Day three

So, day three and possibly the hottest yet. Or that might just be because we spent three hours walking through the forum and the Palatine hill. We really zip through these things because there is just so much to see. In three hours I don't think we covered much more than half! However, we're really lucky because we get a lecture as we go, I wouldn't get even a tenth out of it without our professor. Even then, by the end I'm so overheated and tired and damn near falling over it's hard to appreciate things or pay as close attention as I should.
The forum and hill have almost no shade since non of the structures have a roof, unless you count to two massive arches, though we did get to walk through an underground tunnel in Caesar's palace. Dont ask me which Caesar, Julius or Augustus, one had a palace and one bought a bunch of houses and connected them and I'm not sure which it was we saw.

Even then, by the time I'm half dead I'm still in awe, absolute awe. Nothing could describe it in person, text book learning doesn't come close. Everything is so massive and so elaborate and detailed I just can't comprehend how they did it. The Romans believed Rome was the center of the world and from what the remains look like I wouldn't doubt it was at the height of Rome. Unfortunately most of the marble...okay, all of the marble was stripped in the medieval ages to use in the churches. It's so frustrating that they destroyed their own history just for making churches glizy and overly decorated. It makes me wish so badly I could see these buildings as they were, I keep trying to imagine what it must have looked like and from the ruins it must have been breath-taking. I want to travel back 2,000 years so badly! Even now I'm absolutely in love with the city as it is.

See, it feels like we've been here so much longer than we have. Our days are so long and so full it feels like it can't possibly only have been three days. So I'm kind of starting to miss people back home- but not home, not America, not a teeny bit. I just want to fly everyone over here so I can share it with them! Yesterday I had gelato twice (oops)and my first Italian pizza! It was very thin, with little if any sauce, but it was amazing. It was great that it felt lighter and not as heavy so I ate the whole thing and didn't feel overly stuffed. About halfway through we realized why they hadn't cut it up into slices for us- other people didnt eat it with their hands, the cut it into small pieces and used a knife and fork. We must have looked like barbarians...or just Americans.

Also, yesterday evening after class we did eventually find the churches we were assigned. Turns out we walked right by it- they close for a "siesta" like period after lunch. Anyway, the churches are amazingly beautiful, and extremely grand- even the smaller of the two we went two which was rather inconspicuous on the outside was breath-taking once you went inside. As frustrated as I am that they stripped Roman monuments for the material, I can''t deny how breath-taking the result was. And I'm not a religous person but it just felt so peaceful and calm I wouldn't have minded sitting quietly there for a bit...if we didn't have to go to out next assignment -_-

And, despite the fact i am in the most beautiful city ever, eating the most wonderful food I have ever had, allow me to rant for a second. The reading they give us is ridiculous- over a hundred pages a night, after we've been running around the city all day. Basically my day goes like this:

6:30 AM get up to shower before the other girls
7:00- 8:00- Try to get ready and do a little reading which is always overwhelming and frustrating.
8:00- Try to corral all the girls in our building (seven) to get out so we can walk together. This is not easy and I end up sounding like a mom. Today I left without most of them.
8:15- 9:00 Walk to school, we stop at a small market to grab breakfast, I get a small yogurt drink and an apple- it costs me about 1.50.
9:00- Meet and immediately head to the site where our lesson will take place
9:00-12:00 on site lesson
12:00- 1:00 Lunch time
1:00- 3:00 Self guided walking tour, this usually takes at least this long and if you get lost or have to go far you might have to leave and come back after Italian
3:15- 4:45 Italian class

We make it outside by 5 and dinner usually takes another hour and a half so then you get finished by 6:30/7:00. If you have to finish your walking tour then add an hour.

By then you just want to flop down and relax, we also have to go to the market and get little things for our apartment, currently toilet paper -_- So really last night we got back around 8:30 and I finished up writing out the answers to the walking tour assignment and opened my books to read about 9:00 PM

By 9:30 I was asleep over my books. Crispy has seen this. By ten I gave up. I just dont want to make myself miserable, not here. Most of the group went out to a bar until 2:00 Am and haven't even opened the book which makes me a bit frustrated because I try to do the work even trying to continue it in the morning but it still doesn't get done.

Today I decided I am not going to exhaust myself and get heat stroke walking assignment be damned. I'm not blowing it off because i WANT to go see the stuff (including the medici villa- that's exciting!!!!!) but I dont want to be cranky over tired and overheated when i do!

We have a field trip tomorrow from 7:30- 3:00 and no Italian or walking tour assignment and then we have the weekend free. I'm going to do it on my own time and be stress free about it. I'll have as long as I please and I'll be able to stop in shops on the way and enjoy myself.

Anyway, back to recalling my day. Today for lunch I had a frustrating experience. It was mostly due to the language barrier which hasn't been a problem until now. Though it was more a case of I was just being ignored. The one guy who knew English took my order and then ran off yelling in Italian at various people for various reasons i assume and his other help ignored me. The half sandwich was in a display case and all I had to do was point but i didnt know how to say "hey, stop washing glasses and ignoring me and please help me" because they saw me and just went back to doing whatever they we doing. We had Italian class but we learned things like My name is...Where are you from..? My favorite food is... and counting to twenty and things like that. The only other thing I can say is excuse me, thank you, hello but not much more. I feel like i'm never going to have to tell an italian what my favorite food or music is, but I'd really like to know how to order food, and ask prices and very practical things. I hope it gets more practical from now on. Eventually, the original man returned and saw me looking forlornly at the sandwich. I wanted to sit down but that costs 3.00 euros extra and the sandwich was only 2.50 so that would have been dumb. So we ate while walking. But it was so good I wasn't really mad even when i realized I paid about 4 american dollars for half a sandwhich. Yeah, it was yummy.

Tonight I'm determined to go to the market and stock up on food so i dont have to keep eating out because I will be absolutely broke if I do. But it's been so unbareably hot and we are always outside and walking the passing so many gelato stands is almost impossible. I always have water on me but it's always warm so nice cold gelato is amazing, it's lighter than ice cream and creamier. It's only 1000% better than ice cream with more flavors!

Despite how cram packed the program is Rome is amazing and being here is wonderful. I just wish they could have spread it out more. But I'm going to figure out how to be less stressed. the only major concern is that they will really expect us to finish all the reading plus the onsite stuff. I mean it's more material than anything I have ever encountered. I think jerusalem is much less intense and I will be so relieved to be able to breathe!

I always think of things I'm forgetting to tell you all and I'm sure I will but for now it feels like I've been typing forever, so I'm going to go work on some stuff now. Whew.

P.S- if you are reading please comment.