Frigidarium

Lazy day today. Us lower division students don't have class this evening, so we're free as birds. We might go to another museum tonight that's in an old castle, if we get ourselves together.
We did see the old Diocletian baths today. We took the 64 bus all the way uptown--it was really jerky, because I was standing up and at a really awkward angle; I had to reach up for my handle, so it was almost like getting my sea legs. The subways are actually much smoother (even if they're more crowded, and you have some guy's armpit in your face). Anyway, Diocletian built these baths so that the people would like him, way back when, and now it's been converted into a church. The calderium (the hot baths) were no longer intact, and the entrance to the church was were they would have been, and then the entry way was the place where the room temperature baths were. The frigiderium (the cold baths) took up the most room, and that's where the bulk of the church was. It was beautiful. We also went to a museum that had some rare original Greek sculpture in it, but they made us check our bags and we weren't sure if we could bring cameras--turns out we could, but by then it was too late and we had an assignment to concentrate on anyway. It was fine, I figure it wouldn't have been very exciting photography. Lots of half-intact sculpture. The only one I wish I could have taken of photo of was the Seated Boxer. It was intense and majorly detailed--some of the finest bronze work to come out of the Greek arts.

The altar at the church.

Dome in the entryway of the church.

Outside the church, where a huge fountain sat in a massive square (the buildings are probably 19th century--they do look very French).

Oh--weirdest part about today: it rained! Not for very long at all. Actually probably less than a few minutes, but it was funny how all of us got a little homesick. It was a lot cooler today, with a nice breeze blowing. It almost felt cold, compared to what we've been walking around in for the past week. I guess rain in Rome in the summer is very rare, so that was pretty cool.

"Bene!"

We got up this morning for breakfast and found a fun little place by the old racetrack square. The guy who gave us coffee was nice and smiley--his name was Aurelio (kind of like the emperor).
So there's a common rule I noticed by the middle of our first day: when you order food at a restaurant, they do not expect you to pay right away--in fact, they don't want you to. Generally, you order, sit down, and they bring you your food (or you go and get it when it's ready). When you're done, you head up to the counter and pay, then leave. Even fast food places--it's like a sit-down restaurant mostly wherever you go. Except gelato. Anyway, I guess that's where most of our cultural education is coming from, at the moment. We're forced to interact when we go get food. I'm becoming painfully aware that my limited Italian vocabulary isn't serviceable. I think I'll study some more phrases tonight so I can communicate a little better. Unfortunately, some people aren't trying at all, really, which I think is kind of funny, since we're in their country, not ours.
Today we rode the bus to the Colosseum and went through a guided tour through the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Pantheon. Our tour guide was wonderful and very nice--she was originally from Switzerland, came to Italy when she was 9, and then came to Rome to teach. It was very hot and a long way to walk, but there were cold water fountains at regular intervals, so we filled up our water bottles frequently. The funny thing we're noticing is that we hardly ever need to go to the bathroom, even with the massive amounts of water we're consuming, because we're sweating it all out. It's pretty funny, actually.

Some pictures from today:

Part of the Imperial residence, a little ways from the Colosseum.

Entrance to the Imperial residences.

Most of the brick wall in the Colosseum had tons of names carved in them from all over. I saw lots of Italian names, but some people from England, the US, and Canada, too.

More ruins from the Imperial residences.

Inside the Colosseum.

We had to wear these earpieces and little radio receivers for the tour so we could hear our tourguide. We were the ultimate tourists. Which led to this picture.

Might go to a performance of Mozart's requiem in a church tonight, but I need to do homework now. And take a nap.

Museum

Headed over to the museum today on Capitoline Hill. Lots of statues and beautiful paintings. Stopped off for lunch at a panini place and then ducked into a few shops, where we were not treated well, let me tell you. I'm beginning to have a healthy appreciation for American "diversity awareness," or whatever we want to call it. Anyway. I hope that's not going to be the case everywhere we go.

A few pictures from the museum:

Permesso

What's this? Internet after ten? I feel like Vittorio or whatever his name is forgot to turn off the network. Well, it works for me. [EDIT: just kidding. It cut me off at 10:30 last night.]

Today (yesterday) had the feeling of Epic Day from Leadership Conference 08 at SPU. Whoever knows what I'm talking about will understand me when I say that this was just like that...Rome style. No joke.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, we did a scavenger hunt today, ALL OVER Rome. We had clues and locations and had to find the locations and match up what clue we thought might go with whatever thing we found. It was a bit like finding beads in sand. But. It was a good learning experience. Our group started out a little directionless, stumbling onto our first clue, but then we stopped in a garden, got our bearings, and followed a system for the rest of the hunt.

Most of what we found was unimpressive compared to the churches and other little places we found on accident. Like this church (sort of near our hotel):







And this one (Saint John Lateran church in the south of Rome):








All sorts of other random places



On our way out of the Villa Borghese--a park in the North of Rome.


The view from the top of the hill. We got so many pictures like this, I'm only sticking one up.



Colusseum! We came at it from the back end, through a little bit of the residential area.

Okay. This is really weird. It's a cat sanctuary in the middle of the city. Cats live there. The end.



Yep, that was yesterday. Incredibly exhausting, but pretty fun. We learned something valuable, too. When the subway doors close, get out of the WAY. And the little green button opens them again. Yes.

So apparently...

We get internet here until 10:00pm. Which means that I've got eight minutes.
No time.
So I'll make it brief and fill in the details later.
Spent a huge chunk of life travelling for the past two days, and now we're here! Had gelato and walked around a little after arriving at our hotel. It's going to be a crazy good time.
Mmmyep. I might go look at an Italian phrase book? I already feel a little like the stupid American.
Goodnight.

Well, I'm getting on this plane, see...

Welp, this is the Rome blog. Hey, guys!

Yeah, okay, there's a slick Latin title for this thing, couldn't resist ("To the threshold of the apostles," if anyone's curious.).

Most everything's packed and sitting on my living room floor. I leave for Rome in roughly fifteen hours. Gah. We'll head out from Sea-Tac on Lufthansa Airlines at 2:40-ish pm, I think. And then we get a nice layover in Frankfurt, which should be interesting. If I don't see some lederhosen action, I will be sorely disappointed. Just kidding. Kind of. Yep, and then we wait for five hours before we can get onto another plane and end up in Rome at 5:45pm. By then it'll be 9am Seattle time, pretty sure. Rome is 9 hours ahead, by the way. That is what tomorrow looks like.

This is the place where pictures will go, along with ridiculous and (hopefully) funny stories.

Check back for updates!


Stuff to know that is great:

-I can get texts for free, but it costs me to send them back, so send love if you so wish, and don't be offended if I don't reply. I still like you. Promise.

-I won't be responding to any voice mail messages on my phone, so unless it's urgent, I won't be checking messages or answering my phone(I have to pay extra for international calls).

-I do get email still, and can access the internet. So facebook, email, whatever. It's all good.

-You can send me stuff--letters, probably--to my hotel in Rome, if you feel so inclined. It takes a good week to get across the water, so plan accordingly.

The address:
Piazza San Pantaleo, 3 - 00186 Rome (Italy)


That's the deal. Can't wait to share this adventure with you all! Next time you hear from me it'll probably be from the heart of Rome.