An Unfortunate and Unavoidable Hiatus

I have been unable to find a sufficiently reliable internet connection to upload my photos.  However, I am dutifully blogging every night into a text file.  So, upon my return to the States next week, I promise to backlog my adventures for all of you who are interested!

And, pending that success, I might even upload the whole of my photos to Facebook for your stalking pleasure.

See you stateside!

Day Six: the Spanish steps, a Googler, and some shopping

The steps continue up
behind the monument.

Inspired by yesterday's staircase, Sarah and I decided that we were ready to take on the Spanish steps.  And, honestly, they weren't so bad.  Sure, they kept on going and going, but it seems that my calves are still in monstrously good shape from all that San Francisco living last summer.  I made it up just fine, and then turned around to see my friends glaring a bit at my rushing along all cavalierly.  But I can't help it if I'm better than them.  All of these steps this week turned out to only foreshadow what was to come in Firenze, though.

Remind you of anywhere?

At the top of the Spanish steps, we found our sweet, sweet reward.  The view was gorgeous, and we could see the entire city, it seemed like.  This was one of those random moments I keep having where I start to think I'm in San Francisco again, and then I see a statue.  But the view, with the steeply sloping hill and the turn-of-the-19th-century-style buildings.  It just felt like my proper summer home.  (Needless to say, I'm excited to go back.)

Speaking of, I found a random Googler at the top of the steps.  I first noticed the Google shirt he was wearing, and mentally noted that it is fun seeing people wearing the swag.  Only after he turned around and I noticed the intern brand (a sunburst) on his back did I realize that I had the exact same shirt.  Meaning we interned at the same time.  With some encouragement from my friends, I went over and accosted the poor fellow.  He seemed happy to talk to me, though, and it turns out we were both in Mountain View last summer, working just a few buildings over from each other.  What a small world this summer is showing me.

Big Red and Little Red

After I fled from that quasi-awkward, but totally fun, encounter, we returned to the touristy act of taking pictures.  And everybody, I'd like you to meet Little Red.  She's my new buddy.  (Her name is Sara, by the way, and her blog is linked on the right.)  We have matching hair and a matching sense of style, it seems.  (She's also a fan of cardigans!)

We ended the outing by wandering north to shop a bit, and ended up at H&M.  As much as I love that store, it honestly isn't worth the hassle here. Italians don't really care about customer service, I am learning.  And H&M is already a pretty bad offender in this area, which did not bode well for the Rome H&M.  And sure enough, the trip was one of the worst experiences I have had while shopping.  But I still bought a shiny tank top for €5.   So you know I haven't really changed much.  :)

Day Five: a market, Dalí, and more ruins!

This is NOT a Kinder Egg.

After class today, Sarah, Brittany and I found a grocery store!  It was pretty strange, because it was set up like a supermarket, but it was tiny.  We found a basement section with more of the pre-packaged types of foods, less of the healthy, fresh stuff.  And it was awesome, but it was a classical-style building, with awesome stone walls and column corners and a twisty brick staircase.  All grocery stores should be designed with architectural endeavors in mind.  Anyway, we thought we were buying some Kinder eggs, because they are Sarah's favorite treat.  Unfortunately, it was actually some other Kinder treat con sorpreso, which was a really strange boomerang toy.  I mention this at Sarah's demand.  "The knowledge of the injustice must be spread."  Next time, we'll be more careful in buying egg-shaped candy.

Dalídodecahedron - Click
to see it in his hand.

 After class, we hit up the Dalí exhibit at il Museo del Risorgimento.  It was an amazing exhibit, and I really enjoyed seeing the full range of Dalí's art forays.  He designed sets and costumes, he did sketches, engravings, and paintings.  He wrote a comic book, even.  Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden, but I snagged one anyway, because this was the Dalídodecahedron.  Which, as most of you might be able to guess, combines two things I love: math and puns.  Hence the illegal photo.

There's the Colosseum!

The Dalí exhibit spat us out on the balcony of the ugly building, which had a great view of the Colosseo in the distance.  If I haven't already explained, the building featured in my photos of Piazza Venezia is considered one of the ugliest in all of Rome.  The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II or Altare della Patria (Alter of the Motherland) was constructed at the turn of the 19th century, and is hated almost as much as the Eiffel Tower is in France.  Which might be why the view from the balcony is so nice.  It's the only place in the city where you can't see the damn thing, in the words of the classic Parisian joke.

Pointing picture!

After chilling on the balcony and acting like tourists with all of our pointing pictures, some of us went back into the main museum area.  This museum is dedicated to the resurgence, I think, that helped lead to the reunification of Italy.  So, we took a walk through Italian history and touched some of the sculptures that said Do Not Touch.  (Wow, this post is really making me sound like a pretty terrible person, huh?)

We also found the coolest thing ever: a wall of beards.  I forced Mike to step out of the photo, though, because he shaved that morning, and that just wasn't acceptable.

Beards!  Beards Beards Beards!

These churches are insane.

 After exploring a bunch of Italian busts that looked Asian to me (if I am being completely honest), we went out a door and found ourselves on that balcony again.  But this time, we also found Aaron again!  You remember the friend of Sophia's that I met twice already?  Just to further cosmic coincidences, it turns out that he went to my HIGH SCHOOL and graduated a year after me.  (Mandie, if you are reading this blog, he totally knows you.  Check Facebook for photos.)  Then our now-expanded troupe went into a church whose balcony connected with the one we were on.  Again, photos were forbidden, but I took a quick one anyway, because it was gorgeous.

Watch your step.  Falling
would suck so hard.

Now, we found ourselves on the church's balcony, with The Steps of Death below us.  Challenge accepted.  They were actually really fun to go down--and good practice for the Spanish Steps, which I had not yet found.

Seriously.  Just a random view.

Finally, walking back toward the school and the buses at the end of our adventure, I found this tiny nook in the world where we could see some awesome ruins.  Just chilling out behind some apartment buildings.  Oh, Rome.

Day Four: the Colosseum, the Forum, and Birthday wanderings

Imagine this glaringly white.

In lieu of class today, we went on a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, instead.  It was amazing--because some of these buildings saw the world go from B.C. to A.D.  I wonder how they felt about suddenly counting up instead of down?  :P

You can sort of see where they have
reconstructed part of the stage.

Nevertheless, we all woke up an extra hour early.  And, instead of going right from my bus stop at Piazza Venezia, I turned left and made my way down the road that Mussolini laid to artificially divide a historic area of Rome.  Because that road to the Colosseum wasn't always there, you know.

The view from the Colosseum.

The Colosseum itself is pretty cool.  I never realized that it wasn't just an open stadium.  In fact, it used to have this wooden stage with an elaborate system of rooms underneath.  Because, for the tournaments and gladiator fights, the crowd wanted special effects.  So the stage was made of wood to allow for a ridiculous number of ever-changing trap doors, so that they never knew where something might appear next.  And, in Gladiator and other similar movies, when the fighter moves toward the edge and the slaves release a lion or something, that's completely wrong.  Battles with animals would actually have the animal appear from a trap door, as well, so that neither the gladiator nor the crowd knew where to look.

In the Forum, you can see the ruins,
and the Colosseum in the distance.

What's also interesting is that anyone could go to the Colosseum.  Historians believe it could probably seat somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 people, but anyone was welcome.  Every archway was an entrance, and each one (except 4 of them) has a Roman numeral above it.  Different classes of people would use the different archways to enter, and the four without numbers were reserved for use by the royal classes.  So, every individual in the city would have a piece of paper that would include their number, as well as how much wheat they would receive in the event of a famine.  Then, in the Colosseum, they would sit by rank, as well.  The first level was for the aristocracy.  The second ring would be for the military.  The third would be for the plebians.  And the final ring--the platform at the very very top--would be for the slaves.  So anyone was welcome, showing that Rome was truly a city of the people.

Stopping to learn!

Also interesting to note was that there were a gazillion staircases.  So many that the entire Colosseum could be filled or emptied of people in less than 30 minutes.  But even more interesting is that the staircases are annoyingly sized.  The stairs are so tall that even I had to stretch my legs a bit to climb them.  I asked the tour guide why, because I had thought that people were shorter in the past.  She said it was a deliberate design choice to control the speed of the people.  They didn't want anyone to be able to run up the steps--because that might lead to accidents.  Making them so tall forced every single person to move with care.

These arches, man.  So much detail!
For EACH victory.

Also, apparently, the Colosseum used to be glaringly white.  Not the grayish white it is today, because it is made of a stone that absorbs dirt.  But once, it was just plain shockingly white.  Which is curious, because the shock-white marble statues we all know so well used to be colored.  They were painted originally, with these garish colors that were stripped by the soil while the statues were buried.  But sometimes, they will find a statue that still retains some of its color--which explains the creepy eyes they all have.  Because they were once painted with pupils and irises.  Also, the Colosseum wasn't open-topped.  It had this massive canopy that would cover the entire thing, to keep the sun from being so oppressive.  Because they didn't really have an effective way to light the night in this time period, so all of the events would take place in the daytime.

These perfume bottles are older
than Jesus.  Just saying...

Finally, an event at the Colosseum wasn't a common thing--it was a treat.  It would only happen about 5 or 6 times a year, but when it did, it would last for a full week.  The intention was to allow enough events to occur to enable everyone to come at least once.  Because, as we all know, with bread and circuses, an empire can maintain its power.

Sometimes, it amazes me
which parts of a building
manage to survive.

After the Colosseum, we went to see the Public Forum.  This is actually where political decisions were made once, which blows my mind a bit.  So much about who we are as a society stems from the things that happened on some of the same ground that I walked on.

Piazza Venezia again!  But the
Italians hate this building more
than the French hate the Eiffel Tower.

We walked around a lot of the open space, looking at ruins, and talking about some of the things that made the Roman Empire so great.  We also passed a bunch of the victory arches.  These were constructed for the emperor to pass through at the end of some sort of successful conquest.  But, unfortunately, they could not be finished in the 2 to 3 months it took for the army to return home.  Instead, the Romans would construct a timber-and-plaster arch, the emperor would pass through it, and then work would commence to build the true arch.

Brittany with her cake!

Which reminds me: curiously enough, the Colosseum was not built by slaves.  The entire thing was built in only 8 years, and yes the slaves helped to carve and cart the stone.  But it was actually built by stone masons, because it had to be built with precision and care.  Which meant that all of these people came together to lay the stone for this amazing structure--and they finished it in 8 years.  That really blows my mind.  Eventually, somewhere between 130 and 160 colosseums were built throughout the Roman Empire, but this was the first and the grandest.

Outside the Capitoline museum.

Eventually, we stepped into the Senate building, where they are currently doing an exhibition on glass. And some of the things they have on display have survived for over 2000 years.  I can't even make a cup last for a decade, so this really impresses me.  To have found these perfume bottles from that long ago, and to be able to see what something so simple was like back then is amazing.

I got berry.  It was perfect.

After our tour, we rushed to grab lunch before the afternoon class began, and I had a special task.  Keep Brittany away from the school until 2, but then make sure she was there at 2.  She doesn't take the afternoon class, either, but everyone wanted to surprise her with some cake for her birthday.  So I had made plans to go get birthday gelato with her, so that she wouldn't plan to go home or anything.  Then, I asked if she would mind going by the school so I could use the internet for a bit, and she didn't.  But then came the awkward twenty minutes when everyone else left lunch to go to class and I needed a reason to not go with them yet, but to still go.  So that was fun.

La Fontana Trevi nel sole!

But I did it!  I got her to the school at the exact right moment and she was completely surprised and even more completely embarrassed and we sang and a good time was had by all.  We did eventually get her birthday gelato, and we ate it at the Trevi fountain, which is different in the daytime.  I made another wish, this time with Euro instead of American coins, and maybe that will mean something.

Nella Piazza Colonna!

At one point, I looked up, and directly in front of me, but behind a camera was Sophia's friend Aaron, who I met yesterday.  Which was strange, because we hadn't made plans to meet him, and he hadn't seen us yet, but there we all were.  So I nudged Sophia to ask if that was him, and I was right.  His blog is one of the ones linked on the sidebar, so definitely check it out.  He has some really interesting tales about his solo journey across Europe.

You can't quite tell, but this
column has Egyptian
hieroglyphics.

After the Trevi fountain, Brittany, Katie and I went exploring some more.  We found the Parliament building, and visited a few of the piazzas that haven't received our full attention yet.  Mainly, we just wandered.  It's pretty fun just going out there and seeing what's around.  This city is so vibrant, and no matter how far you stray from one monument, all you have to do is turn a corner to find another.

It's a pretty great system, not gonna lie.  :)

Day Three: School, ancient architecture, and family shout-outs

Today was the first day of class, so we got to see the study abroad building.  And, honestly, UT should take some notes.  Il Centro di Studi Americani is on Via Michelangelo Caetani, and I can say that publicly because anyone could Google it anyway and they totally regulate who can and cannot enter the building (so don't worry, Mom).  Mainly, I just like to say these names out loud.  You should try.  (Caetani is Ka-eh-tah-nee, sort of.)

Check out the flags at the door!

Our courtyard. All of this just for us.

The school is surrounded by statues, and has the most amazing courtyard.  It's just gorgeous to look at, and today it rained, so I stood on the balcony for a while and watched the droplets tumble down.  (Again, don't worry, Mom.  The statues are modest.  You can see where the Italian government went back and guaranteed they would be.)

This is one of about eight
pale fellows keeping us
company.

Fig leaf modesty!

And finally, our classroom has frescoes.  ON THE CEILING.  What on earth?  How am I supposed to focus on a powerpoint when there is so much to see above my head?

There are frescoes EVERYWHERE!

The room is longer than it
is wide, which is odd.

After class, it was still raining, so we all dashed across the street to the first restaurant we saw and paid way too much money for a plate of way too much spaghetti and gnocchi.  It was good, but Italians don't do to-go for leftovers, so it was kind of a waste to have so much food.  Only one of the guys in the group managed to finish--no one else did.  But oh well.  First world problems… (Except that isn't funny because it is so true.  Harsh, Joanna.  Harsh.)

Lunch!  And photos of water!

Anyway, this afternoon, I went to buy a burner phone.  I'm kind of regressing, because I am amazed by my not-so-clever phone.  It's really light, and the battery lasts for days.  But it doesn't have the internet, so them's the rub, I guess.  Also, if you are able to make/afford international calls, let me know, and I'll send you the number.  Because in Italy, receiving calls is free, so anyone in the US can call me and it is so not my problem. (Unless you forget that I am 7 hours ahead of you…)

They made me look
like a tourist!

Then Sophia and I went to the Pantheon, where we met up with her friend Aaron, who is currently bouncing around Europe, having a grand ol' time.  Those two seem to be extreme photogs, so taking a picture of them together was a hassle for me.

See the layered coffers?  Perfect
squares, but not perfectly centered.

The Pantheon was awesome, though, because it has this huge occulus at the top, and a coffered dome.  Sophia kindly informed us that the coffers may be an interesting architectural feat, but really, they simply  lessened the weight of the dome so that it would be possible.

Then, one of the images looked--out of the corner of my eye--like the Texas A&M logo, so I took a picture to use as a shout-out to my darling sister, Barbara.  (Hey, BJ!  I miss you!)  But apparently I'm just blind, because the image definitely doesn't bear the resemblance.

Do you see the logo?  On the right?

We ended the outing with listening to an a cappella choir in the church I mentioned in the previous post, and then going for gelato.  Quite a nice adventure, if I do say so myself.  But I was exhausted when I got home, and after dinner, I went to read.  But, instead, I taught Simonetta the computer.  She has never used one before and "cursor" isn't exactly in my Italian vocabulary, so that was fun.

The music was beautiful, like the art.

I feel like these are good problems to have. :)  I hope you all are enjoying your summers, as well!  (And Dad, I really don't mind if you drive my car to work. :P Just saying'.)

P.S.  Everyone who reads this should email me your mailing address so that I can start sending out postcards!

Day Two: Villa Ada, a walkabout, and the Trevi Fountain

Sunday was the opposite of Saturday--packed to the brim.  I'm still exhausted from doing so much yesterday.

Everything here is so GREEN.   I
am not sure the photo really
expresses it.

I woke up pretty early for Roman time, thanks to my prompt fall into my bed on Saturday afternoon.  So, after a light breakfast (fun fact: Italians are not big on breakfast. If you are looking for eggs (which I am not) or sausage or bacon or pancakes, you have to go somewhere that serves "American Breakfast"), Simonetta took me to Villa Ada.  In Rome, "Villa" signifies a very large park.  And in Salario, with the cool breeze and the random hills, I honestly felt as though I were walking around Buena Vista park in San Francisco again.  It was a little insane.

Piazza Navosa

Then, after lunch and an afternoon nap (which I read through), we headed into Rome's historic downtown.  The Italian group was meeting up on Largo Argentina to do a brief walkabout and see where the study abroad school was.  (In case I failed to mention it: I enrolled in a summer art and culture course while I am here.)

La chiesa alla Piazza Navosa.  One girl decided to
take her birth control in front of the church,
declaring "Sorry, Jesus!" as she did.

Bernini did this.
(But the bird on the finger was all Mother Nature.)
(And no, I do not mean the finger-bird.)

From the Pantheon, the school is
straight ahead!

We loved wandering around.  It was pretty amusing, because if one or two of us broke off from the group, we could easily pass for Italians, but as a whole, we were obviously the most obnoxious group of 30 Americans ever.  But it was a relief to speak in English.  My Italian is fine, but underdeveloped, and Simonetta doesn't speak any English whatsoever, so communicating often takes several repetitions and an extended game of charades.

We passed an excavation-in-progress,
but I'm not sure what it is...

What is truly amazing, though, is just how OLD everything is here.  And I know that that should be an obvious statement, but it still takes me aback when I think of it.  This stone was brought here over a thousand years ago, and it's STILL HERE.  I've never even lived in one place for a decade.  It's the magnitude of everything that surprises me.  And the beauty.  I could spend 40 years working on marble with a laser cutter and not get it to look as amazing as Bernini did with a metal SCRAPER.  And it isn't as if there is only one sculpture that is impressive.  These things are EVERYWHERE.  It blows my mind.  Obviously.

Piazza Venezia is where I catch the bus!  And where we
sat on the steps to people watch for a good long time.

After the walkabout, I went to dinner with 5 of the girls in the group.  We wandered around as things got dark, and by 10:30pm, we had found our way to the Trevi fountain.  So we claimed some space sitting on the edge of the fountain, pulled out some coins, made our wishes, and simultaneously threw the coins over our heads and into the fountain.  It was one of those picture-perfect moments that caught the attention of the Canadian guys sitting on a bench across from us.  That led to a pretty fun conversation that almost made us miss the last bus at midnight.

La Fontana Trevi è molta bella alla notte!

But the highlight of the evening was when this roar took up around the fountain, and we turned to see this chick in a pretty nice dress wading deeper and deeper into the fountain.  Her shoes in hand, her arms were lifted up in victory and she made her way out to play tag with the statue.  The shrill whistle of the Carabinieri meant nothing to her.

You might not be able to tell,
but the Carabinieri are definitely in
that crowd, waiting to nab her.

I found out, though, that if you want to take a dive at the Fontana Trevi, it will only cost you a €150 fine.  Pretty affordable, in my opinion.  I'll let you all know what I decide by the end of the summer.  ;-)

I have Wi-Fi at the school and I'm going today to buy a temporary Italian burner phone, but it is strange to feel disconnected.  On the one hand, it's nice to unplug, because I am not constantly checking my phone or waiting for someone to get back to me.  I can read for hours without feeling guilty about ignoring anyone.  But on the other, I feel a bit estranged.  I wonder how six weeks of this will affect my behavior when I return to the states.

As a reminder: don't text me.  My phone is going to remain in airplane mode until July 5th, and there is an impossibly good chance that any texts sent will be dropped by then.  But please do email me, even if it is less than 160 characters.  I promise to respond, though not in a timely fashion.

Buona giornata!

Day One: Flights and Naps

Not gonna lie--day one was a bit dull.

The flight over the Atlantic was LONG.  I watched some movies on the television screen in front of me, and I slept a bit.  Mainly, I avoided staring out the window.  It was simultaneously amazing and terrifying.

I haven't been afraid to fly since I was a kid, and I have flown so much in the past few years that it is starting to lose its awe.  But flying over an ocean is new for me.  And it kind of freaked me out.  I actually read the water-landing section of the safety card.  And in the middle of the flight, we hit a storm.  Over the ocean.  Again, terrifying and again, amazing.  But the flight made it!  And I took comfort in the fact that I couldn't think of any recent water landings other than the one in the Hudson bay, so the odds were in my favor.

That may look like a sky-picture, but it's definitely the ocean.
See the waves?

Once we landed, I found another Italian student, Erik, who had been on my flight and we went through customs and then claimed some space to wait for the rest of the crew to arrive.  We had a few hours to kill before our bus would arrive to cart us off into the city.  Customs was a bit disappointing and very much insecure.  The guy didn't even look at my passport, and he didn't stamp it.  There is no documentation of my being here, so if any of you try to frame me for a crime while I am away, I have no alibi.  Shawn and Gus are going to figure me out.

The bus ride into the city actually made me laugh out loud because it looked like Texas for the most part.  There were plains, tall trees, and giant wheat-rolls hanging out on the side of the road.  It felt like home.  You know, except for the castles.  And the fact that the highways were done in this weird futuristic style from the 70s.  Anyone who has seen the old Fahrenheit 451 film should be able to visualize what I mean with that phrase.

At the piazza, I met Simonetta, my host-mom (more on her later), and she drove me out to Salario.  And I knew Italians had a bad rep for driving too fast and being reckless, but OH MY GOD!  Lanes may be painted onto the road, but they certainly don't exist.  And I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping anyone from getting into an accident is the fact that no one stops.  You just keep moving and barely skirt a fatality.

Simonetta's apartment is wall-to-wall decorated, which I
imagine must be an Italian cultural difference.

But somehow, we made it to Simonetta's apartment building, and she made me lunch and then I feel promptly to sleep.  This would be at about 4:30pm in Rome, or 9:30am in Texas.  And I didn't wake up again for about 12 or so hours.

And that was day one.  A pretty emotional start.  Kind of one of the most intense things I've ever done---sitting on a plane, thinking about going somewhere new where I barely speak the language and don't know anyone.  But my dad told me that if I'm not always a little bit scared, I'm not doing it right.  So, I just told myself it was a good thing and slept through the beginning anxiety.

This bed became my best friend.
Paolo says "hi."