Rome Resurrected!

Note: I just got back from Venice (will post soon!), and have been meaning to post this thing about Rome for a while... so slightly late, but oh so worth the wait.

Anyway, I have been quite busy! For the most part, a good kind of busy.

The whole "study abroad" thing is certainly an experience. Strangely enough, I think I'm learning a lot just by being in a program with East Coast prep school kids. Sometimes I feel like the California culture is a lot more similar to the Italian than it is to the East Coast...

But for the most part, I'm trying to get in there and experience the Italian culture. So things I have been up to:

- classes: I actually spend a lot of time in these (15 hours a week!) - but that's alright because for 12 of those hours I am led by a native Roman with a pHD on walking tours to the city's churches, ruins, museums, archaeological sites... mmm, its beautiful!

-internship! I'm still working at the library for the Accademia dei Lincei, doing very basic office work. Its actually kind of frustrating because I'm the only non-Italian there, so my language abilities, and thus social and intellectual abilities are pretty low. Languages are tough. I feel like I can communicate fairly well, but there's no way I can jump into their conversations, or even answer their questions without asking them to speak slower, or what a certain word means. Its rough but one of those things that I'm sure I'll appreciate when I am done.

- Also a couple weeks ago I started tutoring Francesca, a 9 year old Italian girl in English! This is really good for my Italian too - but a lot more fun! She is so cute, and I really enjoy the challenge of trying to make lessons interesting. We do lots of singing, game playing, and drawing - she thinks I'm wonderful, what more do I need in the world?

-Then, of course, the independent adventures throughout Rome must continue... some photos from a few of these below. Unfortunately though, research papers and approaching final projects have made these times less frequent :(


Capitoline Hill



Appian Way - I took a day trip here, 30 min outside the city center. For an ancient road it was pretty scary to walk down, as you can see by the narrow roadway, lack of sidewalk, zooming cars, and high walls surrounding. This only further proves that Caroline likes to live on the edge.


Sunset over the Jewish Ghetto (where the word "ghetto" originated - now its not a ghetto in the typical American sense of the term) - the squarish tower on the left side is the local synagogue.


Catacombs of S. Sebastiano, S. Callisto, and S. Domitilla were along the Appian Way. I went to the catacombs of S. Callisto.


I went to a free sacred choral music concert in the church of S. Igazio. This is the church of the founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius. It is quite ornate!


Forum at night


Renaissance Tempietto designed by Brancacci. This is up on this beautiful hill called Gianicolo on the West side of town.


In South Rome, I visited some of the sites nearby. This is the pyramid of Cestius Gaius during the reign of Caesar Augustus when there was what historians call "Egyptomania" in Rome. Next door is part of the Roman walls created toward the decline of the Empire to keep out those darn barbarians!




Sunset over Via del Corso


Pantheon


The Protestant cemetery is nearby also, and has a number of famous Romantic poets, writers, and composers. Here is one of my favorites: Percy Bysshe Shelley.


And I finally gave in and bought one of those obnoxious Euro puffy jackets with fur... which I love!!! I wear it around in my room when I'm doing homework, or out on the town, or going to class! It works for all occasions!


Anyway, in conclusion: I really love Rome. A lot.

Of course there are things and people I miss about home, California, Oxy, America, but I'm trying my best to" live in the moment" and appreciate this ridiculously amazingly fantastic opportunity I have to study in Rome.

A dopo!