La dolce vita a Roma

 

January 23, 2001

Hey everybody!! This past week has been an absolute whirlwind. Classes began on Monday, so I have begun to settle into a groove here. My classes are all really interesting and really fun. I am taking Italian, Greek History, Roman History, Roman monumental architecture, and “Cities, Ostias and Villas” (a class about the development of the cities, and different domestic settings within ancient Rome). The last two of these classes meet on Tuesdays and are on-site classes, which mean that except for today (and test days) we meet at a specified spot in Rome wandering around to nearby areas and learning about them! Since we met at the university, I hadn’t expected that our first day of classes would be much more than going over the syllabus, yet for both of them we ended up heading out into Rome for our first hands on learning experience (Though I thought learning about archaeology from the classroom back in wheaton was fun, nothing compares to learning about the Forum IN the forum!!!). Here are two little Roman Archaeological lessons for you:

This is the bottom of Tiber Island, where you can see that the stone has been shaped to look like a boat. Look closely in the front and you can see the outline of a man holding a staff with a snake on it! Recognize the staff/snake? It’s still used today as a symbol of medicine!

Tidbit #1 Tiber Island, the place where Romulus and Remus were born (I mentioned it in my last blog) has been considered a place of healing and to safely give birth to children since the early empire; today there is still a hospital on the spot. But how do the Romans explain this? According to myth, a Plague was devasted early Rome so the leaders of the city consulted the Religious leaders who told them to go to Epidaurus in Greece to find their help. An expedition was soon sent out, and to the Romans surprise, they returned with bringing the god Aesculapius with them. As the barges approached Rome along the Tiber, Aesculapius is said to have left the boat and made his home on the Island. Not only is this a cool story but our teacher pointed out to us that it helps explain the similarities between the Greek and roman pantheon, as well as supporting the dominance of the Roman empire (even gods of other peoples want to be with the Romans!)

Tidbit #2 do you spot anything funny in this picture? It may look at first glance like your typical baroque fountain, in your typical Roman piazza, but alas this fountain is built around a huge bronze tub, taken from a Roman bath in another part of town. Doesn’t it just look like the perfect place for a fun bubble bath?

  

A big part of my first normal week in Rome has been the adjustment of learning to cook all of my food for myself. Not only am I not used to having to shop regularly for groceries but our kitchen is small and the oven does not work very well, limiting both the amount and types of food that I can buy. It also means that I am regularly thrown into interactions with Italians and forced to use my very limited Italian to try to communicate! Luckily, all the Italians I have met have been patient and understanding (and very good at reading hand gestures!), making my time at the market very enjoyable.

This is my first home cooked meal, with my roomies, thanks to John Cabot who provided us with some groceries to start out our adventure in the Kitchen! From left to Right: Divia (my direct roommate), Alex, Stephanie, Virginia, Mary, and Me.

 

This is the first meal in Rome I cooked by myself! It is a pea and prosciutto Risotto, the recipe for which I (tried to) read off the back of the Italian box. This was shortly after my first grocery experience in Rome, and the ingredients come from three different places: a mini market, a butcher (I actually bought meat at a butcher-how cool!) and the open air market down the street from my house. When I was at the open air market, I bought my first fresh mozzarella in Italy (In case you were wondering, I am an absolute cheese fanatic and Fresh Mozzarella is my favorite) and can honestly say that that was some of the best cheese I have ever had in my life! Sorry Garden Fresh, your fresh mozzarella just can’t hold up to the real deal!

In case you were wondering what my apartment looks like, I thought I would upload a few shots of the rooms (sorry if they are a little blurry, we don’t get a ton of natural light so my camera was having a little trouble)

Our Kitchen! Though it is the smallest of the rooms, it has become the hang place of our apartment.

The dining room

The entry hall, complete with coat rack and bright red piano :)

my bedroom

Our beautiful terrace, filled with plants! (let's hope we can keep them alive!)

The view from the terrace: go around the bend in the road and BOOM a view of St. Peter's dome!

And of course, our trusty little pink elevator. He didn't necessarily need to be included, I just felt like he is a fun little addition to my daily apartment life. Plus, it is still so weird to me that the elevator as two manual doors

Ciao from Rome,
Amy