I cannot believe another week has come and gone here in Rome and I have to say it is going by far to quickly. Each week seems to get better and better and I never want to leave. Well, okay I lied, I miss my friends and family so if they move to Italy I am set for life. This past week was Thanksgiving, and it was the first holiday I’ve missed with my family. On Monday, we went to the Museum of Medical arts. This museum was weird at first because it was all about medical tools and medical processes of the past. When we first walked into the museum there were babies who had birth defects or were still births sitting in containers. I was really grossed out at first but after going through a second room filled with tools it became easier to look at the things in the museum. After the museum Katie B, Brandon, David, and I all headed to St. Peter’s Basilica to prepare for mine and Brandon’s walking tour. 
On Tuesday, we had another student led tour of the Borghese gardens and vicinity. At the beginning of the tour Gabby and Aubree pointed out the American Church in Rome that we would be attending on Thanksgiving. After their tour was over we ended at Borghese Gardens where we were visiting the Borghese Museum and the actual gardens. In The Italians, Barzini says “He had always felt the wind turning with sufficient anticipation to prepare himself without vulgar haste” (p.159). As mentioned in our class discussion, this saying is about changing with the wind and accepting changes as they come. This is precisely what we had to do when we arrived at the gardens. We were supposed to have an appointment at 11:00 to tour the museum but instead the tour was postponed until 1:00. Instead of being mad our group had to embrace the change since there was nothing we could do about it. We also couldn’t hold it against our professor or Danilo since it was neither of their fault. After we found our disappointing news, we decided it was time for our picnic in the park. We then proceeded to wander for what seemed like miles until we found benches to sit and eat and then have class on.
In our Smiles of Rome book Edith Wharton says “she took daily walks and and carriage rides within the four-mile circumference of the park surrounding the villa” (p. 200). After walking just to find a place to eat and have class I can understand why she went on daily walks. It was so beautiful to see the different monuments and things throughout the park. I also learned how big the park actually is. When we finished class we headed into the Borghese museum which was different then expected. Again we had to go with the wind of things since we had no guide for the museum and everything was in Italian. Overall I wouldn’t change that experience for anything.
On Wednesday we had another free day which was occupied by yet another paper, this time for my online class. On Thursday it was thanksgiving, my first one out of the United States. We caught the 8:24 train into Rome so we could attend the Thanksgiving mass at the American Church. At approximately 4:00 we had an American Thanksgiving dinner, or as American as we could get. Danilo hired an American Chef who cooked two turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin soap, pumpkin pies, apple pies, cranberries, and gravy. It was delicious and fun since we spent the evening with some of our Italian friends. 
On Friday Katie, Amy, Emily, and I left for Dublin. After wondering around and doing the mandatory souvenir shopping, Katie and I headed to Hard Rock for our annual dinner. After dinner we checked out the bar scene since that is what Dublin is known for. It was so much fun and we even got kisses from an Irish man, on the cheek of course! On Saturday we went to the zoo which took about three hours, and then headed back on our hop-on hop-off bus to get back into the city. In the city there was a Union protest happening on O’Connell Street, which was fascinating to see. I’ve normally only seen protests in pictures and on t.v but now I’ve seen one in real life. We ended our night with a pub crawl which was probably the highlight of my weekend even though I don’t drink. It was fun hanging out with my friends and just enjoying our night at the night clubs we went to. On Sunday we had a long day of traveling, but it was defiantly worth it in the end. Stay tuned till next week!
Ciao Katie,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. Nice connection with the reading.