Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Day 5
3:05am- go to bed.
8:30- alarm rings. re-set.
8:45- alarm rings. shower.
9:25- breakfast (closes at 9:30)
10:00- check internet. receive Flickr Pro account for birthday from Liz <3
10:30-10:45 run to classroom.
10:45- am told my passport is not in the bag with the teacher. Must return to hotel, find it, and go get it validated with the second group.
11:10- desk clerk is stubborn, doesn't believe me, and minimally checks the safe. Doesn't find it.
11:20- clean room, despite knowing i gave the passport to the front desk yesterday
11:30- texted by group leader, told to stay at the hotel and wait for her. loiter.
12:10- texted to meet roommate at classroom, to be brought to the post office for validation. run.
12:20- step directly into a flooded pothole.
12:30- finish validating, since it seems the passport was unnecessary in the first place.
12:30-12:50 run home, change socks, lighten backpack.
1:00-1:29 run, dragging loiterers who insist that the Arch of Constantine is absolutely reachable in a half an hour.
1:30- arrive on time, but am one of few. loiter. eat crackers and licorice for lunch.
2:00- enter Forum
2:00-5:00 Class
5:00-6:15 sketch, finally.
6:15-6:55 walk (albeit quickly) back to hotel
7:00- Welcome Dinner at neighborhood restaurant
7:00-8:30 the slow but steady inebriation of one exuberant table of my fellow students.
8:30-9:00 their exuberance becomes outright obnoxiousness. My table makes plans to travel to Venice.
9:00- desserts brought out, all sing Happy Birthday
9:30- having become fed up, i call the table out on being Ugly Americans and jackasses and more embarrassing than having happy birthday sung at you and that they need to shut up.
9:30-10:30 nothing changes, except that they now mock me intermittently.
10:30- they leave, but the rest of us are done as well, so the quiet is shortly appreciated.
10:40-italian teacher and a different desk clerk find my passport (in the safe)
11:00- realize the reason I haven't gotten any happy birthday calls is because my italian sim card is in my phone, not my american one.
11:20- write list of grievances instead of attempting the approx. 300 pages of assigned homework reading.
8:30- alarm rings. re-set.
8:45- alarm rings. shower.
9:25- breakfast (closes at 9:30)
10:00- check internet. receive Flickr Pro account for birthday from Liz <3
10:30-10:45 run to classroom.
10:45- am told my passport is not in the bag with the teacher. Must return to hotel, find it, and go get it validated with the second group.
11:10- desk clerk is stubborn, doesn't believe me, and minimally checks the safe. Doesn't find it.
11:20- clean room, despite knowing i gave the passport to the front desk yesterday
11:30- texted by group leader, told to stay at the hotel and wait for her. loiter.
12:10- texted to meet roommate at classroom, to be brought to the post office for validation. run.
12:20- step directly into a flooded pothole.
12:30- finish validating, since it seems the passport was unnecessary in the first place.
12:30-12:50 run home, change socks, lighten backpack.
1:00-1:29 run, dragging loiterers who insist that the Arch of Constantine is absolutely reachable in a half an hour.
1:30- arrive on time, but am one of few. loiter. eat crackers and licorice for lunch.
2:00- enter Forum
2:00-5:00 Class
5:00-6:15 sketch, finally.
6:15-6:55 walk (albeit quickly) back to hotel
7:00- Welcome Dinner at neighborhood restaurant
7:00-8:30 the slow but steady inebriation of one exuberant table of my fellow students.
8:30-9:00 their exuberance becomes outright obnoxiousness. My table makes plans to travel to Venice.
9:00- desserts brought out, all sing Happy Birthday
9:30- having become fed up, i call the table out on being Ugly Americans and jackasses and more embarrassing than having happy birthday sung at you and that they need to shut up.
9:30-10:30 nothing changes, except that they now mock me intermittently.
10:30- they leave, but the rest of us are done as well, so the quiet is shortly appreciated.
10:40-italian teacher and a different desk clerk find my passport (in the safe)
11:00- realize the reason I haven't gotten any happy birthday calls is because my italian sim card is in my phone, not my american one.
11:20- write list of grievances instead of attempting the approx. 300 pages of assigned homework reading.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Day 1
First full day: woke up late due to a misunderstanding of a time (9) not labeled with either AM or PM, thus missing the pointless meeting. Arrived on time to the useful one. Went home, showered, traversed half of Rome:
View Larger Map
Map legend: zigzags refer to numerous side streets and the complete absence of a direct route. arduous zigzags (like the ones around the Spanish Steps) refer to backtracking and general wandering while in search of food. the mess in the middle is where we realized the church we wanted to see was closed for another hour, went to the pantheon, sat about, and then went back.
In total our low approximation is about 5 miles of walking.
Returned home, put feet up for an hour, went out to dinner with Italian teacher and others. Stayed out till midnight. Went to bed at 2am.
Completely failed to wake up the next morning.
View Larger Map
Map legend: zigzags refer to numerous side streets and the complete absence of a direct route. arduous zigzags (like the ones around the Spanish Steps) refer to backtracking and general wandering while in search of food. the mess in the middle is where we realized the church we wanted to see was closed for another hour, went to the pantheon, sat about, and then went back.
In total our low approximation is about 5 miles of walking.
Returned home, put feet up for an hour, went out to dinner with Italian teacher and others. Stayed out till midnight. Went to bed at 2am.
Completely failed to wake up the next morning.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Ciao Tutti!
or, Hello everyone!
In order to regulate how many times I have to repeat the same stories, to keep in better communication with all of you, to show off pictures, maps, etc, I'll update this blog as often as possible. Or as often as I have something interesting to say, whichever comes first.
To comment, those not in the know, click "0 comments" or "973 comments" or whatever number appears below the post. Type a comment in the "Leave your comment" box on the right side of the page. Fill out the word verification, and then pick an identity. For most of you, I imagine the choice will be "Name/URL", wherein you will then type your name, unless there are some blogging great-aunts out there I didn't know about. Hit "publish". Or "Preview" if you're one of those OCD people.
That should be about it!
And in case you're confused about the blog title, Federico Fellini named "8 1/2" after the number of films he had made so far. I named "11 1/2" after the number of weeks I'll be living in the Eternal City. The header at the top of the page is composed from a film still and a photoshopped version of the title.
In order to regulate how many times I have to repeat the same stories, to keep in better communication with all of you, to show off pictures, maps, etc, I'll update this blog as often as possible. Or as often as I have something interesting to say, whichever comes first.
To comment, those not in the know, click "0 comments" or "973 comments" or whatever number appears below the post. Type a comment in the "Leave your comment" box on the right side of the page. Fill out the word verification, and then pick an identity. For most of you, I imagine the choice will be "Name/URL", wherein you will then type your name, unless there are some blogging great-aunts out there I didn't know about. Hit "publish". Or "Preview" if you're one of those OCD people.
That should be about it!
And in case you're confused about the blog title, Federico Fellini named "8 1/2" after the number of films he had made so far. I named "11 1/2" after the number of weeks I'll be living in the Eternal City. The header at the top of the page is composed from a film still and a photoshopped version of the title.
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