At night, Genie convinced me to play Kings with her and had to drag Thuy, who was super tired, out of her room to play. We started with spumante but ran out, and Genie concocted this bizarre mixture with her dreadful Anise liquor that she’s been trying to get rid of, plus a few different types of juice. Thuy told her she had invented a new flavor of cough syrup. I didn’t find it as bad as I had expected from Genie’s disgusted expression. We had a fun time playing, except when Cindy would come out and simperingly plead for us to turn the music off so she could sleep, even though it was so low that we could barely here it. Thuy was so funny, half drunk and half exhausted, and when I got a Jack, she got all wide-eyed and told me in an awed whisper, “Cait, you can abolish all the rules,” and kept repeating it. She was so out of it that Genie had to help her to the bathroom and bed, and then we stayed up just a little before turning in as well.
The Less Sweet Side Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Other and School Atac, John Cabot University 9:15 pm
3 November, Tuesday.
I woke up congested and exhausted to a torrential downpour and a crowded with bus stop. Three 999’s and two 907’s past, but the 913 and the 990 were, after half an hour, still absent. In danger of being late, I split a cab with Mike from Portland and one of the Michigan State girls and slid into Brit Lit mostly dry and just on time for a discussion of the war poets. One guy was arguing about the Brits’ knowledge of the war with absolutely no facts and I was glad to be rid of him for a necessary lunchtime nap. Mystics exploded over William of Ockham, with people debating his philosophy, asking for examples, and attempting to disprove him with Aquinas despite its total lack of relevance. Every dynamic in our class became an inferno. It was amusing but stressful and forcing my way through Italian class, presenting our holiday recipes with me losing my voice, was little help. Dinner was a good break. Adrian joined us and we cooked all together for the first time in a few days, then played a few heated rounds of Hearts before setting into homework.
4 November, Wednesday.
I was getting better but still a little sick, so I was really exhausted for our 10th tour of the Forum in Ancient Rome. I went back to Medag to nap and then bussed it to campus for Evil Philosophers. Branchi’s friend Professor Schroeder (I think that was the name) was in town and gave us a really good lecture on Hobbes, the subject of his next book. He was really funny and he’d steal this girl’s backpack to demonstrate the State of Nature and had a really good perspective. At night, Adrian was over for dinner again and then Marcelo stopped by to check on the Munich tickets. Turns out, Katie had gotten the confirmation e-mail. She was listed as the e-mail contact, I was listed as the primary contact, and Marcelo was listed as the traveler. Figure that one out.
A Roman Halloween Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Nightlife and Other Cappuccini Crypts, Halloween, Mickey's, Protestant Cemetery, Scholars 8:32 pm
31 October, Saturday.
HALLOWEEN! It was not exactly the same as my American favorite, but I managed to make it good. I woke up later than I had planned and rushed out the door towards the Cimitero Accottolica, or the Protestant Cemetery. I was just late for the last entry, but a disappointed old woman managed to convince the guard to let us in. With the twenty minutes before the cemetery closed, I took a whirlwind tour of the beautiful grounds. The cemetery sits on the slope of a hill with crooked rows of mismatched headstones poking out of lush ivy, trees, and flowers, as simple as a headstone and as elaborate as a replica of a cathedral, engraved with English, Italian, Polish, Russian, Irish, Greek—any non-Catholic who was buried in Rome. The side garden houses a few tombstones scattered in the open grass meadow with the impressive pyramid of Caius Cestius, an ancient Roman who loved Egyptian art, at one end and the tomb of the poet John Keats at the other. Another poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, rests near the age-browned back wall, where slitted windows show views of the city through an ivy curtain. There is a tranquil beauty here quite unlike the gray, sobering Catholic cemeteries around.
After being ushered out the cemetery by a soothing female voice speaking five languages and eerie piped-in classical music, I rushed to the Cappuccini Crypts and made it in good time for a viewing of the underground curiosity. The crypts consists of five small chapels in a row, situated underneath a small church—but this is not what lures visitors. Each chapel except for the middle one, which houses a few carved monument stones and a grand oil painting, is decorated with the bones of Cappuccin monks and the poor people they were responsible for disposing of. Human bones. Vertebrae and sternums are glued in great spiraling wheels to the ceiling and walls. Skulls and pelvic bones are stacked high into arched alcoves for “statues” of robed monk skeletons in positions of prayer. Shoulder blades perched under skulls make fitting angels wings, and strings of rib bones serve as hanging holders for the candles that light the walk. Wilting flowers strew the bare earth in the chapel floors, which house interred bodies marked by simple name plates and wooden crosses. In the last room, three skeletons, one styled as the Grim Reaper with a scythe of shoulder blades and femurs, point the viewers to a forbidding sign: Che voi siete noi eravamo, che noi siamo voi sarete. What you are we once were, what we are you will be.
After those fittingly eerie Halloween festivities, I headed back home on the metro and met the boys at the little store outside of Cipro. With my Fanta in hand, I rushed to the door with Roberto when Hugh and Marcelo called that something was going on. A drunk older man was out in the square swinging at the other men standing there, and some were rolling up their sleeves and handing children to wives, ready to jump in. Hugh ran to the help of an elderly man when the drunk man knocked him over and Marcelo grabbed the drunk man’s passport, which was flung from his pocket to the ground. The shop owner took it and she handed it to the man standing next to us, who looked at it and rolled his eyes; apparently this is a common occurrence. Once it was safe to move, we headed back to Medag and all had dinner, courtesy of the boys and Caitlin K. We played cards, Bastardo and Briscola, and Cindy was dreadful at it but the guys were good-natured for once. Cindy and Caitlin cut out early and I went out with the guys—sans Roberto, who had fallen asleep. They were sort of robbers with ski masks and I was vampire-esque in my high-collared trench coat and black eye makeup and lipstick. We hung out with the archies at Mickeys for drinks and music, then finally left them at Scholars to go to bed. An unconventional Halloween, but a fitting Roman adaptation.
Sketching and Sketches Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Monuments and Nightlife and Other Campo dei Fiori, San Paolo Fuori Mura, Trastevere 7:56 pm
30 October, Friday.
With just one day until Halloween, I headed out in the morning with Thuy to San Paolo Fuori Mura, the basilica, to sketch. Adrian and Marcelo were supposed to come with us, but passed in favor of sleep—lame. We took a brief spin around the huge hall, then snagged spots on the courtyard steps to sketch the statue of Saint Paul. Thuy left early to catch her plane to Paris and I stayed to finish my sketch, then chilled at home for a bit. Shanna’s friends were out of town and she had procured pancakes, so we had a pancake dinner, a delightful taste of home. We played cards with the guys after, then Cindy and Caitlin K. left and Melissa, Jenny, and Elise, three girls from a west-coast art program who live downstairs, came over. We all got to know each other and talked about majors, art history, and how the girls had to take a wine class and made their own wine in their apartment.
We stopped by their apartment to get their jackets and met their roommates (three other girls and one resilient guy named Mc . . . something), and of course the guys had forgotten their names even though they’d already hung out with them once before, so I had to artfully rediscover them. Then all of us headed out towards Campo. We stopped at Scholars but, fortunately (I’m not the biggest Scholars fan), there were too many older people there, so we split and headed to our favorite Campo bar at the back corner. We hung out there for a while, then headed into Trastevere, which was packed with people out for a weekend night. The girls were still full of energy but me, Hugh, Roberto, and Marcelo and I were about ready to pass out, so we parted ways at Dog fountain and headed for home.
Alfred Hitchcock Revisited Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Nightlife and Other and School Birds, Lasagna, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Aquinas, Trastevere 7:03 pm
29 October, Thursday.
I was a little tired, having stayed up much later than I had meant to finished The Importance of Being Earnest, which I could not put down. But discussing it in Brit Lit was fun and then the pizza at lunch fortified me. I swear, I do eat other things besides pizza, but it’s so good! Mystics was fun except that we were talking about Aquinas (don’t get me started on dear old Thomas) and Italian was Halloween themed, which started getting me excited for one of my favorite holidays. Maggini made Marcelo our talk show host and thought he was talking about Opera when he said Oprah, we played Pictionary, and Caitlin G. and I directed the others into turning Sarah, Vince, and Marcelo into a living Halloween statue.
I hung around Guarini afterwards, devising my spring schedule, and went through a brief panic attack when I thought I had a really late dart time. I swear, my advisor must think I’m a lunatic. Me, Katrina, Thuy, Marcelo, Cindy, and Caitlin K. met up with Katie and her parents, who took us out to dinner at a little place in Trastevere. The waiters were oddly attentive and Thuy and Marcelo were creeped out by one who seemed to be discussing my scarf (I don’t want to know), but the food was delicious. We walked around the Trastevere area looking for an open Tabacchi shop after, and were assailed by the birds. They have been flying in swarms so large that they can be seen from miles away for the last month, and their chattering is loud enough to hear from blocks around. Needless to say, I won’t ever stand under the trees again and I took a delightful hot shower as soon as I got home. Back at the apartment, we had a chill night playing Bastardo and Briscola (variation of Bastardo) and Kings and Rummy at the guys’ place, then called it a night.
Cards and Calcio Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Nightlife and Other and School Bastardo, Calcio, Juventus, Lazio, Roma, Rome 6:14 pm
28 October, Wednesday.
I woke up late, thanks to the bittersweet lack of Ancient Rome and its Monuments, and had a quiet lunch in the apartment before heading to Evil Philosophers. It was somewhat unproductive, what with sporcle wars going on around the outskirts and a few doodles interspersed in the notes, but I was excited about my new boots and the scarves from Spain. I hung out with the guys at Tiber campus for a bit and then walked home with them for some homework. None of the girls were around, so I had dinner with the guys, who made a very good pasta Bolognese, and then learned how to play Bastardo. The game uses a Neopolitan deck with four tarot-like suits and a modified number of cards, and involves trying to guess the secret partner of the person who wins the opening bet. It was confusing at first, but I started to get the hang of it and resolved to get my own deck.
Then it was more homework and the rest of the girls returned. A small group of us joined the guys at a bar down the street to watch the Lazio game (calico, of course—that’d be soccer), but they had the Roma game on instead, which was fine. We had a few drinks, played Bastardo during the commercials and taught the other girls to play, and watched Roma get sadly trounced. Lazio lost too but Juventus won, so Genie was rubbing it in the guys’ faces. We escaped the rain and headed back to the apartments. Break-time over.
Settling In Saturday, Nov 28 2009
Other and School John Cabot University, Rome, Thomas Hardy 6:04 pm
27 October, Tuesday.
We left our hostel at 2:45 a.m.—yes, in the morning—and blearily dragged ourselves to the airport and onto our flight, most of which I spent in a half-asleep stupor. I finished my Italian homework in the airport and then rushed to Brit Lit right from Fiumicino. We talked about Hardy, who plagued me with The Return of the Native but who won my heart back with his poetry, and then I had pizza and peaches with Katie for lunch. Mystics was good as always and Italian was our best class ever. I hardly looked at the clock once. We sat in a circle, the whole class, and pretended to be an advertising committee discussing campaigns to increase tourism in Lazio. Everyone talked and there was no unnecessary broken monologues. It was lovely.
After school was impromptu boot shopping by Termini with Genie and Marcelo. I had worn my heeled boots for the first time today, thinking that I’d not have to walk much since I’d just take the bus home, so of course I was limping after a half hour. Genie got a boot stuck on her at one store and we had to rush out of there, but we both managed to find perfect pairs in another store. I had exactly the right amount of cash and an Italian lady told me they were beautiful, plus I was in extreme pain at this point, so that did it. At night, we headed upstairs where Caitlin Kelly cooked dinner. Most of the girls were there and it was nice to come together again, since it had been so long since we were all together. We gossiped and shared stories about ND and our travels and gorged ourselves on chicken and potatoes and green beans. Then it was time to do homework and catch up from a weekend of travel.
Adventures in Public Transportation Saturday, Oct 17 2009
Italy and Nightlife and Other Italy, Metro, Mezza Luna, Pizza, Rome, Study Abroad 3:12 pm
9 October, Friday.
Today was . . . well, remarkably unproductive. I had meant to finish my paper, but instead, Genie and I sat in the living room and procrastinated and had a delightful snack of crackers, cheese of various kinds, basil, and peperoncini. That night, to save ourselves from the humiliation of having spent the whole day in Medag, Genie and Katie C. and I decided to go to Mezza Luna, the awesome pizza place where Daniele had taken me and Genie and Lauren a ways back. We actually found it pretty quickly after getting off the Metro and asking the bartenders in one of the bars about the bus stops, and got a table right away. Our waiter asked us where we were from and we told him, then heard him telling the two boys behind us who were with their mother, who was joking to them to talk to us. It’s always funny when Italians think you can’t understand them.
Dinner was absolutely phenomenal and not terribly expensive. Genie and I split these things called Mezze Luna, which were little pieces of fried dough with cheese and prosciutto and salami and mortadella inside. All three of us split some sparkling white wine (Italy has forced me to appreciate white wine, since it’s actually good here and few of my friends like red wine), which was fantastic. Then, we all got pizzas for dinner. Genie and I had the same kind, which had cheese, eggs, olives, prosciutto, and mushrooms and was gone in approximately three minutes. But rather than stopping there, we all had desert too. I had some strawberry thing with gelato, Katie had tiramisu, and Genie had crème caramel. It was amazing and we were totally stuffed by the time we paid.
Then, we headed back to Termini station by bus. On the bus, these two guys from Germany were talking to us. They had studied in Holland and were studying in Rome now. They told us some good places to go in Germany and some of the places they had been in Italy. They wanted us to come clubbing with them, but obviously we were not going to go off with random German guys with no ND guys as bodyguards. So, Genie got their number. The one guy who talked the most entered it into her phone as “Toby from the B,” so we’ve been calling him that every since. Then, on the Metro, this nice little family came up to us and tried to ask us about the Metro in broken Italian. Genie realized that they were Spanish and started talking to them in Spanish. They were very grateful and were getting off at Cipro with us, so Genie talked to them for a while and Katie and I, who could follow the Spanish but only respond a little, followed along. They were a mom, dad, and two girls, all from Argentina, here on vacation. We helped them to Cipro and then huddled with them around the map in search of their hotel. The street wasn’t on the map, but my Blackberry came through and we walked up from the station to the big intersection so we could point them in the right direction. They were so nice and it felt kind of good to actually be able to help them, and they were so grateful and sweet.
That night, most everyone was gone, so Genie and Katie and I sat in the living room on our computers, drinking Spumante and exploring the people on iTunes with shared music libraries. We found this one girl who had a techno song whose lyrics were limited to “Put your ass in the air.” I kid you not. It was kind of catchy but SO bizarre, and we were laughing hysterically listening to it. We also tried to mix the Spumante with exotic fruit juice, which turned out to taste like potatoes because it had so much papaya in it. Not recommended. After an hour and a half of talking, laughing about the night, and listening to random music, we finally went to sleep.
Ultimate Gin Rummy Thursday, Oct 1 2009
Italy and Other Card games, Gin Rummy, Italy, Rome, Study Abroad, Tennyson, Trastevere, Travel 6:28 pm
29 September, Tuesday.
Brit Lit was interesting today. We were talking about Tennyson again, one of my favorites, so I was really getting into our discussion about his self-consciousness as a poet and his relationship with his late friend, Hallam, the subject of his elegy. Mystics was cancelled so Katie, Katrina, Marcelo, and I headed to one of Thuy’s finds, Pizza al Forno, in Trastevere. The ladies behind the counter were kind of harsh and scary and one of them tried to jip me out of five euro, but the pizza was absolutely delicious and we sat eating it on the steps of the Piazza Trastevere fountain, enjoying the cool air and the warm sun and the light spray of water on the wind. After, Marcelo and I stopped at a Pasticceria (pastry shop) owned by a nice old lady and decorated all over the walls with pretty, bizarre abstract paintings–done by a painter who learned at six, the lady told us. I got a few little cookies and enjoyed them on the walk back to Tiber to meet Katie.
The three of us walked over to Guarini and sat in the shade in the Lemon Tree courtyard, a popular hangout for both the cliques of degree-seeking students and the few scattered study abroad students. Vince came to join us and we also met Andrew, Marcelo’s degree-seeking friend from his sketchbook class, who told us about life at JCU. Katie and I tried to take naps on the tabletop, but were disturbed by Vince and Marcelo not-so-sneakily poking us. Caitlin G. joined us later and the five of us walked to Italian, which was a painful oral examination of the passato prossimo, trapassato, and imperfetto tenses in the context of La Vita è Bella, after which we were hammered with several hours’ worth of review work to drill our brains with the past tenses. Me, Katie, Marcelo, Genie, Vince, and Roberto took the bus home and stopped at a new gelato place along the way, where I tried Pear cheesecake and Mulberry, both which were awesome. Dinner was Genie’s delicious breaded chicken, salad, and rice, which we ate with all of the roomies except Shanna as well as Roberto. Yes, we’ve becoming the revolving soup kitchen for hungry ND guys.
After, Roberto produced Nate’s deck of cards, which he had stolen, and Marcelo came over with Vince’s cards, also stolen, and all of us started a huge game of two-deck gin rummy, which three of us had just learned. Katie Callison joined us and then at two doorbell rings, Marcelo called correctly both Vince and Nate/Hugh, giving us a game of nine with Vince and Hugh in the wings as helpers. Nate and I had the worst luck and were battling each other to get out of last place (I won, -45 to -80) and Katie Callison, who had learned how to play mid-game, with a little help from Hugh, clobbered us all. Any attempts to do homework, needless to say, suffered a little tonight. But we did plan out the logistics for Sicily and book our flights for Prague and Vienna in November, so at least there was some productivity. Yay! Three locations down, eighty five to go.
Just kidding, mom and dad. You can start breathing again.
The Rise of Risotto Thursday, Oct 1 2009
Italy and Other Chicken, Cooking, Erasmus, Italian, Italy, Risotto, Rome 4:48 pm
28 September, Monday.
My plan to get up early and go sketch at the Trevi fountain was foiled by my irritating need for sleep, so I just did a little homework in the morning and then made the dull trek to Evil Philosophers at 15:45. I wrote a fifteen line poem but little else was accomplished, though our professor had a few good points about Erasmus’ views on folly and Roberto did try to get a little controversy started, unfortunately killed by the general apathy in the room. After we went straight home and Katie and I were on our own, since the other girls had an extra credit video for their Italian classes. Katie made breaded chicken and I made homemade, from scratch risotto, which required rice, water, broth mix, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and a lot of time. With some steamed and odd-shaped broccoli and a bottle of wine from Marcelo, the three of us had a delicious dinner. Katie’s chicken was delightful as always and lemony, and that risotto may be the best food I’ve ever cooked, and for sure will be cooking again.
Afterwards, we made the mistake of trying to do group Italian homework. Yet again, it was fine and productive when it was just me, Katie, Marcelo, and even Vince. Then, because the guys are drawn to each other like homing pigeons, we had the addition of Roberto, Hugh, Adrian, Nate, and some of the girls, which forced Katie into her room and me into the kitchen in a fruitless attempt to get some actual work done. Thankfully, I managed to get through at least my necessary materials before Skyping a little with Matt (another day down before he visits!) and going to sleep.
Quotes of the Day
- For it is sooth that sin is the cause of all this pain, and all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. (From Katie’s Brit Lit reading)
- Vince’s Units of Measurement: Kebabs. Time (three kebabs ago), Distance (three kebabs to the store), Currency (three kebabs to the euro)
- Roberto: Sex is the opposite of killing people.
