Day Two: Lost

Today was really, really, really exhausting – but I feel like I’ve walked the entire city of Rome! My feet ache so bad that I’m actually limping right now. So let’s see….where do I start? I actually slept pretty well last night. I woke up a couple of times very randomly, almost like I was wondering why on earth I was asleep. It was also really hot in the hotel room – my bed is placed almost directly under the heating vent and it was blowing all night. Tonight I’ll make sure to open the window in my room (there’s another window near my roommates’ beds in the connecting room) and turn off the heat. Random point: the windows are pretty cool - they’re the kind that unlatch and swing open , and would be completely illegal at hotels in the U.S. cause a person could jump out of ‘em and then sue the hotel. =p

Both of my roommates and I set our alarms to go off between 7 and 7:15 this morning, so we all got up at about the same time to get ready. The weather was pretty warm yesterday, so I decided to wear pants, a t-shirt, and my raincoat/windbreaker – a good choice because it alternated between being kinda chilly (like 45ish with the wind chill) and warm (like 60) all day depending on whether the sun was out, and if you were in the shade. Breakfast was surprisingly really, really huge and pretty good – they had everything you could think of: eggs (rather tasteless and really runny), four types of cereal, pastries, bacon (no Viktorija, I didn’t have any, but it wasn’t crispy at all so I wasn’t tempted), sausage, yogurt (which was okay, sweet but plain), bread, jelly, sliced fruit, juice, water, coffee, and tea. I ate as much as I could because I knew it would be a while before I could eat again. After we finished eating, we joined one of the groups that were leaving the hotel. The professors all left at different times, so you had the choice of leaving early and getting to see more or sleeping in later and going directly to the meeting spot. We took the bus into Rome, where we all eventually met up at ten in the Piazza Navona (a randomly small piazza that was significant only because it had Bernini’s fountain, The Four Rivers, in the middle of it – for you un-art historical type, that’s a pretty famous artist). I went with the drawing/painting teacher’s group (her name is Rebecca), which was the second group to leave the hotel. We took a bus to a stop just past the Vatican, and from there we walked to several different points of interest. Jacob, our visiting artist (that means that he’s a college grad who gets to help out with the Cortona program for a year while getting to pursue his own art) ended up bumping into us (he inadvertently lost his own group) and helped to tell us about what we were seeing. We didn’t see anything too significant on our walk to the Piazza Navona, although we did spend about fifteen minutes walking around an open market, which was fun. We didn’t really do much there. After looking around, we took turns taking pictures of each other against the nice Italian backdrop. =p Point of fact: It’s really hard to soak in Rome fast – it’s such a big city. I’m really looking forward to getting to Cortona and just relaxing, getting to know some of the local people, trying out the gelato (ice cream) place (I’ve heard it’s really good!), and all that.

Classes have started in this official un-official way – our schedule is this: we have art history from about nine o’clock in the morning (or whatever time we meet in some place or other) till about noon. This consists of us splitting up (in a purely whoever-ends-up-with-whoever way) into groups, and making our way from monument to monument, meeting up only to hear a quick fifteen minute or so explanation by Sara (the art historian – she’s this bubbly, short woman who’s finishing up her MFA at Yale. I actually think that she looks a lot like Mrs. Hansbury). At noon we all wander off in different directions to find lunch and do whatever we want until about two-thirdish or so, when we meet back up (if we want) to split off into different groups again, this time each group goes to see something different and we get to pick who we want to go with or if we just want to go off by ourselves again. After we see whatever it is we want to see, we’re free until 7:30 when dinner is served in the hotel. Now, by dinner I mean a full and complete and fairly formal three course meal, lol. Definitely NOT what we were expecting the first night! You go into this really nice, white –tablecloth restaurant in the hotel where there are about four or five waiters/waitresses (dressed in black with a full white apron and speaking only Italian, for the most part). When you get there, there are already buns on the table (they’re actually kinda hard, but a good starter), red and white wine *mmmm*, and water (or sparkling water). The first night we were served pasta with red sauce (and apparently fish, although I didn’t taste it) as our primo, which means the first course. The funny thing was that none of us realized we were going to get anything else so we ate as much as we could, and then were completely surprised when we were handed another plate with fish and veggies on it! The fish smelled rather nasty, but tasted ok (though kinda bland). The last course was dessert- Viktorija, you woulda loved it..wait, maybe not. It was really interesting: kinda looked like a slice of cake, but it was cold and had the consistency of ice cream, but I couldn’t figure out what it was made of. It was sweet and yummy, and also full of nuts (which is probably why you wouldn’t have liked it). Anyway, the meals have been very good. Sometimes not exactly what I want, but I’m so hungry it doesn’t matter and I’m getting to taste new things. Not exactly what I was expecting, not as much spice and stuff, but I’m gonna wait to try something in a smaller city, where I’m hoping the meals will be more…Italian? Does that make sense? OH, I have to mention the head waiter – he’s so cute! Lol, okay stop groaning, not THAT kind of cute! He’s this older gentleman, who’s short and understands a little English, but speaks only Italian to us. He reminds me of a Leprechaun. =D Seriously, watch that Disney movie, the Luck of the Irish? And he reminds me of that grandfather…I think. Anyway, he’s one of those really cute guys who’ll bend over backwards to help you and whom everyone loves.

ANYWAY, back to what I did today: so after we met up, we went to see two different churches, where we basically rushed in to specifically see several art works (oh, you know…some Caravaggio….some Raphael…!). One of ‘em was the Basilica of St. Augustine (except in Italian) and had the remains (aka: nothing you can actually see, just a coffin) of St. Monica and the other was a French church called San Luigi (sp?). After that we went to the Pantheon. It was Pretty Darn Cool. Okay, so you know what it is, right? The HUGGGE, circular dome that was a temple for all the gods with an oculus in the middle of the ceiling (that’s a round circular opening). It was the largest dome in the world until St. Peter’s was built and it was decided that they had to make St. Peter’s bigger in order for it to be The Best. Well, apparently, there’s still a debate raging on which is bigger depending on how you measure the domes, one is wider and one is taller – apparently math can’t solve everything (whatcha think, Nathan?)! Anyway, I really liked the Parthenon because it’s a church (it was converted into a Catholic Church, but definitely didn’t feel like one!), but it’s not inside or out! The oculus means that when it rains, it rains! The floor is built in a way that it gradually slopes downwards (not so you could tell) and the water drains out. There were some puddles in the middle, btw. Oh, and Raphael is buried there as well. You know…in a random corner… That’s what’s so crazy about Rome: you’ll be in the middle of some random, teeny-tiny Italian street, go around a corner, and WHAM! There’s a famous monument. People are buried in every church and you feel like there’s no humanly possible way of seeing everything.

After going to the Parthenon, I ended up wandering with different people at different times. We picked up some pizza, and since nothing looked familiar I just grabbed and hoped for the best: BIG MISTAKE. I ended up with anchovies on my pizza….diiiisgusting. It. Was. So. Salty. So I ate the crusts, had some trail mix, and decided to fast for a bit. =p After that I wandered with three other girls (my two roommates, Sara and Claire, and another girl…I don’t remember who it was) everywhere and anywhere. I think we originally decided to look for an internet café, but couldn’t find one that was a good deal. We ended up at the Tomb for the Unknown Soldier which is this huge HUGE HUGE building. Like, think a million steps and levels, with two standing guards and two perpetual flames at the bottom. Later on I realized that that building is actually on the Capitoline Hill, so if you walk around the structure, there’s like a million other famous things there…more on that later. I’ll post pictures as soon as possible, but I don’t know when that’ll be. We wandered around on that, trying not to go anywhere that we’d have to pay, aka: a glass elevator that took you even HIGHER if possible and was incredibly expensive, some random museum inside that didn’t look interesting, and a rooftop (very romantic!) bar. From the top of this building, we could spot several impressive and famous sites such as St Peter’s (where we’re going tomorrow), the Colosseum (I tried getting in later on with another group of people, but they stop selling tickets at 3:30), Trajan’s Marketplace (think: lots of lots of mazey looking ruins), etc, etc. I tried out my telephoto lens which is pretty cool cuz it can get really, really close up to something uber far away. After that, we met up with everyone back in the front of the Parthenon (there are way too many people – mainly from India and no I’m not being racist – selling cheap junk there), where I ended up going with Rebecca again to go see an exhibition of Gauguin. It was….eh. I’m not a fan of his work, but I’m more into painting exhibits versus ceramics, and I didn’t really want to go see a Jewelry exhibition. Note to self: next time if nothing sounds interesting, find a group of people who are going somewhere else. I really want to go see the catacombs! But I need to find more info on when they’re open and all that. Surprisingly, everything seems to be open on Sundays. It’s Mondays that everything closes down…weird.

After wandering around the Colosseum (but not in, darn), I ended up with this one guy, Thomas and we decided to make our way back to the hotel. It was just after four. TWO HOURS LATER and long after it got dark, we (or at least I) hobbled into the hotel. We had taken the metro and basically took the wrong way when we got off…like FOUR TIMES. And has anyone ever told you that everyone in Italy knows English? Well, guess what – THEY’RE WRONG. Okay, we stopped like four people and only one person could actually understand and get out a couple of English words. Yep. It was pretty bad. Ah well, everyone needs to get lost at one point or other, right? Lol It was good. Trying to not get hit by cars and mopeds on the freakin small streets in the dark was rather exciting, but yeah, it was good. =D Anyway, roommate number 2 (Sara) is turning off her light, so I better get off the comp. Buona Notte!