GL 350 Week 2...I know we only met but let's pretend it's love

This week in Rome.. hmm where to begin is the question on my mind. On Monday we were given our first free day due to the forecasted weather. We were supposed to spend most of the morning and afternoon riding bikes along the Old Appian way. I was not thrilled about having to bike almost ten miles that afternoon, so I was relieved it was postponed till Thursday. Since there was nothing to do around campus, my roommate Katie and I took an adventure to the Spanish steps in search of rain boots. After countless hours of shopping, we turned up empty handed because we couldn’t find the boot store. On Tuesday, we had our first student led walking tour. This tour was on the Spanish steps and surrounding area. Even though I had already been to the Spanish steps twice, I was excited to go into the churches that were pointed out. After the tour we had our first class in Rome! Normally our classes are held in the classroom on campus Monday-Thursday, but with the walking tour we needed to catch the 8:24 train instead of the 10:24 so class was postponed. We ended up on the steps in front of a very important building. As we were having our class discussion people walked by gawking at us. I guess they were intrigued at a group of student’s having class on a set of steps in Rome. After class Katie and I went back out in search of rain boots for the upcoming weekend, this time finding the store and the boots.
            On Wednesday, we had our scheduled free day. It was the first time since we had arrived that it was raining outside. Now I’m not talking a light drizzle, I’m talking a full blown rain storm. It was so bad the windows in our room started to leak. There was so much water coming in our room we had a small puddle on our floor. On Thursday, we had our dreaded bike tour of the Old Appian Way. Though I had anticipated it to be horrible it turned out to very relaxing and cool to look at since this road was used back in the day. After the bike tour we got ice cream and cupcakes. The cupcakes were from the Sweety Shop that was once visited by Buddy from Cake Boss.
        On Friday, we had to be up nice and early to catch our flight to flooded Venice. When we arrived, however, Venice was not flooded and barely had any water to be seen. When we got to the hotel we were all worried because it looked extremely sketchy and old. In our book The Smiles of Rome, John Updike discusses a couples experience in Rome. This piece was called Twin beds in Rome. After reading this chapter I thought I would never seen a king bed or a double bed in Rome since they are uncommon. To Romans the bedroom is strictly used for sleeping. Much to my surprise, the beds in Katie and I’s room was made into a King which was unaccepted. We both just wanted separate beds as we were told so we could have our space while enjoying each other’s company. Since we had to wait for our beds to be separated, we just became more and more exhausted and annoyed because we wanted to take a quick nap before our mandatory orientation of the city. After the orientation the “Cinque Chicks” or Katie B, Emily C, Amy, Danielle, and I found a gondola ride. It was extremely worth the wait and the money since our gondolier was hilarious. One of our group members was a little scared to be on the gondola and would yelp a little when the boat tipped. Our gondolier noticed and swayed the boat more just to see our reactions. After this our weekend seemed to get better. On Saturday, we went to the Murano Glass workshop and saw a live glass demonstration and got to see completed pieces of work. It was amazing to see what could be done with a little bit of time and a whole lot of glass. Now that the weekend is over it is time to recover and settle back into “Rome Home”
        After our most recent weekend trip, I am starting to see what Barzini is talking about when he says people are drawn to Italy. Barzini says, “many foreigners come back the next year. Some come back more and more often. Some stay a little longer, every time, and decide to live in Italy for a spell (p.8).” After being in Rome for three weeks I understand the feeling. Barzini quotes Nathaniel Hawthorne by saying “’we find that the native air has lost its invigorating quality, and that life has shifted its reality to the spot where we have deemed ourselves only temporary residents.’” I feel as if I am no longer a temporary resident of Italy or Rome but a permanent resident. Stay tuned for next week!