Trouble in paradise

Yesterday I had my first study abroad hiccup. It's both worse and better than it sounds. While taking pictures in an absolutely gorgeous church, some mendicant banged into me and caused me to drop my camera on the floor.

The end result was that my Canon Powershot's lens came off. It's a relatively simple problem (no parts were broken; it just needs screwing back into place) but one that I'm sure I can screw up in some relatively simple way.

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for an Italian repair shop, but I don't want to pay a ridiculous amount of money for this procedure. Right now it looks like my best bet is to wait until I return to the states.

In other news, the Euro is getting stronger and stronger against the dollar. (It's currently at its highest point ever.) What does this mean for me? Everything is prohibitively expensive, and it's becoming even more so.

On top of this, I have a presentation on the Pantheon and 150 more pages of reading to get through today.

So not in the best of moods right now. Surviving this experience will be more difficult than I originally thought.

Something unpredictable, but in the end it's right?

This is already rivaling Scav for the coveted title “Best Experience of My Life.” I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this physically healthy, socially outgoing, and intellectual stimulated. The people are luminous beings. (I’m really regretting not getting out of the House more often last year.) Every night I see and do something new in this ancient place.

I’ve now been in Rome long enough to get hit with a bundle of contradictions. Before I set foot on this continent, I knew absolutely nothing about the Roman civilization. I mean, I knew all of the requisite “Jeopardy!” cursory knowledge (the major emperors, big still-standing stone objects and their locations), but I knew nothing about how the Romans lived, what they did, etc. If a group of ancient Romans came up to me, and in the course of conversation, used the phrase, “You know how we do” I would be forced to reply “FALSE.”

But now, after three days of class, I have a wealth of information about their habits, system of government, violent quirky legends, etc. that I never had before. I’ve never acquired so much information about a subject I knew absolutely nothing about in such a small time before. I am somewhat suffering from sensory overload at this point.

Additionally, I can feel myself getting better in Italian. I’ve had two conversations over AIM in Italian. IN ITALIAN. (This does not count the mundane daily talking in Italian that happens over the course of the day.)

I’m under budget by about two euros a day, which is amazing. I may be able to buy something nice if this keeps up.

Despite the incredibly inconvenient internet situation, I still managed to download the season premiere of Avatar, albeit three days late. This isn’t Rome-related, so I’ll hold off on my thoughts unless someone asks me directly.

Look At My Pictures, or, the Call 'o "SEE 'EM"!

Man, I'm really reaching for the pun there."You're the top...you're the Coliseum. You're the top...you're the Louvre museum."
They used to flood this bottom area and have mock naval battles. Dr. Redfield confirmed this.
There's a stage! They still use the Coliseum for performances occasionally. I NEED to go to one of these.
Nothing like taking a picture while stretching, Cassie.
Una bella vista.
Mystery arch? No one sitting around me can figure out which one this is.
Justin is the haps.
If only Max Working had a Myspace page.
See those plastic-y, fake looking columns to the left? They put those up for use in midnight fashion shows. I have no idea why the old people depicted found me so interesting.
Moments before, this man was dressed as a Gladiator. They have these fake Gladiators/Centurions that walk around the Forum exhorting you to take expensive pictures with them. So kind of like Disney mascots, except more explicitly violence-related.
"You see, Artie, these are cobblestones."
"Very interesting."
Dan and Sonia are presenting on the church San Clemente, WHICH I SAW A HISTORY CHANNEL SPECIAL ON THE DAY BEFORE I LEFT. Remember that, Mom? They were walking through a darkened corridor and the host was totally nerding out! I HAVE BEEN THERE NOW.
The Vittorio Manuele monument is actually pretty from this angle.
You can't see it that well, but that sign says: "Spider-Man: più umano dei super-uomini." (Spider-Man: The Most Human of the Superheroes.") I promise I'll post pictures of this exhibit later.
Little Caesar's statue.
This is a car we saw near our hotel. It had this on its window.
It is covered in fur. FUR!
Gross.
Sei serio? Ma va.
Temple of the Vestal Virgins.
The Arch of Trajan is in the middle of the picture, while the large square building to its right is the Curia Hostilia, or the ancient roman Senate building (still standing!)
Our fearless leaders, Professor Redfield and Maggie!
As we were walking by, some people were excavating a site in the forum.
OMG GEEK OUT.
That's it for today. I still have loads of pictures, but I also have loads of reading to do this weekend.

A dopo.

For Lee

So I found this place across the street that is like some '70s - early '80s American pop culture wasteland. It's filled with Back to the Future paraphernalia, Bruce Springsteen album covers, Muppets calendars, and a working Commodore 64 with Pong!

Here are some more pictures. I'm working on getting the Spidey pics; they're not on my camera.


We rode this crazy Space Mountain-esque brightly colored bus on the way back from Ostia. It looked like my room from last year.
This kind of stuff is ALL OVER ROME.
Why a pyramid? Why not?

Everything's Under Control; Situation Normal.

Lee has brought it to my attention that those of you without Blogspot accounts can't comment on my posts.

FIX'D.

Now you have no excuse. Also, contrary to popular belief, I have managed to avoid falling in love with Max Working.

Hope you're all well; I have a long weekend so I will post more pictures and stuff tomorrow.

Does Whatever The Romans Can

Professor James Redfield is a certified bad-ass. One of the most respected teachers in his field, he's one of the only lecturers who can hold my attention for two consecutive hours. My goal is to do ALL of the reading -- something that's not only optional, but pretty difficult. I think I've gotten off to an excellent start in both classes.

Redfield told us the U of C operated much like the late Roman Republic. This was pretty entertaining, as Rome's government failed to work unless there was an external threat to the city. Basically, both the U of C and Rome lacked unitary command at ANY level, so consensus-building among the autonomous bureaucratic bodies was/is next-to-impossible.

In other news, I went to this exhibit. It featured not only art, but historic comic covers/costumes several giant statues of him, and an amazing (ouch) walk through Peter's history in Italian. I actually understood most of it!

I went to the Coliseum. It was colossal. (I'm actually really excited about it, but without pictures it's tough to rave.)

So basically, I am having an amazing time in every possible way.

The River and the Beach

I really like how the Tiber slopes here.
SPQR is everywhere.
Graffiti declarations of love are fairly common. This one says, "Babi, I tell you in a soft voice...I love you." There is no word on how Babi feels about this.
Max and I saw someone filming a documentary on the Tiber. When asked, they said it was "un piccolo film." They made it clear that they did not need English-speaking extras. Painfully clear.

I like to think that somewhere in Rome, there is a naked businessman who left this behind.
Hey, stick stickly man! Whaaaat are you doing?
Una parca senza erbi.
Vittorio Emanuele is not on my Christmas card list. "Hey, guys, let's build a big dumb ostentatious monument to me that dwarfs much cooler stuff nearby!" What a chump.
Still not impressed.

So that's it for Saturday. On Sunday, we went on an excursion to the beach. I swam in the Mediterranean! Unfortunately, it was pretty difficult finding a public, free beach. We had to take a train and two buses. But it was kind of worth it. For me, anyway. The others didn't even get into the water. I was all, "Water you doing?"

I like the symmetry of this picture.
At this point, the Italians stopped us and said we had to pay to go any further. I took a picture in frustration.
Us.
We made it! But no one was in the water?
To the Max.

My first day of class is (was) today. Redfield is really old, but he's a very good lecturer. I have my first Italian class in a few minutes. Ciao until then. (I'll try to cool it with the pictures from now on.)

This Just In

Rome is full of things. Many of them are very, very old. I haven't even gotten halfway through the 100-odd pictures I've taken so far. (I decided early on to stop being self-conscious about being a lame American tourist and to simply snap a photo whenever I saw fit. Also, I really like my new digital camera.)

I still do not have free internets. The Italian strategy of doing things seems to be to promise to do them and then to not do them. I am reminded of a quote by Dwight Kurt Schrute: “Michael once told me, ‘Don’t be an idiot.’ Changed my life. From now on, whenever I am about to do something, I think, ‘Would an idiot do that?’ And if he would, I do not do that thing.”

The Italians, whenever they are about to do something, they think, “Would it take effort to do that?” And if it would, they do not do that thing. This is probably why they were not unified until the mid-19th century.

It should be noted that this reticence to do things seems limited to the Italians in charge. The people whom I've interacted with so far on a personal level have been kind and helpful.

Yesterday, I was cruising through Rome on foot wearing my Nintendo t-shirt (it gets kinda chilly at night) and I was stopped by two gaping native specimens. They were very impressed by my garb. I had some difficulty understanding them, because they seemed to be asking which 'bookstore' I had bought it at. Finally I just told them I was American. They then told me Italy was a great country.

Man, this post is worth about 18,000 words.

And then there was nun.

The Tiber is pretty. Pretty dirty.


Representing the street.

Max Working is still real.


Campo de' Fiori, which is really exciting if you like vegetables and shopping.


It's all inside.


Max Working told me a story about some Monk that was crucified for heresy. I call him the resentful monk. I think he looks like Nick.


So these are some ruins that Mussolini dug up and made better. They belonged to Nero or Pompey or someone. Now they are filled with cats.



Very Zelda 2.

Il gatto!


Do not abandon your cats here, please.

I could not get enough of these ruins. Fortunately, we'll be touring them later.


A-maze-ing.

This building looks great. I have nothing to say other than it looks great.

We ranted and raved about the terrace. I don't think any of you can appreciate how amazing sitting on the roof of a building in Rome in the morning is. Seriously, this terrace should be used in recruiting brochures for this program.


Max is ready to terrace apart.


This inscription is talking about historical efforts to get rid of trash dating back to a long time ago.


This bridge dates back to the original Rome. No one has broken it yet.