Ciao, Mondo Reale!

There is so much to soak in just going about one's day here that it is easy to forget that schoolwork is a primary component of the experience.  My three consecutive weekends of travel are long over and, with midterms right around the corner, my academic priorities have been brought to my attention...Hello, real world. With Italian and four area studies courses, my plate is full and I am definitely that anal student that typically needs to read every page of the book and freaks when the bus decides to show up 10 minutes late.  I have been fighting with the paradox of study abroad in Italy: Rome is saying "Chill out ragazza: savor the experience!" and my inner nerd is screaming, "Hit the books or pay the price!"  Recently, I've been opting for "experiential learning," but here is some concrete evidence that school is, in fact, in session:

Italian 102

I definitely lucked out with this one.  One recent class consisted of biking through the Villa Borghese, snapping photos of the food carts, gardens, and statues, and looking up some simple facts for a worksheet.  A few weeks back, we headed to the IES kitchen one day to whip up spaghetti in creamy pesto sauce and stracciatella gelato with champagne to boot.  Definitely the best language course I have taken yet!  Our teacher, Francesco, always has us on our feet whether we're creating raps using the passato prossimo, attempting to write coherent murder mysteries (we weren't too successful with that one...looks like nobody played Clue much as a child), or watching amusedly as he plays charades to improve our vocabulary, slithering around like a "ramarro" (lizard).  I haven't had very much exposure to Italian in the past so I'm glad this isn't one of those pressure-cooker language courses where you have to conjugate a million and one verbs a day.

Culture and Urban Change in Contemporary Italy

We are a function of the environment we live in.  So says my Sociology professor for this course on the evolution of modern Italian society, examined through the lenses of culture and the diverse living spaces throughout Rome.  I would never be able to take a course quite like this at home where we get to examine aspects of the amazing built environment in Roma and use a simple street or piazza as a jumping off point to analyze the minutiae of this complex people.  Our goal in this course is to start to break away from superficial assessments and observe keenly what people are doing and wearing, why a statue is here and not there, what height the buildings are, why that shop sells this, but not that.  In time, we will have lots of sociological/anthropological theory and background information to integrate with our observations.  I am excited to get a better grasp on the spectrum on individuals living in this tremendous and overwhelming city and the intricacies of the land itself.

Italy and the Mediterranean World

If I had ever seen an International Relations course in Emory's course catalogue in semesters past, I would have never even thought to consider it.  I can write a thorough research paper, but analyzing world conflict is not my typical academic foray of choice.  However, I thought I would shake things up a bit and brush up on my facts with this IR/Political Science course.  Right now, Sara and I are crossing our fingers and hoping we make it out alive.  As the midterm is stealthily approaching, it's not seeming too likely.  Luckily, our adorable professor Mattia is quite easygoing and often loses his train of thought because he thinks of a great restaurant that matches the region we are discussing and has to pause to provide us with the address and suggest a favorite dish.  Becoming well versed on Libyan history is probably a positive in the long run, but I am a little nervous about having to absorb so much historical and political information in so little time.

Rome as a Living Museum

Pier Paolo, the professor of this art history course, is the most adorable little Italian man ever.  He constantly switches from accented English to full-fledged Italian without warning which makes it hard to catch certain pieces of information.  Still, the course is a nice departure from my typical choices.  I loved being able to name the monuments pointed out by my parent's tour guide during their visit after viewing the Roman Forum earlier the same day for this class.  While the two hour field studies can drag on at points, especially when we have to name the type of tile (everything looks cosmatesque to me...what's the big difference!), I know I will be grateful for the mental map of Rome and the knowledge of its' artistic and archaeological history by the time I am through.

Ancient Rome: History and Myth

Initially, I wasn't so thrilled about taking a history course.  Memorizing 1,304,390 dates about the conquest of a random territory I would never see, learning the intricate details of the differences in military dress between Greeks and Romans...eh, I could do without it.  But, I had yet to find out that our teacher would be the sweetest, most laid-back Italian woman ever.  Valentina is the quintessential classy Roman donna.  When she has 12 kids calling her at once, frantically trying to find our field study location, running nearly an hour late, she calmly directs each student and then manages to lecture enthrallingly for a solid couple of hours.  This past Friday, we had a day trip to the Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia and Cerveteri.  Normally, I wouldn't be too thrilled about giving up a solid third of my weekend, but the trip was actually a relaxing and educational mini-adventure.  The tombs at Cerveteri were definitely the most interesting because the surrounding area was completely forested and rife with hills to climb and paths to skirt.  We were given free time at the end to explore whatever tombs we wanted.  A little weird to spend almost a whole day talking about people who have been dead for quite some time, but in good company and, hey, I'll have quite a bit to tell you about Roman and Mediterranean history upon my return to the states.

Off to study for some Italian midterms, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a few snaps from field studies and recent events:

Fora Romano (Art History field study)

Gorgeous glimpse across the Tiber of Vatican City on
a Sociology field study

Frescoes in a Tarquinian tomb

Ciao, Cerveteri!

Valentina mid-lecture

Trajan's Column, the focus of my Art History
presentation this Wednesday...wish me luck!

Nighttime snapshots by Il Colosseo

The ladies all glammed up for Susi's 25th this past Wednesday!

I'll try not to live in a hole during midterms, but it is definitely getting to be that time of year so Skype me and make sure I'm not trapped in my room eating well beyond my Nutella quota.

A presto,

Alexi