i know i'm several days behind now...it's a shame that this seems like work instead of fun to me. anyhow, i stumbled across this on facebook just now, since one of my friends who is on the Michigan program in Florence went to Rome for a few days and was tagged in this album. she is not the one responsible for this idiocy though:
honestly, they should keep people this dumb out of the forum. maybe the country.
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due menzioni molto strani
we did just so. getting into the basilica Aemilia is worth it to get a good look at the frieze fragments preserved there, depicting the punishment of Tarpeia and the rape of the Sabine women. without jumping the fence and running the length of the basilica, you have to lean over a railing on the south ramp entrance to the forum to get any sort of decent look at them.
the basilica Julia is little more than a raised platform any more, but getting to climb up on it and look at the floor let us see all of the carvings in the pavement, including several game boards.la foto più bella
i menzioni d'onore
back towards the mountains for another tuesday field trip. of course there were intermediate stops (Franco's trip planning is nothing if not efficient). first stop was poor Elizabeth's site report. the tomb of Aeneas ain't much to see, it's not his tomb anyway, and when it's freezing cold and 30mph winds, no one cares. all i remember is huddling down in my coat and praying that we could get under shelter soon. oh, and Mel's priceless yet accurate description of what the "tomb" is: a bird-shat-upon tarp on a pile of rocks.
just across the windswept field were the twelve...wait no, thirteen...and there might be more...altars. no one knows exactly who they were to or why they're where they are but...there they are. they were at least contained in some form of structure which partially blocked the wind, even though it let the horrendous cold in. we toured up and down the row of altars and said let's get the hell out of here.
then we took the bus into Palestrina, or at least as close as you can get to Palestrina. it's a hillside town in the purest sense, so you can only get so close in a bus (motorini and small cars can venture into the town proper). there was an outdoor escalator to get up the hill into the town center. we got a brief lecture about what we'd be seeing after lunch and were shown some ancient architecture that was incorporated into modern buildings. then we had free time for eating and wandering the town.
also of interest: first photo evidence of the unholy trinity (although i'm not sure we thought of ourselves as a unit at that point...at least i didn't). and, i have to include it, another photo i got made fun of. Ellie criticized me for crouching down to get this shot. i thought i could get a nice artistic shot of the row of column stubs. art is underappreciated.
tonight's second course at dinner was a veritable meat log: a sausage rolled in chicken rolled in bacon. you can imagine the immature innuendo that came from that. what you might not expect was the fact that it all came from the end of the table where Walsh, Mira, and Fenton were sitting. there is something to be said for dining with your professors every night. some particular gems:i remembered the Rush-bashing, but i totally forgot that quote from Fenton. priceless.
Mira: "i think there's a bone in mine"
Fenton: "that's there for extra rigidity"
Fenton: "and it's cooked in butter."
Walsh: "well you need to throw some lube on there."
then the conversation turned to the evolution of metal music. i forget the band in question (was it Rush?) but Fenton pulled out this gem:
"it's like masturbatory guitar playing crossed with Ayn Rand."
needless to say this was the most bizarre dinner i've had so far. and no i was not drinking.
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awwwwwww...forza Lazio!
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the day's events:
i definitely wrote a good, detailed account of this 20-hour day (whew!), so here it is. also be sure to check out the first installment of video clips along with photos (the link is in the quoted post).
sunday was a looooooooooooooong day.
we started early, 8 45 heading out for the flea market at Porta Portese. i had heard that a) it was huge and b) watch your cash while you're there. at least the former proved to be very very true. we approached it from V.le di Trastevere, and therefore got no appreciation of its magnitude at first. i thought i had seen maybe half of it at first glance. i in fact had seen about 10% of it. there are hundreds of stalls and you can buy damn near anything there. most of it is junk, bootleg, or stolen, but it's a bargain, so what the heck.
there was some crazy stuff. busted computers, rotary phones, cacti, clothes of all descriptions, food...literally everything. we only made it through about half or maybe two thirds of the market. we found the stall we were looking for though, calcio apparel. i and several others got lazio hats, Jon got a lazio scarf, and Andrew got a lazio flag, all in prep. for that night's match against Milan. i would have liked to spend a little more time looking at the other junk, but we were there for a long time as it was. the 1 euro cactus was really tempting though, despite the superfluousness of it.
we headed back to the Centro area (back up the steps because none of us dared take our wallets to the market, and therefore didn't have our bus passes either) and got some pizza for lunch. at 3 00 the early calcio matches came on tv and we watched some. for the people going to the calcio match and therefore missing the usual dinner hour, Luke had purchased 3 kilos of hamburger and we had a good American cookout in the garden in honor of the Super Bowl coming up that night. we had no plates, no cups...just hunks of meat and cheese on a bun in one hand and two wine bottles to pass around. it was awesome: the beef was cooked to perfection and the company and weather were both good.we were really anticipating the Lazio match that night though. we had a huge group going (19 Centristi, Prof. Walsh and his girlfriend Mira) and were really pumped. we were expecting to get slaughtered since Milan was clearly the better team. Lazio played to a scoreless first half and we were kinda surprised that the Curva Nord, the season ticket holders section at the opposite end of the stadio was surprisingly quiet. apparently they were having a protest against the new team owner and not cheering at all during the first half. the small, fenced-in Milan contingent started lighting flares and exploding things early on though. mostly just flares, but they tossed one full-blown firework into the next section which was at least empty (i doubt they're rowdy enough or stupid enough to throw them into people). the stadium was about half full...not exactly the packed Big House that i'm used to, but the atmosphere was still fun.
in the second half the Curva Nord came out in full flag-waving force. Lazio continued to play OK and Milan couldn't get anything going. we heard some interesting songs in the second half. two variations of "Forza Lazio Alè" to the tunes of Yellow Submarine and Battle Hymn of the Republic, and a strange one from the Milan contingent to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club theme. we watched the clock closely (just an analog clock. they've got a huge freaking scoreboard and they don't put the score or the time on it. i really don't understand that one.) and we made it to the 90th minute still 0-0 despite a shot off the crossbar from Milan. with about 5 minutes left, i uttered words i thought would never cross my lips: "i'd be really happy with a scoreless tie here." and a scoreless tie we got. we piled onto a majorly crowded bus and made the long ride back to the Centro for some good, American football.
ok let's face it. the Super Bowl was a lousy game. 1.) no American commercials. 2.) the Steelers won. 3. the officiating was bona fide TERRIBLE 4.) i had to stay up until 4AM. i actually bailed with 7 minutes left in the game when it was certain who would win. i got my 6 hours sleep and rolled out of bed for the morning city course lecture. good stuff.
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saturday was pretty laid back. i mostly stayed around the Centro because i had to get my laundry done. but Alicen, Kerry, and i went down to Trastevere for lunch to try to find the place that Scott told me had the best pizza on the planet. the name of the place i had from him was Pizzeria Panotoni, but at the same address we instead found a Pizzeria Frontoni. i think it was the same place because the pizza was indeed excellent, and pretty cheap. it was a nice large cafe with plenty of indoor seating. while we were in there a crazy gypsy-ish guy came in and ordered a drink and walked around in his backless shoes, long coat, and yarmulke-looking hat, muttering. he also had a large crucifix in a plastic shopping bag. it was a littel surreal, but he left pretty quickly.
we took the 44 back up the hill instead of the steps and got off a stop early to walk through a park down there. it was pretty nice, lots of interesting fountains, and it was really nice outside despite being cloudy. Kerry and Alicen have photos that i will have to steal from them since i didn't have my camera. we came back to the centro and began our calcio-watching spree. basically i did some homework and that for the rest of the day, apart from going to Bruno's for dinner. i had a great tortellini dish and we ordered the house red wine. it was pretty awful, i must say. i was surprised because their house white was quite good. oh well. a late english premier league football match ended at about 11 30 and we were already passing out on the couches, so we called it an early night, esp. since we were planning on hitting the flea market sunday morning.
[note: fudged date. so sue me. neanche c'è niente foto.]
so instead of sleeping in on a friday morning, i went to the questura to get my permesso di soggiorno and finally be legal. the ordeal in full:
so. i still need to go to the questura to get my permesso di soggiorno (visiting papers). i just got the forms i need for it from the office yesterday. but today, what with my fall, my right palm is pretty screwed up, scabbing over and whatnot. word is, from people who've been already, that they take your ENTIRE handprint, not just fingerprints. i should go tomorrow, but i really don't want to have to explain to them how no, i can't take my band-aids off and all that nonsense.but i did anyway.
friday morning i wound up going to the questura anyhow because i found out that Megan was going. i knew that there weren't that many people who still hadn't gone, and i certainly didn't want to go alone. so i woke up for breakfast, and with my bandaged hand she, Elizabeth, and i walked over.
we got there at 9 00 and the guy at the little reception window just started yelling italian at us when we asked about the permesso di soggiorno. eventually he told us to go sign the list outside and wait there. we didn't even realize there was a list. what it turned out to be was a piece of scrap paper taped against the side of the building. there were two people on the list ahead of us, also waiting outside. we signed up and waited. and waited. 9 30 rolled around. some more centristi came by also looking to get their permessi. they waited about 20 mins and gave up. it was now 9 50. some more people had come and signed up. some people had given up and left. there was one guy wearing a white coat who seemed less patient than the rest. around 10 he went inside. we followed and waited in there. it was at least warmer
at 10 i already had to go to the bathroom from the huge cup of italian coffee i drank to get myself going at breakfast. i was ready to bail out at 10 15. Megan says, "no, let's wait until 10 30." at 10 23 i was about to bail again. she made me wait the 7 minutes. the clock struck 10 30 and we began to leave. some girl who was in the lobby with us (who looked completely unaffiliated with the police dept.) came running out past us, went to the side of the building and snatched the infamous list. she went inside, so we turned around and followed her back. she gave it to an officer who looked like he expected her to give it to him, and he read off our names. we went upstairs to the ufficio di stranieri.
at this point, i still had to pee, and it looked like we were going to wait a little longer before it was our turn. i knew there was at least a place with a sink to wash off the fingerprint ink, so i searched the floor for a toilet. i found the room with the sink, and at its rear was a door with a sign that said "VIETATO ENTRARE. DANGER!" forget the danger, there were urinals in there. i realized that the danger was an open window to the elevator shaft. i made a quick glance around, closed the door, and decided if anyone questioned i'd say it was an emergency.
back in the ufficio, we got served pretty promptly. the first part was them taking our forms and doing a bunch of collating and having us sign a couple times. then came the fingerprinting. not just fingerprinting, but whole handprinting. i knew this was coming and was worried what they'd say about my bandages (see the i fell on my face post). the lady taking care of us said i had to take them off. they were already falling off a bit so i pulled one back to show her the oozing scab underneath. she made a grimace and called over the other lady. they debated for about 5 minutes what to do with me. i could follow most of the conversation, and one of their options was to have me come back and do the printing later. at this point i said to myself "for the love of God, i've been here 2 and a half hours do NOT make me come back." in the end they just decided to write that my hand was injured in place of doing the palmprint. i got my fingers and left palm done, washed off with the gritty pink anti-ink goop, and we headed out. after three hours, we were all legal. about time.
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the day's events:
not the best way to start off the day's field trip. i thought i was just scraped and would be fine, and i didn't check out the damage until i got on the bus. if i had looked earlier, i may well have gone back to clean myself up. Nick saw my hands and commented on how much i'd torn them up. as we walked from our stop to Isola Tiberina, our first site of the day, i was on the lookout for public fountains. they never seemed to crop up when you actually needed them. upon arrival at the island i asked Alicen for some water from her nalgene, which at least got most of the grime out of the cuts.the 44 bus pulled up to the intersection of A. Algardi and Quattro Venti just as i was about to cross Q.V. and go to the stop as we were leaving for this morning's field trip. i was at the tail end of the group, so we let the bus go by and then ran across the street to catch it. i cut between two parked cars and hit a patch of gravel. i went down under the one car's trunk and seriously scraped up my hands (palm of my right, back of my left). i'm now sanitized and bandaged and back at the centro, and i can feel the bruise forming on my hip. i'm just glad i was clutching my clipboard and notebook so i didn't do anything stupid like stick out my arm and break my wrist--i just wound up bleeding. i suppose these are the battle scars of living in rome.
...or just being clumsy.
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the day's events:
second trip (of many) to the forum. still a novelty at this point, especially since it was the first time i was armed with my camera. on the agenda was the temple of Castor and Pollux and the Lacus Curtius. we had a dramatic reading by Victoria from that one book that we were supposed to take on field trips with us that some people actually still did have with them at this early point in the semester (i only remember that because i have a picture. oh and because i was sitting on a cold rock. i thought it was just going to be a quick thing and then it turned into like a half hour lecture. so everyone's butts were cold.) like you do.
afternoon was spent in classroom pursuits: prepping for greek and an italian quiz. no fun there.
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un menzione d'onore
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the day's events:
today was our second all-day field trip. the two stops were Alba Fucens and the villa of Horace. there was talk that there may be snow at the site in Alba Fucens (hence the Alba in the name, i presume) but in fact it was sunny and extremely pleasant there. Alba Fucens is pretty high in the foothills, and we could see that it was raining in the valley. i tried to check the forecast before we left. Alba Fucens isn't the name of the modern town, which is Albe. i tried looking that up on weather.com and it just laughed at me. when we got there i realized why. there are approximately 5 buildings in Albe, 1 of which is the site visitors' center, and 2 of which are churches. we were promised a bathroom break when we arrived in Albe, but there was only one toilet in the whole town, so the process took a good long time.as i recall, Luke and someone else struck out to use the bushes. i got in line for the actual toilet. then Eli and i and maybe Chris decided that using nature's toilet wouldn't be such a bad idea, except as soon as we went to try to find a place, all three people who live in Albe showed up and our plot was foiled. we wound up at the end of the potty line. about 2/3 of the way through they ran out of toilet paper (not a big issue for the men) and we had to figure out how to say "toilet paper" in italian. we knew the word for paper and pointed at the toilet and that got the message across. then on to the site itself.
...well, actually no, one stop before the site. we stopped at the church of St. Peter which was built on the foundations of the former temple to Apollo at Alba Fucens. the church had been rebuilt after an earthquake which destroyed much of it. we got some time to wander around it, including down into the crypt beneath the altar, which was pretty cool. i was starting to get the hang of using my camera at this point, so i took a couple long-exposure shots down there because the only light was provided by a small window. [see creepy 2-second exposure shot which includes Faceless Alicen.] then the custode of the sight came and turned on the light switch that we didn't know about. kinda ruined the atmosphere.
ah, the view over the hellhole that was Alba Fucens. i had a photo nearly identical to this one (except i think mine's better) hanging over my bed back at the Centro. it was sometime in March when i looked up and said "hey wait a minute, that's Alba Fucens." =P[when we got to the actual site] we were split up into groups and had to deduce what our assigned part of the site was. i was stuck in group six, which was assigned letter S on the map. we asked "where are we now on the map" just to orient ourselves and were told: S. we had to watch as the rest of the groups trekked down into the site. after some debate we realized that our building was originally a quite large villa, and we identified the particular types of masonry used. Prof. Walsh came to check on us and we asked if we would have time to roam the site. at first he said no but we told him that we'd be totally cheated if that were the case, and he conceded 15 minutes to us. in that time i ran around and took lots of photos.
by the time we finished presenting our site "autopsies" it was definitely lunchtime. Albe is essentially a dead town though, so Walsh decided it would be more interesting to go down the road a ways to Carsoli and eat there. we acquiesced and piled in the bus. upon arrival in Carsoli we realized there is little or no reason to go there. everything was closed, so it was pretty boring, and all the school children were on their lunch break, free around town. a bunch of middle school boys came and started hitting on the female Centriste. unamused, Luke, the biggest guy in our group and decently proficient in italian went to talk to them. the resulting conversations were pretty hilarious. they decided to try their english skills on us. the boys knew two main phrases: "what is your name?" and "we like pussy." some of their female classmates joined the conversation, and their vocabularies were a little better. one asked Luke why on earth we came to their town. he explained that we were on the way back from Alba Fucens and she gave him this look as if to say "you poor poor soul, i'm sorry you had to come here." Carsoli is a pretty forsaken town, and i really felt bad for some of the people living there (basically everyone except the pervert schoolboys).ah Carsoli, how i don't miss you at all. onward to the villa (whose exact location i don't know at all. i'd like to geotag my photos, so if anyone has an idea, let me know).we had a little more time to kill and Kerry, Alicen, and i walked a few blocks from the main square, through the public park where Alicen tried out the playground equipment. at long last we reboarded the bus and headed for the site of Horace's villa. on the way back we met another group of people. a drunk bum asked us if we were german. i'm not sure why he thought that, but we told him "no, non siamo tedeschi."
the villa was really quite palatial and impressive, and although only about 1 foot tall in their present state, the remnants of the walls were quite well preserved.
is that really all i had to say about it then? man, i must have been tired. we got an intro lecture from Fenton, whose humor we were now starting to appreciate. he made the "don't conflate the historical poet and the poet's narrator" argument with a reference to Sting. then we started moving around the site. the tablinum was pointed out to us, which is really awesome as long as we've got the right villa. then to the bath complex, where some general shenanigans went down. then a lovely tour past Horace's toilet. then...i should have drunk it. couldn't hurt, right?after touring the ruins, we went up the hill to a natural spring. that spring may be the famous "fons Bandusiae" that Horace wrote about, if indeed the villa was his. we played around at the fountain for a while...Walsh told us we could drink from the fountain if we wanted, and clearly at our own risk. i opted out of that, but many people did.
we had a slow, traffic-plagued ride back into Rome, but got back significantly before dinner. i made a run to the enoteca and got wine for dinner and fanta for later. at dinner Alicen, Kerry and i split the wine, but Kerry only took a splash, leaving quite a bit for Alicen and i. oh well, it helped ease along the greek homework afterwards.at this point i hadn't learned to pour wine without asking. =)
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c'è solo una foto oggi...
more etruscan overload continued with a morning field trip to the Villa Giulia. Alicen, Kerry, and i made sure that we got in Walsh's group for the best tour. that museum is fantastic, and it's another one that it's a shame that you can't take pictures in. photography seems to be less enforced in the courtyard, so that's how i got the picture of the triton mosaic.
other awesome stuff there: temple reconstructions, sarcophagus with the couple, and phrygian/etruscan gold tablets. also sala 11, which i returned to much later in the year for my final project.
greek, dinner, chilling later that night? i can only presume.
over the past day i have undertaken a little project, to which i alluded at the end of my last post. as most of you know, i spent a lot of time editing and tweaking my photos so that they looked their absolute best (sometimes even better than in real life). but the photos i took at Tarquinia and Cerveteri were the first ones that i seriously edited, and i didn't have the experience and skill that i had gained some 2000 photos later at the end of the semester. i tried to do some color and exposure correction on my photos from the tombe that were taken in low light without flash (because they had to be, since they were through glass). i did what i could with the limited tools of iPhoto. now i know that i could have done better, and thankfully i still have the original, unedited versions. i've gone back and re-edited some of them, with pretty good results. here is a sampling:
 original |  2006 edit |  2007 edit |
 original  2006 edit  2007 edit |  original  2006 edit  2007 edit |
since the curve for blue was essentially off the dark end of the scale, there was insufficient color data to stretch across the whole spectrum and not make it look ugly. unfortunate, but i'll have to stick with my old edits of those photos.
