Rome-ing Around

I just finished the first week of classes and all of them seem really interesting! I'm taking an art history class called Renaissance Art and Its Classical Heritage, a class on ancient Roman history, a class called Rome As A Living Museum, an anthropology class, and Italian 101. Three of the classes go on field studies almost every week, which is so cool! This week I am heading to the Roman Forum for one of my classes.

This week has been especially eventful since the news broke that the pope is resigning. My walk to school has been obstructed by news crews. A few people from school have been interviewed by reporters from the Today Show and an Austrian news station. We watched a documentary of Pope Benedict XVI's life in Italian on the television one night. It is so cool that I will be in Rome when they choose a new pope. 

News crews in front of St. Peter's

Last weekend we went inside the Pantheon, which is actually used as a Catholic church today. I'm thinking of going to Mass there one Saturday evening. 

We also went to the Spanish embassy to see Rodin's sketches inspired by Dante's Inferno. The view from the hill was beautiful.

This weekend, we threw our coins into the Trevi Fountain ensuring our return to Rome. The Trevi Fountain was so much bigger than I had imagined! We spent some time walking around and found gelato, which was delicious. The food in Rome is so good! I tried potato pizza today, which sounds strange, but is quite good.

Today we went to Carnevalone, a festival held on the first Sunday of Lent. It is like Carnivale with a more anticlerical sentiment. There were people dressed up as popes, nuns, and priests, but also people dressed up in clever costumes. My favorites were the group of dominoes that would fall over every once in a while and the Lego people. It was so interesting to people watch. It took place in a small medieval town outside of Rome that was very picturesque. 

The view from Poggio Mirteto

I'm starting to feel more like I live in Rome, instead of just being a tourist. I went grocery shopping for the first time this week and bought school supplies, speaking only in Italian. There have been a few minor inconveniences, like the fact that there is no hot water right now and the oven is not working, but I feel like nothing has been too distressing. According to my anthropology professor, I should be experiencing culture shock at some point, but so far I have been fine.

I like this video that my Italian professor showed us about the differences between Italy and the rest of Europe. So far, I feel like the parking and pedestrian crossing part is especially accurate.