It's been a very fun day, though. First, I went to my class, which I love. I may be the only person in the class who isn't bored out of his/her mind, but I say it again: people who can't handle heat and history should go somewhere else. JCU students have a tendency to be whiny and spoiled and rich, they tend to be marketing majors, and they tend to want to spend all their time in Campo de Fiori shopping and/or getting drunk. Watching their misery extend over the three and a half hours of my class twice weekly is pretty amusing. Oh, the poor poor little fashion models. Life is so hard for you.
But anyway, as I was saying, I adore this class. It's fascinating. Today we explored the Roman Forum. We took the Via Sacra (holy road), which is the original road (with the original paving stones) going through the Forum, the road that all those generals and consuls marched down for their triumphs, leading the captives and spoils of their battles. Reconstructing the Forum in your mind takes a lot of imagination now, since so many of the buildings are now reduced to their foundations (curse those medieval and Renaissance popes), but I have a little bit of that. Our teacher encourages us to put ourselves mentally into the clothes of an ancient Roman; today, for a fleeting moment, my linen capris turned into flowing robes, and I was a Vestal Virgin taking the Via Sacra down from the temple of Jupiter back to my living quarters at the other end of the Forum next to the temple of Vesta, after the triumphal procession of Scipio Africanus celebrating his defeat of the Carthaginians. (It was only a fleeting moment because Rachel, who was walking next to me, suddenly went crashing down on the uneven pavement...oh well. She was okay, by the way.) Yeah, so I admit, that's pretty much nerdy beyond belief, but there is something magical about walking down the paths of the ancients. If you were here, you might feel it a bit yourself. Walking through the forum, and looking up at the temple of Saturn towering over the Via Sacra, it isn't hard to understand why the Romans had such a strong collective ego. Walking on a daily basis among that sort of splendor and engineering prowess would definitely instill a strong sense of superiority in your average Roman, especially when you realize that most other peoples were still living in huts at the time.
I didn't take many pictures today because I was taking notes, but here's one of the arch of Septimius Severus, at the end of the Forum next to the Senate House:
After our adventures in the Forum, we went into the Capitoline Museum, which was also amazing. I saw several pieces of ancient sculpture I've been dying to see, including the symbol of Rome (despite its being an Etruscan product), the Capitoline Wolf, and one of my favorite sculptures of all time, the Dying Gaul. I wish Blogger would let me post pics (seriously, it gets cranky nearly every time). For the moment, you'll just have to Google them yourself if you want to see what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was absolutely fascinating. Pretty much everything we saw was amazing, but I don't have the space, and you don't have the patience, for me to describe it all. Suffice it to say that I was in Classics Nerd Heaven On Earth.After class, Rachel and I went to eat, and then I went to the Vatican Museum. Haha. Rachel was like, "Are you insane?!" Maybe that was a little crazy, but Claudia wanted to go, so I went with her. I knew I'd have to go back sometime, alone...because no one would want to hang around with me for as many hours as I'd be able to spend there. And the fact that the Etruscan Museum was closed off today is another incentive to go back. So...today was a nice overview, and I'll be back for more details. I was absolutely thrilled, however, to be able to see Laocoon, Apollo Belvedere, and a real Egyptian mummy. Not to mention the School of Athens and the Sistine Chapel...which were okay but not thrilling. Renaissance paintings are alright, but they all start to look the same after, oh, five minutes. Give me the ancient sculptures any day...or Egyptian papyrus, Roman sarcophagi, etc. :) I did take my picture in front of the School of Athens, so I'll post that tomorrow when I have my USB cable.
So yeah, I've seen tons of cool stuff today. And after the miles of the Vatican museum, and walking here, plus all that walking this morning...I think I need to go refuel. Speaking of which, I must admit that my diet here consists of pizza, pasta, panini, and croissant. Coffee and Coke and water to drink. So is that healthy? Maybe not, but I really don't care... I'm off now to get a Marina, which is a panini sandwich at the place down the street. It has breaded chicken breast, mozzarella, scamorza cheese, and spicy eggplant slices, all hot and toasty on panini bread. Mmm mmm mmm!
P.S. Watch this flash video about Italy. I nearly split my sides laughing at it because it's so true (traffic in particular).
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