Today is quite possibly the most epically long livejournal entry ever. I highly recommend taking breaks.
So my exceedingly long weekend was interesting. It all started when I had a dream that I had decided, two weeks into study aroad, to go home. (I think a by-product of being homesick for my mom's cooking and a washing machine that dosent take 3 hours for jeans). I can't really remember what the specifics were but I do remember feeling dissapointed with myself having not done more. Then I woke up and was still in Rome. With this knowledge I tried to do a lot with my weekend.
THURSDAY:
On Thursday I took my reading outside and enjoyed the scenery of via ottavilla while reading some Harold Swift.
Then I rounded some of the troops and we headed down to Spanish Steps around 6:30pm, We caught the steps at twighlight and it was great, if not a little crowded.
I think I'll go back and visit the Keats/Shelly museum that's down there eventually as well. (It's right next to the steps, I mean RIGHT NEXT the steps,in the sense that they physically touch.) Apparently it had once been a house owned by a Keats and he had died in it, which prompted the museum. I find that house must be a constant reminder to me how convienent it would be to have rediculous sums of money.
After that we walked down in the area and looked into all the shops, there were, of course Versace, Armani and all the hot-to-trot stores where it costs 5 euros touch the merchandise, so we did'nt go in. But apparently (and keep this hush-hush...) black is in. We decided to walk back to our apartment from downtown, not as long a walk as it sounds, but nevertheless picked up some gelato for the trek. I got one that was called Zuppa Inglese (English Soup) which turned out to be Trifle. While trying to figure out the taste it was, it was collectively decided that it tasted like childrens cough-syrup.
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/180/0.shtml
We enjoyed the sites and sounds of via trestevere, including a semi-bazaar that was lining the tiber river. We came back around 10:30 had some wine a light dinner and watch The Venture Bros. (what can I say, I was still a little homesick).
FRIDAY
I did my permessio on friday, I'm sorry to not have a more interesting story but it was organized by the school and was terribly efficient. I was in and out in 5 min. I didn't even have to go down to the police station. I was looking forward to the badge of honor but to no avail. Sorry Dom.
I got out to the art-supply store to buy my materials for Intermediate drawing. Thank God our teacher had already packaged away what we needed at the store. The supplies we got were about 40 euros (relatively 50 dollars). I had heard some horror-stories about buying art supplies. My two fashion-design majors had, between the two of them, spent 300 euros on markers, paper, sketchbooks etc. He apparently had a deal with the people at the store and all I had to say was "Conosco Tim". Then I dropped off my film to be developed into that's right...slides! So look forward to that family and friends. I spent most of the rest of the day finishing homework. There is an absurd amount of reading I need to do for my art classes, more so than my other classes, it's kind of weird. After which I took a nap. I have really come to love the Riposa. I don't know if I can go back to not sleeping in the middle of the day, it presents a real problem for the ghosts of corporate future.
Also this was the day that I figured out how to get pictures off of my camera, an epic task indeed. I figured that Heather's old camera takes the same size memory chip as mine and i can download the photos using hers. Which is nice because then I can prove that i'm not actually making all this up.
SATURDAY
This was the day we finally made our way to the Vatican. We didn't have time to do the museum as well, but we did do the basillica, the catacombs and the dome. The Dome was amazing, I think it is something you should do once in your life. You pay 5 euros to walk, a price I would usually find rediculous, but it takes 7 to get the elevator up half way. We climbed 16 stories up the thinnest most dangerous spiral staircase I have ever seen. But we got to see not only the inside from the dome and be right next to, like can physically touch, the mosaics but also saw all of Rome from the "god's eye" view of the top of the bascillica. I don't think I could do it twice because it was so exhausting the first time but I'm really glad I did it. It makes you appreciate the enormity of the structure and also the great human task that it makes to create a city like Rome. It was such an extraordinary experience I felt like I had to propose to someone, so I asked Joanne to marry me she said she would not but thanks for the offer. Better Her than a stranger who might actually say yes. As for the art on the ground, it was overwhelming. I had been before when I was 13 with my parents, but seeing it again was, well, I was floored. They always tell you, you have to see it in person, and they're right. Michelangelo's Pieta was of course, surrounded by people but we deftly manuvered our way to the front and got the full view.
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/citta/0w-Pieta.jpg
He made this when he was 25 years old, which means I have three years to match it..awesome.
I'll have pictures up soon so you can see the amazing sculpture and mosaics. We then took a break by the statue of constantine (a bernini...as if you could'nt tell)
http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/y/f/ConstantineBernini.jpg
and pondered how much money this must have cost over the years, I speculate that the number is partly infused with infinity.
On the way back we got lost on the bus, but eventually found our way to a McDonalds, so it was not in vain. When we finally got back Bridget and AJ convinced me to go out to a Bar. (Botticelli's to be precise). It was an intersting bar, it was in a mostly Italian area (a far cry from Campi di Fiori which could be center-city Philadelphia) but the American College presence was undeniable. American Football on the screen and pennants on the wall, plus the Bar tender spoke with a flawless Minnesota accent. We drank and sang and had a great time, but on the way back there were some girls (not AUR) whose friend had gotten so drunk she could no longer stand and then preceeded to vomit all over the tram. We werent sure where they were from, but seeing as how most Italians frown upon public drunkeness I doubt that they were from there. P.S. they were also unpleaseant to be near.
SUNDAY
In the morning we got up around 10 am and made our way down to the Bazaar at Trestevere, which was in fact bazaar. There were some really cool things there, including an old school rotary-phone that was bright-barbie-pink, I would have bought it for the novelty but then I realized I would have had to bring it home and that was just not gonna happen. It was very, very crowded and seemed like most people had just cleaned out their attics and expected you to buy it. Used shoes, Old Pornography, massive amounts of batteries that may or may not have "fallen off the back of a truck" pretty much anything you can imagine. There were also new smells that I never thought could come out of the human body. Apparently to come to this thing you were not allowed to wear deodorant, I missed that memo. Aside from the 24 different flavors of B.O. that were to be found our poor friend Bridget had worn a jean skirt and was continually being felt up by guys. We tried to tell ourselves that they were pick-pockets but it's a sad occurance when the best you can hope for is theft. The Bus ride home was really packed, I stayed near the back and hung out with the old man who brought his dog on the bus. Then I rested.
Tonight we have fajitas and it's going to be delicious.
the end.
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