The End of an Era

Finals are over, thank the lord, but with that wonderful sense of relief comes the crushing realization that I have to go back to California soon. As excited as I am to see my family, friends, and even my dogs, I still am going to miss Rome. I feel that this experience has changed me so much. A year or two ago I wasn't in the best of places, but this adventure has restored my passion for my studies, art, being social, and even helped me regain my joie de vivre. I am so much more confident about myself. I know that I can throw myself into crazy situations where I don't speak the language or know a soul and I can create a life for myself here. If I can do this, what can't I do? 
I've given up on planning my life down to the moment and trying to foresee the next 5, 10, 50 years. All I want to be sure that I am in life is happy. I want to wake up most days and get excited for the coming adventures. Because if we live our lives in a monotonous manner that makes us so bored or frustrated that we might one day either explode or just disintegrate into the wind then that is not living. I don't know exactly what I'm doing after I graduate in June, but I do know it will be an amazing adventure!

Last night we had our farewell dinner with our professors and ACCENT staff members in a really neat underground lounge. Everyone in the program came dressed up and rather sentimental. It's amazing how many fantastic people I've met on this program. We sort of clung together throughout the craziness and chaos of moving to Rome alone. I know that I made some friends that I will have forever. I even have a bunch of new friends who go to UCSC with me, so when I get back home I can still have Italian conversations with my friends. 

Jessica, Corynne, and Danielle

UCSC babes: Wendy and Brianna

Bailey and I: 1/4 of the Italian Breakfast Club

Miguel and Corynne

Sarah, Corynne, and Danielle

Me and Val

All of the students signed this 'card' for the ACCENT staff

Me and Francesco, my favorite member of the ACCENT staff team

 As of now half of my flat has moved out leaving the place looking sad and empty. Even I am completely packed up. There have been tears all day and night from the various departures, but I am proud to say that I haven't cried yet, sadly I know it's coming. 

One of the things that is keeping my spirits up is the excitement of my mom and sister getting here tomorrow morning! I seriously cannot wait! I get to delay saying goodbye to Roma for about a week. It will never be enough time.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Since Halloween and Thanksgiving aren't really celebrated in Italy (for some obvious reasons) I really haven't had that impending feeling that Christmas is coming. But recently things have been getting much merrier around here!

A few days ago a few of my friends and I ventured out towards Pizza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps) to go to Pompi: il regno del tiramisù which is the absolute best place to get tiramisù in Italy. Ask any Italian, they'll tell you the same thing. On our way we crossed Via del Corso, the main shopping street, and found it lit up with christmas lights! There was even a giant christmas tree from Mercedes-Benz with their emblem as ornaments. On the street connecting Via del Corso and Piazza di Spagna, the Via Condotti - one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, we found it decorated with christmas light chandeliers. It was absolutely magical. Add the tiramisù and it was perfect!

It had just rained and the street beautifully reflected everything.

The next day, as a break between writing my final papers for my courses I went with my flatmate Wendy to check out the Christmas market that had sprung up in Piazza Navona. What was normally an austere piazza filled with sculpted fountains by Bernini had become a sort of carnival complete with games and a carousel. 

They also had a ton of shops selling ornaments. What was interesting was that there were a plethora of witches being sold as ornaments, on stockings, as figurine, etc. I finally learned that she is la Befana - a kindly old witch. The story goes that the magi stopped at her house on their way to see the Christ child and invited her to come with them, but she declined. When she saw the star of Bethlehem heralding the child's birth she decided to try go to him with gifts as the magi had done. Unfortunately she never found him, so now she seeks him every Christmas and ends up leaving the gifts at the homes of other children. This explains the abundance of broom ornaments that also are said to bring good luck.

Another wonderful part of the market is the ciambella - a large doughnut-like sweet that is warmed and pressed in a panini maker and covered in sugar and sometimes nutella. Wendy and I each bought one and they were fantastic! Warm and sugary carbalicious magic! 

Piazza Navona

A carousel with the horses of hell on it

Me and la Fontana dei Quattro Fiume

Sparkly things!

Brooms of la Befana

It was so adorable I almost died...

But what I am really excited about is that these decorations means christmas is getting closer and so is the arrival of my mom and sister! They're coming out to visit me and together we'll spend about a week here in Roma, the next week including Christmas in Paris, and a final week and New Year's in London. I cannot wait. It is going to be so beautiful!

I also just finished all of my papers for this semester (30 pages total!) so I decided that yesterday was a good day to relax. I ended up drinking an entire bottle of my favorite wine alone (over the course of 6 hours) and watching The Holiday and Love Actually. I may or may not have bawled my eyes out. It was just so cute and christmas-y and I have nobody... I'm not pathetic. I'm just in touch with my emotions!

Maybe I went a little gif crazy....

CAVE CANEM

WARNING: If you are uncomfortable with human remains or brothels you might want to check out a more cheerful post, like one that I'll be posting soon...


I recently went on a site visit with my Ancient Roman Civilization class to Pompeii in the Bay of Naples. I was so excited because I had been studying Pompeii beginning in 10th grade with the Cambridge Latin Course. Unfortunately, as is common in the winter here in Italia, it was raining. But I refused to let the rain get me down!

We left Roma at 7am sharp and got to Pompeii a little after 10 listening to the wrath of Jove all the way down. We entered Pompeii on the Eastern side and the first thing I saw was the amphitheater. I leterally began jumping up and down. I had studied a wall painting of this amphitheater that depicted a riot between the Pomeiians and Nucerians (like a modern football riot during FIFA - or any day in Italia) which led to Pompeii losing arena privileges for 10 years. 

Even the architecture is similarly depicted!

We saw the streets and the stepping stones to cross the streets above the waste that ran through the streets. We even used them to avoid the puddles from the rain!

Yes, my that is my professoressa's hand lecturing and my friend Sam photobombing...

But the coolest thing about Pompeii are the body casts. Pompeii is a special case for excavating ancient sites. It was abandoned and sealed in volcanic ash in one fell swoop which preserved things in such a state that wasn't known before. In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius, previously thought to be dormant, erupted spitting out chunks of hot volcanic rock and down on the seaside town on Pompeii. Along with the falling debris, the eruption released toxic gases into the air suffocating the inhabitants. The eruption was actually a slightly slower event than we imagine today. Most of the inhabitants had enough time to escape the destruction on foot leaving only 10% of the population in the city, probably slaves guarding valuables or people who thought it would all blow over. Unfortunately for them, it didn't. 
This immediate sealing of human remains preserved the bodies for a while until the porous quality of the rock allowed for the decomposition of the organic materials. When Pompeii was later being excavated by Giuseppe Fiorelli he noticed that there were air pockets in the lithified ash sometimes with bones inside them. He developed a method, now called the Fiorelli method, of pouring plaster into these spaces before they were excavated to preserve the shape inside. What he found was remarkable: human casts were made sometimes detailed enough to display facial features and garments. They show dramatic vignettes of the last moments of these peoples' lives. Some gathered together and tried to provide comfort to loved ones while others seem to have been caught running by the ash and had fallen to the ground to be subsequently covered by it. 

The Fiorelli method was also applied to other organic materials like wood. We now have plaster casts of store shutters and window and door fixtures in houses.

From inside the Villa of Mysteries
 

I also got to see the lupanar, the brothel of Pompeii. I just wrote a 16 page research paper on prostitution in Rome, so I'd rather not rehash the details... but how about some pictures! I hear they're worth a thousand words...

The stone bed in the working room of a meretrix (protsitute)

Wall paintings in the lupanar - sort of like an assortment of things one can 'order.'

We also got to see some notable pieces of art like mosaics from the House of the Faun and the infamous 'cave canem' (beware of dog) mosaic!

The moasic of Alexander the Great defeating Darius III at the Battle of Issus.

It functions as a 'welcome' mat!

We also made friends with the local wildlife - stray dogs! They were actually very well behaved and affectionate. A few even followed us around the city during our lecture. It just made me miss my boys...

Our new friend - Cerberus

But greatest of all had to have been the Villa of the Mysteries. It has a room covered in a 3rd style wall painting depicting what could be an initiation ceremony into the mystery cult of Dionysus (or Bacchus). It seems to show a single woman multiple times in different scenes: learning lines, getting dressed, being flagellated, dancing, and finally wearing a ring that she did not have before. The rites of mystery cults were very secretive, so we don't actually know if this is what happened, whether it would be painted on a wall of public view, or if it could just be a play (Dionysus was the god of wine and theater).

Scenes of the woman seated and learning lines on the left and getting dressed in the yellow on the right.

Bacchus and the flagellation.

Bacchus drunkenly reclining with his thyrsus whilst the woman is flagellated.

The woman, seated, learning the lines from the scroll held by the young girl.

Painted marble bordering the scene.

The woman wearing the ring on her left hand.

One of the things I find most interesting about the ring scene is that she wears it on her left hand where we now wear wedding rings. The tradition of wearing wedding rings on that specific finger comes from ancient Rome! They believed that there was a vein that was in that finger that led directly to the heart. It was a symbol of love and a reminder of one's commitment.