History and Mapless Adventures

I LOVE THIS CITY.

For real.

If I wasn't already a history dork, I would be after this trip. It fascinates me that I can walk around a crowded city corner and find ancient ruins waiting. I look at a crumbling column and can't help but stop and think about it's life. A lot of people respond to that by saying that a column is just some old stone that's falling over, but that's not what I see. I see the person who conceived of the idea and then brought it to life. I see the people who walked past it every day and didn't think twice, because it was simply part of their world. I see the guy leaning against it while he talked to a friend, or the kids playing next to it, or the stray dog sniffing it. And then I see it neglected and forgotten, slowly buried by layers of sediment from the Tiber, falling to bits as people continue to walk by and not care. And then, thousands of years later (Stop and really think about that. THOUSANDS of years.) someone is trying to build a new house or street and finds this old decrepit column and thinks it's special. Suddenly there are more people, digging, guessing about the guy, the kids, the dog, and the real purpose of that chunk of column. And now there's us, looking at it as a way to reflect on the past, or maybe just walking by and not caring. It's incredible, all the stories that piece of stone has seen, creating it's own story. I can't get over it. And I'm surrounded by thousands of these ruins, churches, and buildings. I'm slowly realizing that I could never get enough of this place.

That being said, I've done some pretty cool things so far. My apartment is in the Monteverde neighborhood, which is mostly just normal Italian people, but also includes a lot of the American University in Rome students. We're near Trastevere, which is a little touristy, but also amazing. It has a ton of shops and good little restaurantes. Trastevere translates to "across the Tiber"; the area is just south of the Vatican, across the river from the centro storico. I'm slowly (SLOWLY) learning how to buy groceries and cappuccinos without making a fool of myself. That, I believe, will take awhile. The Italians are friendly so long as I try to speak in there language, though, and when that fails they're more forgiving towards Spanish rather than English, which is nice.

I've spent a lot of time wandering in order to get to know the city. By wandering, I literally do mean wandering; we go out with a general idea of the area we want to see. Maps are put away, and we only look at them once we get home to see where it is that we actually went. By doing this I've made it to the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, the Via del Corso (the equivalent of Chicago's State St.), Piazza Navona, the Castel Saint'Angelo, and the Piazza del Popolo. We've also found some places off the beaten path: the Pyramid, the Protestant Cemetery, the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (a 16th century basilica that was built on a 14th century church, that was built on a 2nd century pagan temple), and a lot of random fountains and statues. To do all of this, I've also learned about the public transportation, which makes me feel kind of accomplished. (It's the small things that are making me feel adjusted.) I've taken a tram, several buses, and the subway without getting lost, which is nice. The best way to get around the city is definitely walking, but sometimes the tram is a necessity. I'm feeling more and more comfortable with being here, and I think that feeling will only grow as I learn more Italian. Luckily, one of my roommates has taken several years of Italian, so she's helping me navigate the murky waters of the language barrier.

I'm off to cook myself some dinner, something else that I'm getting used to. Ciao!

In the beginning...

[Disclaimer: I am very tired so this will probably be very corny. I apologize.] 

"'And so you are going abroad; and when do you return?

 But that's a useless question.

You hardly know when you are coming back,

You will find so much to learn.'"

-T.S. Eliot, Portrait of a Lady

I conveniently read that Eliot's Portrat of a Lady for the first time the other day, sitting on a bench on the University side of the quad while the Rock bells rang to signal the end of Opening Convocation and the beginning of the procession of the first years. Every year that moment seems like a definitive beginning...it's a start. It's the opening of the year, when everything is fresh and new. The first years look so confused and exhausted and excited. It was fortuitous that I was reading Eliot during that beginning, thinking about my own start during O-week two years ago, and my current beginning, happening right now. Going to Rome almost feels like going away to college for the first time. Just like I was two years ago, I'm expecting a lot of the upcoming months; I feel like it is a real step further into adulthood. This year truly feels that way, like the start of being a Real Person with Real Responsibilities. (How on earth did I end up having rent and gas payments?! I still refuse to believe that I am old enough to be entrusted with those kinds of responsibilities. Goodness.) As Eliot says, I will, "find so much to learn", not just about Roman history and pasta, but about myself. I want to use this quarter abroad as an opportunity to test myself, to shed the remnants of my sheltered suburban-ness that UChicago has not yet stamped out. That sounds corny: I want to Find Myself. It's such a cliche. But it is true, in a way. All of Europe feels like it's just right there, and all I have to do is leap. Or fly, I suppose. So here's hoping that I don't chicken out of doing anything I want to, that the food is good, that the people are better, and that my suitcase is within its allotted 50 pound limit. Arrivederci!