Friday, June 29, 2012

#WhenInRome: Beginning

Several reflections on my first real day living in Rome...

*Seriously, gelato is the best, most refreshing thing on a sweltering hot day.  Mix strawberry gelato with cream gelato if you ever get the chance.  To quote Scar, "It's to dieeee for!"

*My favorite thing about Rome (so far) is that oftentimes I stumble out of some random side street only to be faced with an ancient and super famous landmark.  Like the Pantheon, for example.  Just strolling along down a little alleyway, and then...WHAM. Hello M.Agrippa! Magnificent.

*I wish water continuously poured out of street fountains in Albuquerque...

*I hung my clothes out on our clothes' line.  There are no dryers in our apartments. Or basically anywhere in Rome.  I think this is valid.  Actually, I think it's extremely practical, and I think the U.S. should take notes.  Only people in Seattle and Oregon are allowed to have dryers. That's my contribution to the energy crisis.

*I want to ride on a Vespa.  Even if this seriously endangers my life, I feel strongly that it is an experience I need to have.  I don't want to drive one because that would give me a heart attack, but I would have no qualms about being driven around by an attractive, not sketchy, young Italian man ;)  As long as I have a helmet.

*I went inside Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio today.  It's a church dedicated to St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit order.  It's beautiful. The inside is incredible, and the "dome" over the altar isn't actually a dome at all. It's painted in such a way that from the vantage point at the entrance of the church, the roof looks like it arches up! And as you move around and toward the front of the sanctuary, the dome flattens out, and the apex moves around the circle.  It's wild and really cool.

My program eats a true Italian meal tonight aka four courses of heaven.  Good thing my shorts are kind of big... ;)  Pace e benedizioni a tutti voi!  (I used Google translate for this, so if it's wrong, please help me!!)

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