day, in my opinion. On Wednesday we had Esquiline day, wherein we walked around the entire Esquiline in the morning, seeing the Baths of Trajan, an arch, a fountain and aqueducts, among other things. And today, Thursday, we went to Isola Sacra, right by Portus, where people used to bury their family members. We had a fun scavenger hunt which involved walking around and into the tombs to find certain things. We do a lot of tomb-invading here... 

Here is tombs

Between all these field trips, I've been going to classes, eating, sleeping and WORKING ON MY PAPER. And trying to keep sane. In light of my attempt to keep my sanity, here is a list of GOOD things:

-My family is coming in 2 days!

-I booked flights to Paris and Dublin!

-I have a great lottery number for housing next year!

-Anna is back from the Pacific and I can post on her facebook without feeling bad about it.

-We had the delicious carrot pasta for dinner this week!

That's it... it's the little things... 

6 Days, 6 People, 6 Languages

Time to write about spring break! Here we go. Barcelona and Brussels!

Let's start with the adventure of arriving at the airport. Forgetting it was Sunday and that the Italian bus system is, well, Italian, we left the Centro at 1:45, 4 hours before our flight. We waited quite a while for the 75 bus, and by the time we reached Termini station the shuttle taking us to the airport had left, meaning we had to wait for the next shuttle, which left us with very little time to check our bags, go through security and get on the plane. But we made it against all odds! Finally, after all that excitement we reached the Barcelona city center. Where we had no idea where to go. We got the help of a friendly old couple who spoke only Spanish, and by the time they finished their argument about where our metro station was, we could have already been on the train and two stops down. It's the thought that counts...

Our hostel was wonderful. It was in a nice safe neighborhood, close to a bunch of stores and restaurants and a metro station. And free breakfast! Anyways, we settled down and went to get dinner down the street. Turns out that every single restaurant in Barcelona is a Tapas restaurant. So we had tapas- the traditional tapas that basically every place has are called Patatas Bravas, basically roasted potatoes with garlic sauce. Yum Yum. 

Monday morning we got up early, some of us (me) with a stomach bug, and headed down to La Rambla, the main street. The market in there is insane. Stands covered with fresh fruit and different juices, and candies, and meats and cheeses and everything ever. 

Mmmmmmmm

We got some lunch and walked around more, and ended up inside a mall on the boardwalk, where we spent some time shopping. We wandered back up another street where we saw a large Gothic cathedral, and after some confusing misunderstandings about cafés in Barcelona (you can't sit outside if you only get drinks?) we sat down for some Sangria and afternoon Tapas. The rest of Monday was uneventful for me, as I spent it sleeping off the stomach bug.

On Tuesday we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is actually insane. It's a church designed by Gaudi and still being built. It's designed to look like a forest, but is also architecturally crazy. Some pictures:

After that we went back to the market for lunch again, and went back to our hostel for a nap. That afternoon we walked around our neighborhood stores and I spent another terribly exciting night sleeping off the bug.

On Wednesday (finally healthy) we had lunch in our neighborhood and then walked around Barcelona looking at the rest of the crazy Gaudi architecture. It is all insane. Also, we went into maybe 5 H&Ms... We had delicious Paella for dinner and went to the boardwalk for some drinks. Thursday was mostly spent in airport travels, which are not our forté... let's leave it at that.

Skipping those fiascos, we reached our hostel in Brussels! Which, conveniently, was across the street from the Grand Place, the center of Brussels. We decided the most important thing to do straight away was get some french fries. When in Brussels...

Can you see them under all the mayonnaise?

We wandered a bit and walked into a chocolate shop. And now,the story of the amazing chocolate shop French man. Since it was late evening and we were the only ones in the store, the (beautiful) guy working there offered us some free samples and was asking us where we're from. The he turned to my friend Quinn, and in true European political correctness style said 'You are a little bit Chinese, no?" After explaining Quinn's ethnicity he told us about how he left France for Belgium because 'it's like France but without French people.' Then, after Quinn asked him what his favorite food item in the store was, he went on a strange little violent rant about some almond biscuits, which went something like 'there are almonds inside, and you bite into one, and it makes you want to get your weapon, AND GO TO THE COMPANY AND... hehe, yeah.' (Quinn went back in and bought the biscuits.)

Anyways... Friday morning we got breakfast and embarked on our search for the Manneken Pis. Which we only found because I stopped at a nearby waffle stand... So here that is.

In his Irish army uniform for St. Patrick's Day

We spent the rest of the day walking in and out of chocolate shops. That's really all we did all day. At one point we took a nap... we got beer... chocolate... fries... That's all. 

For dinner we had the obligatory moules-frites, mussels and fries, and after a drink to celebrate Mariah's 21st birthday we headed to bed. 

On Saturday we got up, had more waffles, and spent about an hour sitting on benches, wondering what to do. Brussels is quite boring. We ended up finding a Starbucks-type restaurant except with more food, where we could sit for 3 hours with our suitcases and not get kicked out. After another beer (to celebrate Belgium and St. Patrick's day) we left for our final airport adventure! Which, after much traveling, ended us up at the Centro. So lovely to be back... 

Ionic Temples Have Great Dentil Plans

It's Monday morning and I'm struggling to get back into normal class-work after two weeks away. So instead, I will blog! I'll start with the rest of my Sicily trip, and have another post later for spring break. 

SICILY- PT. 2: The Showdown. (not really that epic).

So where were we? Friday? Friday. We started off at an ancient quarry where you can still see unused but quarried temple columns. We also got some awkward pictures of our professors, which was nice. After that, we took a very small boat (which miraculously fit about 45 people) to Motia, a privately owned island off the coast of Marsala. We walked around, saw wildflowers, beautiful views, and a spot where child sacrifice took place! We then boated back to shore and had an amazing lunch at a restaurant by the boat. We then drove up to Segesta where we saw yet another Greek theatre (*sigh*) and a temple. The temple was exciting, because despite the fence surrounding it, a few of us went inside and climbed around. I enjoyed the fact that when the professors noticed their students climbing around a 2000 year old fenced-off temple, they didn't yell at us, but instead used us as pointers to explain parts of the temple. Before we left, I kissed one of the columns. Just so I could say I've kissed a Greek temple. 

Hey! I'm in a temple!

We then drove to Palermo, which is, in my opinion, a terrible city. On Saturday morning we drove to Monreale, about 15 minutes outside of Palermo, to see a cool mosaic-ed temple and have some free time. We then returned to a museum in Palermo to see 2 things and then had free time. During said free time we wandered the literally shit-covered streets looking for a place to eat. Finally we found a sketchy little street stand selling sandwiches (those are always the best!) and got some delicious food. After the lovely break we went to Zisa Palace, an old palace from the Muslim inhabitants. I thought it was cool, but many people were confused as to why we were there. After that, another 4 free hours! We found a market and some cafes, had an awkward run-in with an umbrella sales-man, and managed to get back on the bus with minutes to spare! Then it was time for the boat. 

The boat was interesting. For some reason we all got it into our heads that we were embarking on some lavish cruise with a swimming pool and movie theater and all that... that's how rumors spread. The boat was pretty crappy, and a lot of people got sick. Luckily for me, I don't really get motion sickness. At about 1 AM I went outside with a few people and walked around the entire boat in what felt like hail... it was scary but fun! 

The boat docked in Naples at about 7:00 the next morning, we all got on the bus and slept our way back to Rome. Once in Rome, I had 3 hours to unpack, pack, shower, eat, and leave again, this time for Barcelona! 

TO BE CONTINUED...

An Offer You Can't Refuse

I'm sitting here in a 4-star hotel, enjoying the first internet I've had in 4 days, and I decided to attempt updating my blog, which at this point is quite an endeavor. I may give up half way through and end with a 'To Be Continued...'
Let's begin, shall we? I'm in Sicily! Wheeee! The Centro takes us on two long trips, one to Sicily and one, in about a month, to Campania. We were warned about the intensity of this trip. We were told that this is 'the moment' people often pick out as when they really got into this program and Classics- or didn't. (This has been the subject of many jokes- 'oh god guys, is this the moment? is this it?') It has been intense. We're in a different hotel every night, after full day field trips of walking around in any kind of weather or sitting through long bus rides. But I'm loving every minute of it! I've definitely had my moment. :P
So, for you my avid blog audience, I'll go through the high lights of every day of my trip so you can enjoy it too! Because that's how this works, right? (note: keep in mind that after 6 days of this trip, we are all going insane).
It all started on Saturday. *DUN DUN DUNNNN*. We left bright and early, and after a picnic lunch it was time for our first Greek temples! We visited 3 temples, a forum and the museum in Paestum. Around 5:30 we got to go watch the sunset at the beach, which was exciting. A few brave people even got in the water- I couldn't even stand to put my feet in for too long... too cold! After dinner, we got our first Franco Surprise (TM). We took a walk back to the temples and got to see them in the dark. Very cool. Here are Paestum temples (get ready for lots of temple pictures!)

Next, it was Sunday! And we still weren't in Sicily! Sunday was pretty bus-filled. We stopped on the way to see an inscription in Polla, and spent an hour at the museum in Reggio Calabria before heading up to the hotel there. We had a lovely dinner in a room with a panoramic view of the beach, and went to bed. That was the last of laid back days.
Monday was the day we finally made it to Sicily! In the morning we took an exciting 15 minute ferry ride and then drove up to Taormina, where apparently classy movie stars all vacationed in the 50's. We saw our first Greek theater. I will say no more about it, but show you these pictures which even I can't believe I have on my camera:

 Choosing only 2 was like picking my favorite baby

Behind the theatre

After the most breath-taking view of my life, we had free time to walk around in Taormina. We had lunch and then embarked on the search for our first Sicilian Canoli. Which was the best. EVER. 

The two best things about Sicily

Later we stopped at an ancient fort outside of Syracuse. We got about an hour to wander around the ruins, crawl into tunnels, get lost, and realize we were somehow back at the entrance again. It was fun! Unfortunately I left my camera on the bus for that bit, but all my pictures would have been of the dog that decided to follow us around the ruins, so you didn't miss much.

What day are we on? Tuesday. Right. After a disappointing breakfast (disappointing because it was not served by a 4-star hotel in a panoramic top floor room) we drove to Ortigia island off the coast of Syracuse. We saw some temples and a spring, though I was mostly distracted by this:

After that we had another Franco Surprise (TM). He took us on a 'tour' of the free market, which was basically us following him through fruit and fish stands as he said 'look at these oranges... oh, great strawberries, don't you? Ohhh fish. Look, octopus!' Gotta love Franco. Finally, we ended the tour at a cheese shop where we got to try some baked ricotta. So naturally, as soon as the Franco Surprise (TM) ended, I returned with a few friends to the cheese shop, and we purchased half a round of said ricotta. While 2 friends and I were outside buying our cheese, our friend Dan called us into the store saying they had a 'present' for us. Sketchy sounding.... we went inside, and the guy at the counter was just making us free sandwiches. 'For my American friends!'. Best. Sandwich. Ever. Baked mozarella, fresh dried tomato paste, fresh cut prosciutto. And he opened a bottle of wine for us. Then he let us taste some of that morning's fresh mozarella. All just because he was a nice guy. He didn't try to sell us anything, and the cheese we bought wasn't even that expensive. (2 euro whaaat). After that amazing experience we bought a loaf of bread for 60 euro cents, a little thing of the best strawberries I've ever tasted, especially for early march, and stood by the ancient temple of Apollo eating ricotta with our hands. What can I say? Centristi are classy. Then, as if we didn't have enough food, we went into a bakery where I had this pastry that was basically cake, then ricotta, then marzipan, then icing. I might just move to Sicily. 

After lunch we saw another theatre and then our first ampitheatre! We also saw a kitten. After that, we had a two hour drive through the part of Sicily that the godfather takes place in to get to our hotel. After dinner, Franco taught us how to play Scopa, a Napolitan card game that, according to Franco, no one is smart enough to play except Naples natives and Centristi. 

INTERMISSION. Go get a drink or something. 

Wednesday! We started the day at an ancient villa in which all of the floors are covered in amazing mosaics. We met our dog companion for the day (there's one dog that follows us at every site...) and saw the famous mosaic of women in bikinis. Everyone knows what I'm talking about, right?

After seeing that we had a very interesting discussion about preservation and the challenges that come with both wanting to preserve the ancient things and also wanting to show them to the world. Tricky stuff. We then drove off to Agrigento, where we were met by terrible rain clouds. We spent as much time as we could in the museum, where we kind of walked in on an Italian high school dress-rehersal of Euripides' Medea, but eventually, alas, we had to go see the so-called Hellenistic quarter. Once I got over the rain and wind it was pretty cool- we got to climb around the remains of a giant complex of ancient houses and shops. Afterwards we drove to the shelter of our 4-star hotel and after dinner I finally watched the Godfather! Now I know all about the Sicilian mafia. 

Finally, we're on today! Today was a temple-filled day. We started the morning in Agrigento, where we saw some nice, more-than-usual intact temples. We also got to 'sneak' into a temple, which was justified by our professor with 'this side doesn't really have a fence... in some areas...do it quickly.' After lunch we  got to see more temples (shocker!). It was quite exciting, because we got half an hour to climb the ruins of a huge temple. And by ruins I mean it was just a giant pile of giant rocks. Dangerous? Nahhh. After the exciting climbing we had our first official autoptic. That means we had half an hour to sketch out a temple we had never seen before with semi-accurate measurements and a good idea of what it looked like without piles of fallen rocks on top. It was a painful experience for all, made better by some more climbing that we got to do afterwards. Then we headed to our hotel where we had a lovely women's day dinner with balloons, flowers, and live music (a middle-aged Italian guy and his keyboard). Now I must go to bed for yet another long day tomorrow! 

Largo Furgentina!

(The title is in celebration of my finally coming up with a name for the Largo Argentina that reflects the cat sanctuary inside).

It's been another week and the business has only gotten crazier! Luckily, I'm having fun pretty much 100% of the time (even when I complain about it), so I'm good. It's crazy to think that my midterms are this week and spring break is coming up in just a week and a half. Where is my semester abroad going?!?! Well, here's where I'VE been going- (see what I did there?)

On Friday I joined the art history class for their trip to the Villa Farnese which is a palace built by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in Caprarola. It is insane. First of all, it's pentagonal. Why? Because he could. Second, it has about a million rooms, all intricately painted by theme (like the fabric room, presumably used to store fabric. What) and surrounding a beautiful arcaded courtyard. Additionally, the entire palace is on a hill that overlooks the medieval-looking town of Caprarola and the Italian country-side which, as I have already established multiple times, is the best thing ever. Here's another picture to prove it.

 So pretty, I raged a little

The palace in it's medieval glory

So that was insane. When I got back I went to the AAR to continue my internship, and this time since my internet worked I got to do actual stuff! I saw/touched a bunch of my artifacts, which include a lot of lamps and some pots. I have already started thinking of them as my babies. Don't worry about it. During my internship I discovered yet another reason why the AAR is the best place on earth- every day at 4:30 is tea time, where you can go into the café and get served 2 varieties of loose leaf tea accompanied by some cookies. Simply the best. 

On Saturday to celebrate the lovely weather (we all wore shorts and dresses and got dirty looks from fur-clad Italians) we had an evening barbeque. Everyone got meat and other fun things and we grilled away! That will definitely be a repeating occurence over the next few months...
Sunday was a homework day, and on Monday we had a half day field trip to see the so-called houses of Augustus and Co. (they're not actually called Augustus and Co.). After lunch and classes I got all dressed up and headed over to the AAR (again) for dinner. As part of their trying to build ties with the Centro (so they can get the best of the best as future fellows?) they invited us in groups to 3 different dinners. Dinner was amazing. Fancy appetizers, bread toasted in the fireplace, endless wine and an open bar after dinner. Again, I want to live there forever.
On Tuesday we walked all around Rome looking at monuments built during Augustus' time. We saw his mausoleum, the Aura Pacis, and the Augustan forum. My favorite part of the day was when we stopped by the Pantheon for about 2 minutes while our professor told us, "Yeah, this is the pantheon, obviously. We'll come back later. Let's go." But here's a picture anyways.

Is it artistic, or was I just too close and had the sun in my eyes? The world will never know...

What was good about Tuesday's field trip is that we walked through pretty much all of the important monuments we've been talking about, so I finally have a somewhat good grasp on where everything is in relation to each other and how small Rome really is. The Pantheon, for example, is really only a 10 minute or so walk from the forum and the Colosseum. Huh.

After an exciting Tuesday night dinner, during which I ate what I'm pretty sure was lamb pancreas, I tackled my research proposal and got incredibly nerd-excited when I found books in the library on Ancient Synagogues, which I am researching this summer. 

As for today, we just returned from a morning trip to the forum. I could probably guide a tour through there by now. (Post-college option for when I don't find a job?). We went through the monuments and focused on Augustan ones this time. And we'll be back again soon! Hurray!

This weekend we're leaving for a week-long trip to Sicily and spring break is right afterwards. So we'll see what happens to this whole updated blog thing... 

Even More Dead Things!

Wow, it's been a busy week. Instead of our usual Tuesday and Wednesday field trips, we had an additional Thursday field trip. That, added with an Italian quiz, Latin project translation, research proposal and the entire book we have to read for Ancient City- People are going a little bit crazy!
Despite the craziness though, we did get to see some cool places this week!
TUESSSDAY- We spent another full day around the forum area. We started out at the Theatre of Pompey, where you can see how the modern street plans still reflect the design of the theatre.

Like this cool curvy building

We also got to go down to the basement of a restaurant that was built over the theatre. The basement is basically the original structure of the theatre, and the restaurant uses it as another eating room. Dinner in the theatre of Pompey would be amazing. Unfortunately, the restaurant is ridiculously expensive, as any respectful fancy Italian restaurant should be. We continued from the theatre to the forum of Caesar and after a pigeon-heavy lunch (as in, we were surrounded. Not eating them) we had a tour of the Capitoline museum, where it was apparently French tour day. Because EVERYONE was French. Anyways...

On Wednesday we got to make up the second half of the field trip that got cancelled next week- Nemi and Velletri. At Nemi we saw the remains of an ancient temple to Diana where people would come to be healed and give thanks. In Velletri we saw an amazing relief sarcophagus and another relief that somewhat inspired my semester research project. Hurrah!

Today was one of the cool tomb days. Those are becoming my favorite! We started the day at the Villa Pamphili down the road from the Centro where we saw a tomb called a Columbarium, which was painted and incredible. 

After this we went to the Jewish Catacombs on the other side of town. Which was AWESOME. It's just a giant system of underground tunnels with tombs everywhere, so we got to walk around with flashlights, read Greek inscriptions and find bones. Luckily we only saw the spiders on our way out. I got some helpful pictures/info for what I will hopefully be researching this summer, and I got to show off some knowledge based on last summer's research! And everyone else got to make fun of me in the Jewish Catacombs. But look- MENORAH. 

(And other Jewish symbols) These were everywhere

When we got out of the Catacombs, a miracle happened- it was suddenly spring! Birds chirping, children playing, daisies blooming! Let's hope this lasts, so I can enjoy it from my window while I sit inside studying for my Italian quiz... :/

Mosaics Galore!

This weekend our entire class took a 2-day trip to Ravenna. Ravenna is a city in northern Italy where Caesar had his seat while in Gaul. Later, it became the capital of the Western Roman Empire (opposite Constantinople in the East). Also, it's where Dante was originally buried. Obviously Ravenna is a very important city for many periods of history. Which brings me to my question- why had I never heard of it before last week? History fail!
We left for Ravenna on Friday afternoon and with all the snow and what-not, got there at about 8, just in time for dinner. After dinner we explored the city for a bit, which was not terribly exciting because at 10 PM on a Friday everything was closed and no one was out...
Saturday was a mosaic-filled day. We walked over to the Ravenna museum and through there entered the basilica of San Vitale, an early Byzantine church. The mosaics in there were like nothing I've ever seen. Some of them looked like actual paintings-unbelievable that they were made of little stones!!

Jesus and some bishops

Funny random story about the little stones- they're called 'tesserae', which is also the word used in the Hunger Games for something completely different. So, this weekend I was both looking at mosaics and reading the Hunger Games, and I did not make the connection that it was the same word. When I finally did, it cleared up why that word was in my brain ALL THE TIME. Anyways...

After San Vitale and the nearby Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, which held more amazing mosaics, we walked down to the Neonian Baptistry. Again, amazing mosaics. Unfortunately my pictures from there are a bit too blurry to be blog-worthy, but they'll be on facebook! After seeing that the Arian Baptistry we were going to see was closed off, we went to another museum and saw a really cool ivory chair carved with scenes from Jesus and Joseph's lives (random?). Finally we went to the basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo, where we saw these amazing mosaics.

I had to just pick one- the magi

Later that day, after lunch, we saw the Mausoleum of Theodoric, one of the conquerers of Ravenna, and then went to Sant'Apollinare in Classe, another basilica with wonderful mosaics (sensing a theme...), and pretty marble columns that are 'the best marble you will ever see'. There, we did our first practice autoptic, in which we had to sketch the building in multiple ways, including details and measurements by paces. I thought it was a lot of fun, which is a good thing since the next ones will be graded... 

After a riveting Saturday night, we left Ravenna bright and early Sunday morning. We crossed the Rubicon, which was as exciting as Ravenna on a Friday night ('oh... Umm, I think we just crossed the Rubicon guys. It might have just been a puddle though'). On our way back to Rome, stopped at Rimini and Fano, two small northern towns with Augustan arches. Terribly exciting. At Fano we happened upon a Carnevale parade (Carnevale is basically the two-week Italian equivalent of Mardi Gras), which meant there were a lot of street stands selling gummies that we could buy. 

The best moment on the bus ride back to Rome was my waking up from a nap to our art history professor rambling on about the Mines of Moria and the Fellowship of the Ring, and seeing this out the window:

Far over the Misty Mountains cold... NERD

Things got a bit weird when another professor joined in and I heard snippets of 'THE BALROG!' 'Gandalf, no!!' and 'Run, Frodo, run!'...

We also passed through a long tunnel in the mountains which apparently houses a famous astrophysics lair. (I say lair, because it is underground, and all science that happens underground happens in lairs). After dropping our art history professor off at the side of the road in his mountain town, (he sees that view every single day...), we stopped at a magical gas-station where I bought this:

Addie modeling the Kinder

Then we headed back to Rome to do all the homework we put off during the weekend. And now I am going to take a nap because I'm falling asleep while writing this!

Gettin' Busy

This week was full of snow-related failures, but it turned out pretty well. On Monday morning during our Ancient City lecture (That's the class we all take- we have a Monday lecture to talk about what we'll be seeing Tuesday and Wednesday) we found out that the sites we were planning on visiting on Tuesday were shut down due to snow. (Spoiler: We still get to go!). So on Tuesday, instead of the usual full-day field trip, we took the metro down to the Testaccio area, where we visited a branch of the Capitoline museum that used to be a factory. They left all of the old factory-looking things and added ancient things, so walking around, you come upon many strange (but intentional) juxtapositions, like this one:

After the museum we walked down to a large Pyramid tomb in the middle of the street. I would have to consult my notes to tell you more about that, so here's a picture instead! 

That afternoon I decided to make good use of my unexpected free afternoon and went over to the AAR to start my internship! Basically, I am in charge of 50ish ancient artifacts, and my job is to make sure that the information I have about them matches the information on the AAR website. A lot of my objects are completely missing from the site, or don't have pictures, so I'll have plenty of work to do! My first day was slightly a failure, as my computer refused to connect to the AAR wireless OR ethernet. I ended up working on a library computer, away from my artifacts. Hopefully next week will go better!
We spent Wednesday morning at the AAR again. We got to see some cool inscriptions, something called 'burrito guy' which, to everyone's extreme disappointment, was not a man passing out free burritos, but rather an ancient man wrapped burrito-style in a lead tank and buried. They think he may have been a zombie. (No, but really though). We also got to go down part of an ancient aqueduct that lies beneath the AAR. That was quite nerve wrecking, as we walked up to a dark hole in the ground and heard 'alright, who climbs down first?' Um. WHAT?

But it was not as scary as it looked, and the aqueduct was another one of those cool experiences only Centristi get to do that I can brag about later! Among other things we did at the Academy- see the collection of ancient things just laying around- the back yard, the porch, where ever there's room, really. Also, at one point Ernest Hemingway's grandson walked by. This place is magical!
Wednesday afternoon was brutal- I had double Italian and our Latin class ended late, so I had way more class than I was willing to sit through. After dinner, too burned out to do actual work, we sat down and planned our spring break, which is in a month. Me and five other friends are going to fly out the Barcelona, then Brussels, where we will also take a day trip to Bruges. Ryanair is the best.
Thursday we got to do half of our cancelled Tuesday trip- Palestrina. It's the site of an ancient sanctuary that scaled the side of a mountain and, judging by the models, was an amazing sight. Today, due to ruinage and medieval building, not much is left. We got to see an incredible mosaic from one of the temples and the view from the top of the mountains, which, of course, was breathtaking. The trip, however, involved so much failure. First, of course, the trip was cancelled on Tuesday. When we got there on Thursday, we found the escalator going up the first part of the mountain was broken, so we had to climb up by foot. Once we reached the forum area, we found out that we could not get into the building built around the ruins. We kept climbing, and when we reached the museum on top, the room holding the mosaic was full of loud italian kids doing an art project. When we finally found a quiet lecture room in the museum so we could have our lecture, someone outside the room decided to start banging a large metal pipe against, by the sounds of it, more metal, or the ground. Really, just everything went wrong. But we got our amazing view and the trip and failures were worth it after all! See for yourself (though of course pictures don't do it justice)

Amazing, once again.
This weekend we're taking a trip to Ravenna. It should be awesome, though unfortunately it means early wake ups and heavy duty learning during my usual resting time. So now I'm going to pack for that! Ciao!

When in Florence...

(I don't know why this is high-lighted. Sorry). That's right folks, I spent the weekend in Florence! I went with 10 other people, while about 20 people from the Centro were going to Venice at the same time. So the Centro was near empty. And Florence was amazing! We took a 3 hour train ride there, which made us very nervous for the weekend, because this was the view outside our window for the entire trip:

Guys... did we accidentally board a train to Moscow?

Through some miracle, when we reached Florence there was not a speck of snow to be seen. I still don't know how this is possible, but since I did not bring snow shoes, I won't complain! Once we got in we walked to our hostel, which was not as sketchy as I feared (we did realize too late that our room had no doorknob, but it worked out!), and then headed out in search of dinner. One of the first things I noticed about Florence- It is SO clean! After three weeks in Rome I've gotten used to looking at my feet while walking in fear of stepping in dog crap, and seeing papers and wrappers everywhere. Florence, compared to that, is spotless. However, it is also basically made of tourists and American study-abroad students, so I'll take Rome. 

We ended up having dinner at a small Italian (shocker) restaurant with OK food for Italy (which is really really good). After dinner we wandered around for a while, found nothing but cold and returned to the hostel for sleep. 

The next morning we headed out at 9, got a quick breakfast and headed off to Uffizi! Another thing about Florence- it's tiny (or at least the part we were in). What I thought, judging by the map, would be at least a 20 minute walk ended up taking 5 minutes. And almost anywhere we went, this was looking down on us. 

Not a bad view, huh....

At the Uffizi I was overwhelmed by all of the beautiful things including Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus' and 'Primavera'. Seeing all of these incredible works of art which I've heard about and learned about so often was like a dream. When I reached the room holding these two famous works, I just stood in front of each in awe for a few minutes, not believing that I was actually looking at the real thing. After this awe-inspiring beautiful thing, we split up and headed over to the next awe-inspiring beautiful thing on our list, Duomo (seen above). We spent some time inside, though it cost money to see the actual interesting things, and then, after lunch, headed over to the Archeology Museum, which was closed. So the Academia came next! Once again, full of overwhelmingly beautiful things including David! I might have taken an illegal photograph of David... But now I am one of few people who has pictures of all 3 Davids in Florence:

                         Replica outside Uffizi and Bronze overlooking the city.                                            

Erm. This is illegal.

After breaking the law and such, we walked around Florence for a bit, where my soul died every time I looked at a relatively cheap pair of leather boots I could not afford (I keep reminding myself I will be here with my parents who love me and buy me shoes). We got some gelato, which may have been the worst decision of my life since it was below freezing weather outside, and then happened upon a chocolate festival! If you know me, you know that there is nothing better I could possibly come upon, ever. I got some spiced wine (Ancient Greek/Game of Thrones reference? Eh?) and, of course, chocolate. Which was amazing. After some more wandering we crossed the river on the Ponte Vecchio and found an amazing restaurant for dinner. I had gnocchi with tripe, which I discovered was stomach half way through the meal. Which is fine, because it was amazing! Another new food-xperience! We then climbed a giant hill to see the 3rd David and get an amazing view of the entire city and all of it's bridges, got some drinks and went to bed. 

This morning a few of us got up early to go to try the Archeological Museum again. It was open, and once again, we saw amazing things, like this Etruscan chimaera bronze that we read about for class just a few weeks ago!

This is NOT an illegal picture! Hurray!

After this it was off to the train and back to Rome! It was a nice feeling getting back to Rome and realizing I felt like I was back home, even after only 3 weeks. Now that I'm home, I need to tackle the homework I put off all weekend! Ciao!