Sunday's Exploration

*Note: I wrote this yesterday (Sunday) so forgive the different tenses*

This morning I woke earlier than I expected to be able to after a night of such extreme merriment. Everyone seemed to be occupied with certain things this morning. The hallway was quiet and it wasn’t until I remembered that it was Sunday that I could actually figure out why, church. I went in exploration for the kitchen where they usually have breakfast. My memory served me well from my first day when Francesco had showed it to me. I grabbed some milk, a piece of sweet bread and an orange that I had snagged from lunch the day before and munched them down in my room. I was not yet in the mood to trek about the city so instead I went back outside to the garden and continued filling my head with thoughts of Avalon (I am currently reading “The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley). *I plan on buying a book in Italian as soon as I can get my nerve up to actually go into a bookstore and ask for what I’m looking for.
After some time in the garden I went to the library do some posting (as you saw) and to check email, etc. Then I headed for lunch which I ate with Padre Samuele and a new student who I found out is going to studying at Torre di Babele! He is from Italy but he is studying to become a teacher of Italian for foreigners like myself at a language school. It will be nice to have at least familiar face tomorrow when my classes start. Since tomorrow is the first day of class, I do not have to be there until the orientation meeting at 12 which will last until 1 and then I have class until 4:40. This does however mean that I will miss lunch at Villa. So hopefully the new guy can help me order lunch if he isn’t busy… otherwise I might be slightly screwed… or just look like a typical American tourist… damn.
Walking into lunch today was quite funny as when I came into the room everyone started laughing, clapping and asking how I enjoyed the previous night. After lunch some of the guys decided to take me on a tour of the Villa gardens. We talked a lot sports to which I was pleasantly surprised by how well I could fake knowing what I was talking about. At 2 I headed back to the library for a previously schedule Skype date with my parents. Of course it was Mother’s Day, so it made good reason to retreat from the guys for a while and chat it up with the parents. After a lengthy conversation I decided it was time to hit the city. I got sidetracked on my way back to my room by a couple guys watching the Grande Prix… quite boring… I didn’t stay long. But they did invite me to watch the Milan vs. Juventus match that was taking place tonight. So I at least had something to do after dinner.
I decided it was time to go back to the center and take pictures of all the things Francesco had showed me on day #1. I made it to my destination and was amazed to find that I actually remembered exactly how to get to the Fontana di “”. I took loots of pictures today. Every time I would turn my camera off, I would instantly find something interesting and have to turn it back on. I went through two batteries but thankfully had spares in my bag. I don’t think I will ever finish being amazed at just how many churches there are all over Rome. The best part is not only are they all different, they’re all beautiful and most are open to the public. I went to the Forum, I passed Giolitti’s, and then I saw something down a street that looked particularly cool. I walked well out of my way and suddenly found myself in front of huge structure that was swarming with people. There were statues everywhere, horses, men clad in armor, angels, pillars, huge staircases… what could it be? I kept walking around trying to find a sign and while I walking I was amazed to find myself in the middle of ruins… lots of ruins.
There were excavation sites that you could actually go into, huge walls falling apart, another huge church and yet still this huge and amazingly decorated structure that I had yet to indentify. Finally on the side of the building was an entry way and at the top of two very large doors was a sign etched into the marble that read “Museo Centrali del Risorgimento.” Incredible. I kept walking around the winding street that wrapped behind it and low and behold, more ruins. Huge ruins. Truly there were ruins as far as I could see. I walked up the back staircase which wrapped back around to the front. People covered every inch of the place like flies on spilled soda. I got some incredible pictures, but of course they are pictures that can never recreate what I got to see with my own eyes. I did not get so far, but in the distance I could actually see the Coloseum. I could have easily walked to it but since I am housing with several art history and architecture majors, why would I go without one of them who can fill me in on gobs of history while taking in every detail? There will be time later.
I decided to walk around the streets for a bit longer as I still had plenty of time before dinner. This is a slightly foolish thing to do in Rome since the streets can be quite tricky. Needless to say, I got lost. Very lost. Luckily, getting lost in Rome (at least while in daylight) is not so bad since there is always something to look at. Finally, after a long while of walking, I came across a sign that pointed me in the direction of Piazza Barberini (my Metro stop). I walked in that general direction until I finally came upon the stop. Twice in one day I had passed Giolitti’s thinking that I should stop in and grab some gelato. But both times the line was out the door and not moving in any sort of quick fashion. Not to worry, I will get there soon enough.
I made it back to Villa in time to take a quick nap before dinner… the dinner that did not exist. Apparently no one informed me that we are on our own for dinner on Sundays. Luckily, the cooks leave the leftovers from lunch out for us, so I wasn’t completely dead in the water. I ate some supper and then went to watch the first part of the match. It was quite obvious that Milan was going to murder Joventus so I decided to go watch a movie with some other people (they watch a movie of some importance every Sunday evening on a projector). It was called Doubt, staring Meryl Streep. Obviously I understood very little, but I got the basic gist of the story. I went back to my room with the sincere hope of getting a good night sleep before my first day of classes in the morning.