From Portland to Gainseville

Spring break. Nearly... there...

I took my midterm and my sort-of-midterm, and now I'm in that limbo-land between still having to go to class and being able to hop on the airplane to Ft. Lauderdale.

Need to leave for Shakespeare in 17 minutes. I've been thinking about Rome a lot lately, especially last night when I met up with a friend from my program (the first person I'd seen from Rome since December).

"Word on facebook is you're not a Classics major anymore."

Yes, it's true.

Still working out how I feel about the whole Rome experience... but the exciting news is, I'm going back to Europe in May for ten days!

Back in the U.S.S.R.

I'm finally home, and just in time for Christmas!

I hope you all are having a great time with your families. I'm so happy to be back in the States!

Much love,
LTG

Motivation

I don't have any. Which is problematic when one has two papers due at the end of the week and lots o'Latin to translate. It's hard to concentrate when I know I only have 2 weeks left until I fly back to the U.S.! I should be out enjoying Rome but instead... Suetonius. Alas.

Decision

I'm moving to Krakow.

Maybe not. But some days, it seems like a good idea.

Brilliance Does Not Eloquent Speakers Make

As much as I admire my professors, I'm starting to get the feeling that our Monday morning lectures (the only day of the week we're not visiting sites) are becoming a mere formality. They range from interesting topics (e.g. Roman vs. Greek theatres) to less than interesting ones (water supply in Rome). Sometimes, the only redeeming qualities are the ways in which my professors choose to phrase their findings. Here are some gems I've gleaned from the last 5 weeks (I use their abbreviated names because that's the way they refer to themselves on the syllabus, and sometimes the way we refer to them in the real world):

"Is this guy Roman? Is he Etruscan? Or is this a false dichotomy?!" -JH

"Agh, there was a really good picture of the Colosseum here... ok... imagine a Colosseum." -LK

"And here's a bath with rather forlorn remnants of pilae." -NP (imagine a British accent for this one)

To segue to Joel's presentation on water supply: "and baths need water..." [then runs quickly to the back of the classroom] -NP

"Water... they all need it." -JW

Of course, none of these compare to my favorite quote from a rather famous classicist I took a class with at Columbia last term:
"In conclusion, slaves could be fed to lampreys, but it was rather shocking." -WVH

Until next time,
LTG

"It's Not a Pilgrimage If It's Easy"

I have been woefully neglecting the blog, but I wanted to write about the trip I took to Assisi last weekend before I forget the fun details--

We left last Thursday evening-- already running late because the Italian class had run over. Our hopes of catching the express dashed against the cobblestone pavement (hahahaha), we settled for the 8:30 pm train-- which didn't arrive until 9:15. Knowing full well that we might miss our connection, but unwilling to head back to the Centro in defeat, we, like fools, got on the train. When we reached Foligno, our transfer point, a kindly man wearing a leather jacket and smoking a cigarrette asked us, "Assisi?" Following this unlikely angel out of the train station, we were lead to a fleet of taxis-- because, as it turns out, this train always runs late so TrenItalia hires taxi drivers to take you the rest of the way to your destination-- for free! Oh, Italy.

Over the next two days, we saw everything in Assisi. Here's a picture of our hostel:

We saw the Basilica of San Francesco, the Basilica of Santa Chiara, and the Church of San Damiano, not to mention a musical about the life of St. Claire. Yeah, intense. Since blogger is taking awhile to let me load photos, I will only include a few:

After the hour long hike uphill, we came to the hermitages of the early Franciscans, but the views, as seen above, were amazing.

We also watched the sunset from Piazza Santa Chiara:

It almost doesn't look real. Umbria has got to be one of the most beautiful regions of Italy.

To see more photos from this trip, or to see other albums:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lauren.ltg

Here are Leo's photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/leokeliher/Assisi

They're even more extensive than mine!

Until next time,

Lauren

"Whatever There Is to Be Said Is Said in English"

Ciao from Roma! Months of anticipation have come to fruition, and here I am, doin' as Romans do. I know you've all been awaiting my first Roman post eagerly, so here it goes.

We hit the ground running-- Tuesday they sent us out into the city for "obelisk projects"-- already a running joke around the Centro. Here's what my obelisk looked like:

It's in the Piazza Navona by the Church of St. Agnes in Agony. Is it not a thing of beauty? We did presentations on it, and my group wrote a creative poem on this obelisk, containing gems like "Here Innocent X lies dead, and you can see St. Agnes' head" (that line was all yours truly. Can you recognize the slightly morbid sense of humor?).

Classes have been going ok-- besides the terrifying prospect of doing presentations in front of these classics geniuses, the workload is comparable, if not a little lighter than, my normal Barnard classes.

They don't lie about the "intense living experience"-- imagine around 50 people in a four story building (36 students + professors + professors' families + staff). Not only do you know every single person you live with, but you go to class with them, you eat almost every meal with them, and you go on 8 hour field trips with them. Field trips make up about half our week-- all day Tuesdays, half days on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Here's a pic from our Thursday field trip that I like to call "Old Stuff and Cats":

I'm not sure if the cats are actually visible from that picture, but I assure that they're there. Cats are classics enthusiasts, too (or, as AW would say, "Ize in ur ruins, educatin u on antikwity.").








I made a trip over to the Trinita dei Monti, the French church atop the Spanish Steps (I was confused, too!) to watch the monks and nuns there chant vespers:





"Wow, Lauren! All of this in your first week? How adventurous you are!" Well, maybe not too adventurous. They have us up for breakfast every day at 8, and I am completely zapped by 9. Still, I'm slowly but surely learning my way around.




Here's my room:

And one last picture to show you that I'm working hard:

Until next time,

LTG