A ride through Roma!

Buongiorno! Today was absolutely beautiful, sunny and even a bit warm-- hopefully more to come. This morning we walked to and explored a site that's still partially underneath a modern day church, S. Omobono. We learned more about dating techniques and generally, how to conceptualize and piece together something that pretty much looks like a pile of rocks. The two, possibly three temples weren't discovered until the early 20th century, when builders started digging foundations. This discovery (and what excavations subsequently revealed-in terms of the temple plans/layout, etc.) coincided with ancient written descriptions. Today, the site is still an archaeological gem, especially since large parts have yet to be excavated. Our class had to get special permission to walk around the site, and a very Italian looking guard booted us out promptly at the end of our scheduled time. We spent the afternoon in the sun, learning about augurs. From what I can gather, it was a Roman practice that involved reading the flight paths and activities of specific birds, in search of answers or guidance. Augurs (those who performed this task) were consulted about nearly anything, from the favorability of going to war, to building a temple, to the more trivial--"should I ask Brad Pitt on a date..

If a "reading" was undesirable, one could have a re-reading, for up to an hour. In a sense, even though the practice seems rooted in chance and unpredictability, those soliciting and performing the reading both had a great deal of control. Kind of a bizarre, seemingly circular practice to me. This afternoon, Andrea (my housemate Christina's friend from Rome), gave me a tour of the city on motorcyle-- pretty awesome on a such a nice day. He took me back up to the overlook we visited yesterday, which was much more impressive with visibility. Next, weaving through traffic (kind of scary, but exhilarating) we drove down to the area surrounding the Spanish steps-- a very rich part of Rome; a fashionista's paradise. The main street (spacing on the name) is lined with upscale shopping- Prada, Luis V, Burberry, Gente, Hermes..it's like a mini Milan. Andrea and I were going to pick up a few pairs of 4000 euro shoes, but decided the crocodile leather was a bit shabby. Although very tourist-, the Spanish steps and surrounding area is a fun place to people watch. Lots of "stuck-ahp" French people though, as Andrea explained. We also popped over to the Trevy fountain, which was completely swarmed with dorky looking tourists and even a newly wed couple snapping pictures. Of course, we had to do the cliche Trevy coin toss--hopefully my wish comes true! On the way back home to Trestevere, we passed a few other notable places, including the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace, constructed under Augustus)--which is housed inside a totally modern building, it's quite unexpected. We also passed St. Peter's. If we don't get trampled by old Catholic ladies, the goal is to spend Easter morning at the Vatican..well see. Overall, it was really cool to get a local tour and insight..especially on moto! A piu tardi!

Buonasera! Yesterday we had our first official site visits. In the morning, we visited Largo Argentina, an area with 4 ancient temple remains. Today, it seems to be cat sanctuary rather than anything else. Apparently Roman people just boot their cats out when they go on summer vacation, not considering that stray cats have to end up somewhere. Largo Argentina was an ideal place to begin learning the process of identifying and differentiating the type and age of structures via building materials and style. In antiquity, two primary materials used were tufa and travertine. Recent additions and renovations are identifiable because they typically involve smaller, more uniform bricks. After the cat haven, we stopped at a few places on the palatine hill and eventually ended up on tiber island. Here, we talked about the celebration of Venus (I'm forgetting the name), which occurs on April 1st in Rome. Guess Roman goddesses take precedence over April Fools pranks. In ancient times, April 1 was a day for women..moms, daughters, prostitutes, whoever..to cleanse themselves; a kind of ritualistic and symbolic process of honoring and emulating Venus. Last stop, we took a bus up this winding hill (that's actually right across the street from our apartment on Via Mammeli) to (I'm told) the best vista in Rome. Unfortunately it started raining right when we got there, so the view wasn't anything impressive. The rain was a not so nice touch of home, and it continued to downpour the rest of the day. 

Ciao!!

Hey all! This is my first blog, so I'm not entirely sure what the protocol is--I'll try not to bore you all. I'm hoping this will be an efficient way to document my adventures and stay in touch! Unfortunately I'll be doing my blogging at an internet cafe because we don't have wireless in our apartment, so I'll blog as frequently as I can! Hope you're all doing great back at home! 

Arrivederci!