eimi ibo or eimi sum?

an AIM conversation that can only take place between classicists, as performed by myself and Krystal this afternoon (emphasis added):

Krystal 1 39 52
hi, brain fart

me 1 40 05
??

Krystal 1 40 31
what's the first person singular present active indicative of "to go"

me 1 40 38
in what language

Krystal 1 40 42
haha latin

Zeus, give me a break...

the 5-day forecast in Rome:

details on the past few days, as opposed to the next few days, coming tonight most likely.

lack and abundance of photos

yesterday we went on our first trip to the forum. since it was nice and early in the morning, i wound up doing something stupid, namely the "remembered to charge the camera battery but forgot to put it back in the camera" trick. so i had a useless camera at the forum. fortunately we're going back. anyhow, as you can conclude, there are no photos from yesterday.

today we went on our first big field trip for the city course, to Tarquinia and Cerveteri, two sites of Etruscan tombs. i took lots and lots of photos (sixty to be exact) and they're now on flickr. check 'em out.

a few more days around Rome

well it's been a couple days...in part it's the fact that the novelty of blogger has worn off and part the fact that classes and fun stuff have been picking up pace and i haven't wanted to spend time in front of my computer. but i need to go over the past couple of days before it's too late.

thursday was a pretty laid back day. no morning class so everyone got up for lunch. i spent some time reading in the garden before italian class. after class was dinner and then everyone decided what to do for the rest of the evening. i left with one of the early groups, spearheaded by Eli, to go to a bar that does karaoke on thursdays. i mean, after all, what's funnier than a bunch of drunk italians trying to sing along to a bunch of probably american songs? it was a great plan, except we couldn't find the place. we wound up taking a nice long walk down v.le quattro venti and then meandered back thru monte verde semi-lost until we found the Centro again. at that point however, the other groups had already left, so we decided to just chill for a while. they all came back eventually and we had a little party in meg and megans room. they got lucky: they have the only room that's not a tiny little cell. so it lends itself to staying up until 3am talking. at that point we got tired and all headed to bed.

friday was a no class day except for the art history field trip. therefore it was very quiet around when i got up. those who were on the trip had already long since departed and most everyone else was still asleep. gradually people turned out. meg, megan, heather and i had lunch in the garden. once the art history group returned we got a group together and went to the vatican to climb to the top of st. peter's. it was 4 euro to get up into the cupola but it was worth every eurocent. the climbing the 500-odd stairs was a trial but incredibly fun, and definitely rewarding once we reached the top. we couldn't stop taking pictures. the views were simply remarkable.





when we climbed back down into the main part of the church it was late afternoon. mass started at the far end of the church at 5pm. we wondered why we were being herded out of the way by security when suddenly a group of 5 cardinals came walking through. we left before we became engrossed in mass since we had to figure out the return bus system and get back in time for dinner. we wandered out of st. peter's looking for a fermata (bus stop). we didn't find any until we were on the road right along the river. we waited and waited and were just about to give up and have to climb the stairs back up the Gianicolo, but just then one came. we rode back to monte verde, made a quick stop at the enoteca (wine shop) and headed to dinner. a large group went out after dinner to the irish pub (some of them have been there 4 times already i think) but several of us have heard that the expense isn't worth it, so stayed in. party in the Centro, and we're not ashamed.

today was my first Saturday here. the most daunting aspect of that is that i'm not fed by the amazing Centro cooking staff. i slept in and once i got up waited for enough people to congregate to make a pizza run. it turned out to be me, Alicen, Kerry, and Kimberly. i got what turned out to be spinach, broccoli, and sausage. it was quite delicious but spinach is a very tricky pizza topping. the four of us then went into the city to the spanish steps and the trevi fountain area. we waited an eternity at the transfer stop at p.za venezia for a little shortbus, the 119, to take us there. in that time we could have easily walked the short distance over, but we didn't know. there were mobs of people at both the steps and the fountain, including some interesting characters. we spent a little time at each and then decided to wander back to the bus station and grab some gelato on the way. we made a detour to the supermarket in the monte verde area, but were keeping an eye on the clock so we would get back to the Centro in time to watch the Lazio calcio (soccer) match. while i was standing in the juice aisle of Sidis, the grocery store, some elderly italian lady started accosting me. i didn't know what she wanted so i just kinda shrugged. then i realized it looked like she was asking for help getting down this large bottle of water. i went over to help her, but that just made her angrier. totally confused, i just walked away. i did manage to get my juice after she went to another aisle though =)

Prof. Walsh has us all hooked. he's a huge Lazio fan and now about a quarter of the Centro is rooting for them. he's really surprised at how we've taken to it, so he's going to organize a trip for us to go to the next home game. however, i think he's getting pretty pissed at me and Alicen, because we seem to bring them nothing but bad luck. we've watched three games, all of which have been draws. the officiating was very unkind to Lazio today. two players got red cards, one legitimately but one on a horrible call. another got a second yellow card in a two-game span, so Lazio will have three players suspended next sunday. and finally a close but probably improper offisides call negated a go-ahead goal late in the second half. it's so much fun to watch the games with Prof. Walsh though, because we get to see a completely different side of him. i admire the fact that he'll watch with us, his students, and scream "goddammit!" and "fuck!" when the calls don't go Lazio's way.

after the match it was sufficiently late to get dinner. i had spaghetti al carbonara, which was missing the peas that i expected. maybe those were an american addition, but i didn't think so. dinner finished pretty late, so we came back to the Centro and watched the tail end of another soccer match. then the usual evening pow-wow in the hallway. now i'm back in my room, all my photos are uploaded to flickr, and it's quite late. so goodnight.

the great obelisk search

assignment 1 at the Centro: go find a big stone pillar in a city you've never ever been in before. despite how bad it sounds like it could be, it was actually extraordinarily fun. we were divided into groups of three, assigned a place, and told to go and report all we could about the obelisk that's there. i for one didn't really even know that rome had much in the way of obelisks, but apparently it has more than any other city in the world.

my group was assigned the obelisk in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano. we had no idea how lucky we were. we got the biggest*, oldest, coolest obelisk in the world, and furthermore it was right next to what i think is the largest basilica on the planet. we had to take the bus, since it was 6km from the Centro. we changed buses at the Piazza Venezia, as our jaws dropped at the immensity of the buildings there, and oh yeah, Trajan's column off to the side. on the 85 bus on the way to P.za di San Giovanni we passed the Flavian Amphitheater, the Forum, the Ludus Magnus and other things that none of us really believed actually existed. welcome to Rome. we found our obelisk with no trouble and decided to poke our heads inside the basilica. needless to say (i.e. look at the pictures!) we spent almost an hour in the church itself. we also decided to check out the adjoining baptistry, which is the site of the first Roman church and the current building dates to the 14th century. we tried to get in but we thought the door was locked, even though the sign said that the baptistry was open. a beggar woman outside the door started yelling at us as we walked away. we looked back and saw two people leave from the baptistry. it turns out the door, which had an obvious pull handle, pushed in, and the woman was telling us that we were morons. we went inside and saw some wondrous old art, obviously more worn than the stuff from 300 years later in the main basilica. we didn't take pictures in the baptistry, mostly out of reverence. it was not receiving the same tourist attention that the main basilica was. in return for the beggar woman's kindness and our own stupidity, on the way out i gave her 0,50 euro. we finished our work on the obelisk and ate lunch in the plaza outside the main entrance to the basilica.

after some debate on whether the bus made a loop or a two-way line, we got to the proper bus stop. we waited and waited for an 85 bus, but none came. finally an 850 came and we were ready to get on. the driver pulled up, stopped, and apparently because we weren't aggressive enough in boarding, never even opened the door and drove off. we took the next bus, a different route, but it got us back to P.za Venezia and in turn back to the Centro.

upon return we gave presentations on the obelisks, had another fabulous dinner, and then set to work on the advanced greek assignment. that was not fun. we gave up at 12 30 and headed for bed. i should have taken a shower in the evening when there was hot water, but i made the mistake of waiting until the morning. i won't be doing that again.

wednesday was not a particularly exciting day, so no new photos. it was our first day of real classes, and it was pouring rain as well, so no one ventured outside during the day. after dinner some groups went out to bars, and others of us stayed in to cheer Lazio, one of the local soccer clubs, on to a 1-1 tie against Messina. (Lazio == Latium, by the way, and the other club in town is Roma. they're bitter rivals. we're hoping to get tickets to the game between them.) now the Centristi are winding down for the night. only one class tomorrow and then it's time to party cuz it's the weekend in Rome.

*the Washington Monument is the largest obelisk period. but the Laterano obelisk is the oldest ancient obelisk.

i'm gonna be a fatty

we got our first dinner at the Centro tonight. the food is spectacular. i consumed the following:
a bowl of pasta
half a plate of potatoes
a small pile of mushrooms
a piece of chicken
2 pieces of focaccia
1 glass of wine
a splash of spumanti
tiramisu
half a cup of uber-strong Italian coffee

it was so. good. don't try to count carbs in this country, the numbers don't go that high.

in other news, i took the advanced greek placement test. the poetry half was beastly, but i don't think anyone really understood it. i'm pretty sure the test was just a formality, anyhow.

tomorrow: off to see obelisks

regarding photos

here's the plan everyone: i'm planning on taking lots and lots of photos. and painstakingly putting them on flickr via the Centro's verrry verrry slow internet connection. but i need your help. chances are not all of these photos will be public on flickr. so what you need to do to make sure that you get the full, all-access pass is to go to flickr and sign up for a free account, then head on over to my photos page (see link in the sidebar) and add me as a contact. i'll add you back and confirm that i know who the heck you are and then you're in. got it? thanks!

arrival in Roma

after many, many hours of travel, yesterday i finally arrived here in Rome. i still don't think that i quite realize everything that's going on.

my travels were mostly uneventful. had a 7 hour layover in Philly. managed to get some sleep on the plane, despite the man one row ahead of me who was convinced that the only way he could get through the flight was to go to sleep and that the only way he could get to sleep was by constantly pestering the stewardess for alcohol. being drunk only made him loud, not sleepy, and once as he stumbled down the aisle he somehow planted his hand right in my face, which gave me quite the shock seeing as i was sound asleep.

upon arrival in Rome things went very smoothly. customs was essentially nonexistant. one guy looked at my passport, two guys in one kind of uniform and two in a different kind of uniform looked at me as i walked by with my luggage. no one spoke to me, in Italian or English. Meg (who was on my flight) and I got a cab and arrived at the Centro gate with no trouble.

i was shown to my cell, which is the size of an ordinary single room but with two beds and one desk. it will suffice, i don't plan on spending too much time here. after meeting several people who had arrived before me, we went out to get some lunch, since meals aren't provided on weekends. seeing as many of us were jet lagged and still used to American culture, we forgot that everything here is closed on Sunday. luckily we did manage to find a pizzeria that was open and we grabbed a slice. we went up to the Villa Pamphili, a huge park that's just a block from the Centro, ate there and wandered around. we returned to the Centro mid-afternoon and met other people as they trickled in. in the evening i managed to go with the wrong group of people and wound up only taking a walk, not going to dinner. i also discovered on that walk that dog crap is everywhere in Rome. i made this discovery while wearing my new shoes. back at the Centro i turned on the late NFL playoff game and dozed off in the second quarter, so i went to bed. i hear carolina won.

today was an orientation type day. we got a syllabus rundown of the city course and general rules and regulations. then we took a walk around the Villa Pamphili and the rest of the Monte Verde neighborhood where the Centro is located. whenever one of the professors said "so do you know where you are now?" my answer to myself was invariably "no i have a terrible sense of direction." i'll have the general hang of the area in a few more days tho.

i'm sure i'm missing important stories so in the future i'm going to try to post things as soon as i think of it. if anyone wants to know more about anything, hit up the comments.