Tuesday

So today the plan was to lug my laptop around during lecture so that i could bring it to the school afterwards where there is wireless and put all my pictures online! This is a huge deal because we walk a lot in the sun, very quickly and a heavy bag makes it's almost unbearable. Well problems:

1) the adapter i have doesn't do three pronged plugs so i only had 30 minutes battery life
2) My computer kept freezing and facebook and photobucket weren't working and i got so frustrated as the battery got lower I was near tears and eventually had to give up.

Then I tried to upload my pics to a school computer but to upload those to the internet you need java and the school comps wont let you download java. So almost an hour of wasted time later I am out of luck.

So this morning was pretty horrible for me, I was lugging around my laptop in almost 90 degree heat for over three hours, and we were running late from the start so everything was even more rushed than usual and the exhaustion and heat plus my failed attempts at uploading pictures had me near tears by well, now.

Oh well, let's move on.

Yesterday we had our Italian class in the Campo dei fiori, which means field of flowers since it used to be a meadow, back in ancient times. Today it's a marketplace and we had to go around answering questions and finding the names of things. By now I'm totally good at asking things like come se dice in italian? and pointing (I'm very proud of this if you couldn't tell), people are really nice and eager to help us. I also saw ostrich eggs for sale and these teeny type of strawberries that aren't really baby strawberries but like mini ones. There were also a few other varieties of fruits we dont get back home! And everything looks so fresh and refreshing when it's so hot out! I just want to eat fruit all day!

Though while waiting for the group to finish a pigeon decided to drop a little gift on me which I was horrified by, of course. Luckily a friend had some tissues but it was really a downer since we still had hours to go before we could go home.

Though I hate to say this again, this class too is rushed. I wish they would just expand this whole course into a three months instead of three and a half week course. I constantly feel bewildered and rushed. I hate complaining here because despite this, the city never ceases to amaze me.

So onto todays lecture, we briefly covered the Pantheon and went inside, it was beautiful, I didn't realize how pretty it was inside since it was turned into a church in 608 I believe, though I could be mixing up that date. The dome is famous because experts are still arguing about how it was constructed, it was quite the architectural feat! In the middle of the dome is an oculus, an open hole that lets sunlight shine in and just adds to how amazing this dome is!

I also gave my presentation today on the theater of Balbus, which is the smallest of three stone theaters in Rome. Small still being able to seat 7,700 spectators! A fun fact is: on the day of it's inauguration the Tiber flooded so guests arrived by boat! Yes they still held it and floated themselves right up to that grand opening! I didn't realize it was such a big deal. I had to give the presentation on a busy street because we give them at the site of whatever we are talking about. However, you couldn't even see the theater on street level which was somewhat disappointing! I couldn't even tell you what it actually looks like!

We also saw an ancient sundial made of an obelisk brought from Egypt, which could not only tell the time of day but the time of year! Unfortunately it only worked for a few decades because earthquakes and nature interfered and threw the calculations off. I guess since Julius Caesar had just revolutionized the whole calender his successor Augustus felt he had to one up him. It just didn't last very long, though the obelisk is still there.

The obelisks are actually all brought over from Egypt which I find wonderful since i love Egyptian anything. Also it's amazing that they could bring these HUGE structures all the way from Egypt by boat and then erect them in Rome. They are very tall! When Julius Caesar was married to Cleopatra he actually erected a temple or two to Isis, and Egyptian god and you can find evidence of that still in the city, we saw evidence of one today in the form of a giant foot left over from the original statue.

Anyway we also saw the column of Marcus Aerulius (sp?) which is carved with pictures depicting his triumphs and victories. It has upwards of twenty levels, depicting detailed scenes in white stone! It also has a spiral staircase inside that can take you to the top though I don't think it's accessible and if it is i doubt its open to the public! But in ancient times I guess it gave quite the view as these columns are at least as tall as buildings!

Lastly we saw the mausoleum of Augustus which had huge tablets filled with his accomplishments and the altar of peace. What's interesting about the altar of peace is that while it celebrates Rome's enemies being suppressed and end of civil war, even in peace they still had to contend with famine, plague, fires, and floods! life in ancient Rome was perilous at it's best! This was so well preserved that at first I thought it was a reconstruction! Later our professor pointed out places where it had been restored, adding to its intact appearance but even then it was in pretty good shape. It depicted a few legends but also a procession of the imperial family and just about everyone associated with them along one side. On another side it depicted a goddess of fertility.

So I think those are the big landmarks. I have also realized that gelato is the fix all when you're tired, cranky and hot, it's just impossible to deny yourself a nice cool REFRESHING gelato. My favorite so far is coconut. MMM. Just thinking about it improves my mood. Though I think it's contributing to my increasing waist size despite all the walking which i think should be having the opposite effect. Ah well such is life.

Also all the shops are so expensive. There is nothing like walmart or jcpenny here, it's all high end boutiques, so much for coming home with any Italian fashion! We have looked in dozens of shops and many of the dresses run around 200 euro. I'm thinking perhaps I might be able to afford a ring, I mean a cheap ring but even those are twenty euro! I sent out some postcards and intended to send more until it cost me an arm and a leg! My intentions are good but Rome is just too expensive!!!

I think I need to go now, but I will be printing this out for my journal, so concrit is welcome friends!