Love my classmates. Love them!
Subway sardines
Mass transit here is great, u are never more than a few blocks from a tram, bus subway or train. Because it's so conveinent, it's extremely popular. Did I mention it's really hot & humid here? We got on the subway today & it was worse than NYC @ rush hour. The air hung heavy with stank, you could feel the moistness. It was so gross, I started out breathing thru my nose & quickly changed my strategy-- until the first breath thru my mouth . You could actually taste the foulness from the air. Thankfully we only had two short stops & we were off. At least it gave us many good laughs for the walk back to the hotel.
Speaking of enclosed places & the germs that accompany said spaces, I would like to mention airborn. That stuff u chew to help u avoid getting sick. FYI, the Carmel apple flavor tastes more like a Carmel apple with a rusted razor blade in the middle. Without all the blood and stuff. Still Horrible.
The forum
Today was more Roma sightseeing. We did the colesseum, the forum, the pantheon & more fountains than I could possibly count. Each time I see something new, I don't think I could be more amazed & somehow always end up more amazed. This city is so visually fascinating, I wonder if the residents here appreciate it like us outsiders? To just have ancient roman columns next to your apartment building would be so cool. I am so totally intrigued by the whole archeological aspect of it all, I think I am gonna have to do some more reading on it later!
One thing I've noticed is the difference in the way people beg for money here, they are so ashamed, they often hide behind black veils. Kinds sad.
Off to nap before dinner!
Holy art n'stuff
Went to the vatican today & it was insane. There were thousands of people there, no exxagerations! Our tour guide even commented how crazy it was - all those peeps clamouring to see benny. They hearded us sheeple thru quickly, so we didn't really have a chance to take everything in. Granted, if we took the time to see of all it would take a full week, again, no exaggeration. I've never seen so much amazing art on all my life. So many famous artists, rooms with every nook & cranny touched - it was unbelievable. The Sistine chapel gave me chills, it's hard to appreciate the grandeur without seeing it in peson. U are not allowed to talk or take pictures inside & the have several guards assigned to ensure this does not happen. They enforce by clapping loudly and yelling. I appreciate the irony. St. Peter's basilica is also amazing, I can't believe they had both the knowledge and technology to build something so big and ornate.
Need to snooze, doing more with classmates tonite.
Ciao!
Roma
Blogging on my ipod, so scuzi the partial sentences scattered thoughts and typos. Not the easiest tool to compose my ramblings with.
The uberweb cracks me up here, all my normal sites (yahoo,facebook,blogger) are all talking to me in Italian. They don't seem to care that I only know " wine" and "bathroom" in Italian.
So, After a really long day, we finally arrived in Rome. The flight from the us was borderline unbearable. My friend warned me about the pretend day they put you thru, the meal, the lights out, the breakfast. It's so hard to get into when u know it's really just 9pm your time. 8 hours to sit is a long time, but on descent into paris, we emerged from the clouds and I saw the french countryside for the first time--I knew it was worth it. The rolling hills and red roofs are distinctly different from us countryside. The canola fields create bright yellow squares of color in the sea of neon green. Everything here is so lush already. I was so excited to be hovering over European soil, rather than just viewing the images, as I have so many times before. Other than some old guy's overpowering coffee infused breath, the flights were uneventful. I figured we would be ok when I followed a nun onto the plane. I was down with riding her karma coattails on that long flight to Paris!
Traffic in Rome is beyond anything we Americans could ever fathom. It's insanity, with an anything goes approach. And everyone respects the organized chaos, I didn't see any road rage. I did notice that same" u snooze, u lose" philosophy seems to apply to the normal hustle and bustle here as well, I will need to dig out my assertiveness. There is a lot of graffiti here, but I wouldn't say it's dirty. There are slot of flowers and art that makes up for that.
We all did dinner tonite, my classmates are super cool and we seemed to click pretty well already. Tomorrow we do the Vatican and other churches here. Let's hope I don't burst into flames upon my entrance.
Ace Ventura is on tv, of course, dubbed on Italian. It's amusing.
Since I've only had 1 hour of sleep in the past 30, I should prolly try to remedy that.
Aputarte!