Shopping and Other Boring Things

Well folks, I haven't done anything all that interesting over the last couple of days. My apologies. Monday was spent shopping with my roommates, because there were saldi (sales) all over Rome. For some reason everybody in Rome (or maybe in Italy) has a sale the first weekend in July, every year. It's convenient for us, I suppose, but I didn't buy anything. I don't have all the moola in the world, and most of the stuff looks pretty much like things I could get in the States if I wanted/needed them. I'd rather spend money on food and, er, museum entrance fees or something. Haha. I did try a few things on, though, which is always an interesting experience in Italy. Italian salespeople have zero concept of personal space. They'll come bursting into your dressing room without warning to see how stuff looks on you (and if you're not dressed, they don't apologize and leave, they'll just stand there and chat), and they'll grab you, turn you around, and yank the clothes in various ways to see if things fit well. Before you even go in, they'll critically eye your selected articles and starting yanking things away, saying "You don't try this, it is too big/small. Here, you try this one!" It's a little bit overwhelming the first time, but I'm used to it by now. I find it highly amusing as a general rule.

I did buy a couple of t-shirts today. Because I have plenty of time here in the city, and because the souvenir shops vary widely in price (despite being right next to each other), I decided to shop around for the best price, and I found these for 3,90 € each. That works out to about $5.20 each. Not bad. (By the way, the comma is intentional. Europeans have switched around the commas and periods, so to say eight thousand one hundred twenty-eight Euro and ninety-five cents, it would look like this: 8.128,95 €. Weird, huh?) One of them is an imitation of the Coca-Cola logo, where instead of Coca-Cola it says "Ciao Ciao." The other one just has a design that says "Roma" and has a picture of the she-wolf emblem. They're pretty cool. Again, I had to work hard to convince the lady in the shop that I really needed a larger size ("This for you? This fit you! This fit you!" "No, really, I want it to fit looser.") Now I just need to find an Italian flag and a Roman flag (it has a kind of shield with SPQR written on it), and I'll be set. :)

Hmm not much else has happened of note. Today I just went to class and enjoyed gazing at various sites, with and without visible ruins (including the general area where Julius Caesar was assassinated, that is, the ancient Theater of Pompey). Then Nancy and I went to St. Peter's to see if we could get a ticket to see the pope tomorrow morning. When the pope is in town, he gives a public audience every Wednesday morning, and you can get free tickets from the Swiss Guards. We had to wait in line and go through the airport-style security there at the church to get to the right doors, only to have the Swiss Guard we talked to courteously inform us that the pope is out of town until the 2nd of August. Bummer. I actually had no interest whatsoever in seeing the pope (Nancy just didn't want to go alone), but I was bummed about doing all that waiting for nothing. Still, getting close to, and talking to, a Swiss Guard was kind of cool. Click here to see a picture of their crazy uniform, which supposedly was designed by Michelangelo. It just goes to show that famous sculptors aren't necessarily cut out to be fashion designers. But anyway, the Swiss Guards may dress like clowns, but they take their jobs very seriously. I was quite intimidated. They're interesting, though. There is an exhibit going on all month celebrating the Swiss Guards and their history with the Vatican. I haven't had a chance to go yet, but I'm going to try to get down there sometime this week.

Well, now that I've thoroughly bored you, I am going to go back to the apartment to do my homework. Here are a few more pics for your enjoyment. Ciao!

Bella Toscana. Another picture I took on the Tuscany trip, just for grins.

Bella Roma. I took this picture at sunrise from my bedroom window at my apartment.

Last night the World Cup celebrators were out again. Not quite the pandemonium of the night before, of course, but the enthusiasm was definitely audible from all parts of the city. This is hard to see, but it's a guy on a motorcycle holding an Italian flag (at a stoplight, the only way I could get a picture to turn out). I don't know how they manage the insanity of Roman traffic while being spirited at the same time, but they do it somehow.


The Italian Center for American Studies. Am I the only one who finds this ironic?