Tuesday, Jan 26

Ciao, Tutti!

We got a gloriously late start today with our first class at 1 PM.  Some busy bees got up early regardless, but there were more than a few good college students who managed to sleep through the extra time.

The only class we had today was Roman Borders, in which we had back-to-back guest speakers.  The first was Gregory O. Smith, an expert on urban planning and regional organization from Cornell University.  He regaled us with an overview of environmentalism, population growth, immigration and settlement, construction patterns and political preferences in Rome.  Everyone was impressed with his breadth of knowledge although I’m curious just how many of the people he branded communists and fascists are official party members.

The other speaker was Amara Lakhous, the author of Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio. What a fascinating man!  An authority on the complex immigration issues of the country from any perspective.  He fielded our many questions through a translator, who was herself amazing in her ability to on second joke around in Italian and the next speak in crisp English.  Amara autographed everyone’s books and took several pictures with us adoring fans (as seen above).

Tomorrow we head out to Florence.  The week is about to turn into a whirlwind.

Ciao!

Monday, January 25

Ciao from Roma!

We began today with our first in-class Art History lecture since the day Lisa went over the syllabus. As our excursion to Florence starts on Wednesday, Lisa gave us an introduction to Florence and the Renaissance in the Honors seminar room of the Rome Center. There is so much to talk about concerning Florence and the Renaissance that we went a half hour past the scheduled time slot and even then there were still topics we didn't cover. We learned that the shift towards the Renaissance began with the black plague that wiped out two thirds of Europe's population. As all of the wealth was then spread to one-third the number of people, there was plenty of money to be invested in the arts as a demonstration of that wealth and power. We focused on the shifts in art that accompanied the Italian Renaissance and learned about numerous artists including Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. It was truly fascinating to learn about how the Renaissance was characterized by a shift towards more realistic depictions of people and three-dimensional perspectives, and how there was a resurgence of bronze casting. The class concluded with a description of shopping in Florence and suggestions from Lisa's experiences on how to approach it.

Florence here we come!

The day concluded with an afternoon Italian session with Fede. We learned about the foods of Italy and how to properly place your order in an Italian restaurant. Mick gave us all a good dash of entertainment when he was selected to be the class waiter and went around taking all of our orders. I was particularly angry that his menu did not have pizza, and decided to drown my sorrows with an order of Disarrono (The world's greatest Italian liquor). Although it was great learning more about food and the ordering process, it was somewhat brutal with our growling midday stomachs.

Sunny day

The day began just as any other- with my mad rush out the door in the attepmt not to be left behind. Luckily we were all there before we started walking to the bus Station. The plan was to take a bus to the metro station, so we could have some legitimate Italian urban experiences, and then continue on to the Esquilino Market. Now I had on the night before resolved to never buy a bus ticket. I mean, in my extended years of experience, about 3 weeks, with Roman public transportation I had decided that I understood the system well enough to cheat it. Now at this time I had forgotten although it maybe easy to sneak onto a bus without a ticket it is impossible to do so on the Subway, so after a minor freak out I conformed and bought a ticket on the way. I concider that one stop ride on the subway the least economically efficient experience of my life. Perhaps I exagerate; really the ticket was only one Euro...whatever.

The Market turned out to be much cheaper than the daily Market outside our appartment at the Campo. I will now continue my mercato experience with a series of sentence fragments for Artistic effect. 6 onions for 60 cents. The bloodiest oranges ever. Bartering. Derek's new trendy coat. pig feet. pig butts. pig heads. tupperware! the colors of the rainbow in flower form. Back to the conventions of the English language.

From then on we had a bit of a writing assignemnt. We talked about our feelings. That was probably one of the more riveting experiences of my life. Class ended and we were conviniently 2 miles away from te Campo. Mick, Teo, Gulia, Steph, and I decided that we would be superior "travelers" and instead of taking the bus back we decided to walk. I feel like that was one of my more enjoyable walks since I've been here. First of all it was finaly sunny. That just put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Then we had Art History. And that was also one of the more enjoyable classes I've had so far. I mean we were giving way more than one word answers. I felt very Intelligent. The arch of Titus is mostly a reconstruction and the arch of Constantine is mostly made up from other things other people made. From there we went to see the Church of St. Clemente and its 3 levels. very exicting.

Catacombs!

Ahhh I am so happy it is finally my turn to brag about what the heck we have been doing here in Rome. In fact I am so happy and eager to do this that I am keeping myself awake at the current time of 3:06 in the morning to do my duty. However, retarded- in the most offensive way to autistic people possible- this me sound of me, it is unlikely that this course of action will make me any later to class than I would be if I went to bed before writing this.

We took the bus to the catacombs. People who pay for bus tickets are suckers. I really enjoyed the morning in the dank dense tunnels beneath the outskirts of Rome. Personally, well not really personally because I think everyone here agrees with me, that tour guide we had made our day. He was one of the funniest people I have ever met.

I really apreciated seeing the paintings preservered by the dirty filled tombs though. Even though jesus and Mary apeared only as two blobs on a peice of wall you can already really tell that their features are based on speculation. Oh yeah I also saw some bones. Really I think they should have left the bones out in the open downthere. They said that they were moved to keep them out of tourists' reach. You know what no tourist i have ever met wouldpic up a peice of calcium that used to be inside another person's pelvis. Thats just weird. Yeah those few bones I saw were gross as heck.

I think my day was made even better though by the army of elementary school kids who happened to visit the tombs with us today. There were apparently about a hundred of them but I think there were at least 117. I think I will have at least that many kids. I just liked how awe inspiring they made me feel. Sure I'm insecure and savor every bit of praise I get even if it’s from someone under half my age. But really I was glad to see children exposed to that sort of history at an early age. Of course they do not understand the full import of what those rocky crevices represent- I mean I wouldn't have fully appreciated the catacombs until probably this year- so they obviously won't comprehend. However, I still like that experience today.

Man that seems so long ago; I could have sworn that we went to the catacombs yesterday as I was pondering in preparation of the blog. But I guess that is only true because I took a nap before Italian and made it to that class early as well. After Italian class we forced Conner to make us all dinner which was quite satisfactory. Then we made Erika do the dishes. Later I went out and bought a cannoli and some gelato. Buona notte.

Tuesday, Jan. 19

Today we received a tour of the Jewish Synagogue and the former Ghetto. Our guide, Gabriella, took us around the area, which extends for about 4 blocks. It is hard to imagine 5000 people living in the Ghetto for 300 hundred years (from 1555 to 1870), confined in a space of 250m by 200m, experiencing constant floods in the winter and allowed to go out of the gate only during certain times of the day and returning before curfew each night… Gabriella emphasized that the Roman Jews have a strong connection to the land, and has a unique identity, because they have lived in Rome even before the Diaspora; it is the oldest surviving Jewish community in the Western world. Only in 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy was established and the political power of the Pope was taken away, did the Jews gain citizenship. This lasted only for 68 years however, until 1938 when Mussolini stripped their citizenship away. The tour took a darker turn when we were shown the museum. The Nazis demanded the Jewish community produce 50kg of gold within 36 hours, or else they will seize the Ghetto. The whole community and outsiders came together and produced enough gold, even in such difficult times. We were shown all the receipts of collected items, and there were hundreds of them. Their effort was worthless however, because days later, Nazis rounded up the Jews in the Ghetto and began their deportation to Auschwitz. Although a total of 2091 Jews were sent to Auschwitz from the Jewish Ghetto, the Catholic community in Rome saved more than 8000 Jews. Italy came in second in the number of Jews the country saved.

Our guide Garbriella

Our group walking through the former Ghetto

The Synagogue

Our museum guide also showed us the great Synagogue, which has fabulous ornamentations inside, with a rainbow colored ceiling and significant symbols painted everywhere. It stands out as the only square-based dome in all of Rome; you can easily distinguish the synagogue dome from the hundreds of circular-based domes of churches. We learned that there are 14000 Jewish people living in Rome today, out of 5 million citizens. Roman Jews are Orthodox Jews, and each family gives money to the Jewish community which supports the 15 synagogues, rabbis and rabbinical schools, festivals, etc. I love that every Jewish person belongs to the entire community, not just to a synagogue, and he can attend any synagogue in the city that he wishes to. Today, television stars and notable journalists inhabit this fancy area and few Jews live here. However, it remains the cultural center for the Roman Jewish community.

Ciao for now,

SiJia

Monday, Jan. 18

Jan 18.

Ciao Roma!

We begin another wonderful week in Rome! Today we explored Trajan’s Forum and the Pantheon. Trajan was a military general, and he focused his emperorship on expanding the empire. He led Rome into many wars, all of which were costly. He needed to prove to the Roman people that his wars were worth it, and that his army could accomplish more than just rape women and take food from civilians when they were off-duty. To do this, Trajan built the most magnificent Forum in the middle of Rome. He built the first outdoor shopping center, which pleased the people very much. Deep into the Forum, in front of the Temple of Trajan, Trajan’s Column was erected, most of which still preserved in perfect condition today. Trajan wanted to be remembered forever, so he carved images of his Campaign in Dacia in different drums of the column spiraling up, so people had to circumambulate in order to see all of the scenes. (Walking in circles was common in many rituals.) Many scholars believe that Trajan was buried under the column, which was surely controversial back in the day. It’s interesting that the Catholic church later put St. Peter’s statue on top of the Column!

Details of the column are clearly visible

Our group in front of Trajan's outdoor shopping center!

After seeing Trajan’s Forum, our class moved to the magnificent Pantheon, where Derek gave his presentation. He gave us so much information about this incredible structure, how it was the largest structure of its kind to be built for a millennium; 5000 tons of concrete! Emperor Hadrian who built the Pantheon, and being a Pythagorean scholar, he put much thought into this building, and as a result many perfect numbers are subtly contained in the Pantheon. Few examples include the perfect number 1 represented in the single oculus; the number 5 represented in 5 rows of coffers (because Pythagoreans believed in 5 marriages, a combination of the numbers 2 and 3, with 2 representing the two genders and 3 representing beginning, middle, and end); and the number 28 represented in the 28 coffers of each row (28 days in the lunar calendar). The Pantheon was built truly on Hadrian’s love for math and the perfection of this universe, and Hadrian also used resources from all parts of his empire to show the people the wealth he has acquired, and his destiny-to be the emperor of the great Roman Empire. Roman emperors really knew how to use architecture to win the favors of their people.

We ended the day with a fun Italian lesson with Fede! We all love her :)

-SiJia

Friday, January 15

Buon giorno!

I just arrived back from our day trip to Ostia and my fingers feel like icicles! We had to take both a bus and a train in order to make it to this ancient town, but it was definitely worth the trek. Natalia excitedly told us about how important bathing was in ancient Rome, and especially on such a cold day, it made me a bit envious of the Romans who would spend up to 2 hours a day performing their heated bathing routine.

Ostia was an ancient town a little ways outside of Rome, and it is amazing how much of the town is still left standing. There are many beautiful mosaics still intact, a huge amphitheater, as well as homes and shop fronts, and most importantly the bathing quarters. When the Roman’s would bathe, they would go through a series of hot rooms, and then finally one with a large pool where they could rinse off and scrub down. The baths were a huge gathering place, people of all ages, economic statuses, and backgrounds would come, and there were even vendors who sold food and drinks inside of the rooms.

Lisa told us we could either go and explore or just head home. I chose the latter option because I was so chilled, and I was ready to thaw out. It is now the beginning of our weekend and I am so excited to chill out and relax after the busy week. Next week, Sijia and Nick will be writing about all of our adventures, including a trips to the Pantheon and to the catacombs, and beginning our study of Florence to prepare for our trip during week 5.

Natalia giving her presentation about bathing

One of the many mosaics still intact

Thursday, January 14

Buon giorno!

We began the morning with Julie’s class, discussing our Rione assignment where each partner group is assigned one of the neighborhoods in Rome (Tim and I will be doing Trevi) and explores and observes the people and atmosphere, and does a report on it. We also discussed the short story “Salvation” by Amor Dekhis, which was about a young man who was struggling with his identity as an immigrant in Italy and how he copes.

In Lisa’s class, we took a long stroll to the Peace Alter built by Augustus. Conner told us all about Augustus and his rise to power, and then we had a chance to observe the intricate detail and symbolism present on the alter. We also discussed the controversy about the modern building that the alter is housed in. Many Italians do not approve of the building due to its modern architecture. I personally agree with that idea, from the outside I had different expectations of what the alter would look like simply due to the modern feel of the building. Many students in our group disagreed with this, stating that the modern architecture and technology only shows respect to the monument, that those preserving it are only paying respect to the alter by using technology to preserve it.

Later that evening, we watched a movie called Facing Windows, which was a love story about Jews living in the Jewish ghetto. Personally I had a hard time following it because it was in Italian with English subtitles, but the overall story was very touching. Tomorrow we will be taking a day trip to Ostia to learn about bathing in Roman society.

Carisa and I in front of the Peace Alter

Wednesday, January 13

What a busy and blustery day!

The morning was spent on a trip to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Mick enlightened us with the ideals and founding of the early Roman Empire on our trip to the forum. Seeing all of the ancient ruins gave me an opportunity to picture how glorious and majestic many of the buildings used to be and it showed the immense manpower required to erect these enormous monuments. It gave me an idea of the scale of the Roman Empire, and the undeniable power that the empire possessed during this period of time.

We then ventured over to the Colosseum where Alexis explained the former uses of the monument and what it still represents today. I have seen many photos of the structure, but none of them do it justice. It is impossible to portray the sheer size and aura present when walking through the building after learning about what it was used for. We discussed the contradictions in the concept of the Colosseum and whether or not it would be popular today. Due to inclement weather (it was windy, rainy, and just plain cold!), we unfortunately had to cancel our picnic on the Palatine Hill.

But on the bright side, we had a very informative Italian class later that afternoon. We left class with the ability to confidently communicate our name, how to spell it, where we are from, our phone number, address, how to order food, count to twenty, AND say what month it is! You never know, maybe we will all be close to fluent by the end of the quarter! J Tomorrow we are talking about migration issues with Julie and Conner will tell us about Augustus’s rise to power.

Ciao!

One of the monuments still standing high in the Roman Forum

Conner and Natalia at the Colosseum

Tuesday, January 12

I woke up to my roommate Derek saying, "Hey uh guys . . . you might want to get up class starts in fifteen minutes." For about 2 seconds I panicked thinking "Oh man I'm gonna be so late even my closest class is like fifteen minutes away." Then it hit me. I'm not in Seattle anymore and my classroom is less than a minute away. I relaxed and took a few more leisurely minutes in bed before throwing on some jeans and a long sleeve t and strolling to class, stopping long enough to buy a banana at the market right outside my door in Campo de' Fiori. I arrived right on time for Day 1 of our Italian class, taught by the lovely and vivacious Professora Federica Bianchi. She began by asking about our preexisting skill with Italian which was comparable to Brad Pitt's "extensive" knowledge in Inglorious Basterds. The next two hours seemed to fly by as we focused on greetings and introductions, numbers, and addresses and by the end I was feeling downright Italian already.

After class was dismissed we had 3 hours till we had to return to the Rome Center for the first day of another class, Art History. I took advantage of the time to run a few errands, checking out a camcorder for the video blog that will be gracing this page soon as well as trying out my shiny, new Italian words at the Campo as I picked up a few ingredients for lunch. I made French toast bedecked with strawberries. Pleasantly full I spent the next hour catching up on some of the prescribed reading for my upcoming class that I had here-to-fore neglected.

The group slowly assembled at the portone, italian for door, meandering in in cliques of varying sizes returning from whatever adventures they had been on in between classes. Once fully assembled Lisa wasted no time in leading us through the twisting streets of Rome to Capitaline Hill. There, as we sat nearly in the shadow of the towering equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, we learned of Romulus and Remus and Aeneas the protagonists of the myths surrounding the formation of Rome. With the metaphorical stage set we entered the Capitaline Museum. While everything in the museum was incredible the highlights include: fragments of a colossal statue of Emperor Constantine, some of the oldest bronze statues in world, in particular one depicting Romulus and Remus nursing from a she-wolf, the original foundations of the Temple of Jupiter and an extensive collection of busts. My personal favorite was an eloquent fountain featuring the river god of the Tiber. I could go on and on but in the interest of succinctness I will leave it at that. I'll include some photographs from the museum soon which provide better descriptions than I am capable of. Once class was dismissed we were free to wander the museum which I took full advantage all the while still a bit dazed that this was the format my class would be in for the next few weeks. I cannot emphasize enough how incredible it is, Rome is our classroom.

Arrivederci,
Tim Persson

Beautiful view of the remains of the Roman Forum

Monday, January 11

Saluti!

Today was our first “real” day of class, but when I compare today to other classes I have taken at UW, I realize how blessed I am to have the opportunity to study for an entire quarter in the eternal city. We started class at 1 today, but this gave us a free morning to do whatever we pleased. I chose to venture into the city to find a specific supermarket, but ended up getting lost in the sketchier part of town. I finally found my way back and decided to pick up some fruit in the campo.

During class we talked what constitute a border and who decides where it is drawn. Borders can be physical (like the Tiber River in Rome) or psychological (the divide between pure Italians and immigrants). They cause globalization, and they are places of separation, but also integration. They are often the outcome of conflict, which is illustrated by the fact that physical borders often correlate with cultural borders.

After class, we went on an excursion to see the Jewish ghetto. Julie has emphasized with us the idea of being a traveler, not a tourist, and to do this by slowing down, returning to places more than once, traveling alone, and observing how YOU create or cross certain borders. The Jewish ghetto is still today a place where Jews thrive. The Jews were confined to live in this neighborhood during the times when they were persecuted, including during WWII. Living in this area they were required to wear orange caps and work menial jobs, and they had a curfew at night.

Julie then sent us off by ourselves to explore and write. Personally, I was terrified and getting lost in the city all by myself, so Erika and I teamed up to explore. We ended up wandering our way to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. I am continually amazed by the beauty and diversity of the city, and how you can walk a hundred meters from a modern shopping area to ancient ruins, right in the middle of the city.

When we got back, we all got together to cook up some crepes for dinner. Tomorrow we have our first Italian class (which will really come in handy in the next few months) and will be talking about the mythical foundations of Rome and visiting the Piazza del Campidoglio.

Ciao!

Stephanie Tougas

Ruins we saw on our trip to the Jewish ghetto

Group picture before our trip to the Jewish ghetto