The Endless Stairs

Day 15: Friday
Friday’s journey to class was much more usual, and as soon as we got to class Tobin knew most of us didn’t actually read Book 5 of Livy, so for class instead we contemplated what politics is and how it relates to other abstract terms we talk about in PTCD. We were let go about a half hour early, but we spent that time talking to Tobin about crazy Italians and Jersey Shore. We had big plans for after class, so we made our way to Campo de’Fiori for lunch (we had a cute waiter) then it was time to head back to Vatican City to conquer the dome. We started out inside and it was nice to be able to walk around and see things because it was much less crowded and not set up for mass. We all get separated however, so Elli, Brandon, David, and I spent a good half hour sitting in a corner waiting for everyone else. Finally we gave up and went over to the dome. We paid five euro to climb the stairs instead of the elevator. The initial climb was not that bad, at least not compared to what was to come, but we had no idea. Going inside St. Peter’s basilica was very cool because we were able to see the detail up close and look down on the inside of the church. One thing I didn’t realize is that all the detail on the walls and ceilings is mosaic.

Inside of St. Peter's

We found Joe and Dylan in the dome, and together we set out on a journey to the Cupola. The stairs were narrow, and as we progressed the walls started to slant. It was smelly, and we were surrounded by French tourists (at least I was able to listen to what they were saying). Then the stairs began to zigzag, then finally we climbed the last set of stairs, which were crammed and spiral. When I heard the little French boy in front of me say, “On a arrivé!” it was the best news ever. We stepped outside where it was a million times colder, took one look at the view and knew immediately everything was completely worth it. We were all sweating like crazy and unbearably hot, but all of that seemed to disappear when we finally made it. It was very crowded on the top and we did our best to push through and get pictures, although no picture can truly capture the amazing view from the top. Seeing the ominous-looking rain clouds moving in, we decided to head down, which was much easier but still not fun. We stopped on our way to buy souvenirs, so I got postcards. Then we walked to the tram, stopped for gelato and amazing strawberry lemonade on the way, then made it home just in time to turn around and go grocery shopping, which we needed desperately. Then I took a nap, and when I woke up we made dinner. Then we began getting ready for Naples tomorrow by packing and showering and all that. Then David came over and we watched Mean Girls. After the movie was over we should’ve gone to bed, but instead we spent at least two hours having philosophical and meaningful conversation. Finally at 3:30am, Elli and I realized we had to get up in three hours for the train to Naples, so hopefully we can get some sleep on the train. So excited!

View from top of Cupola

Republic Day

Day 14: Thursday
Happy Republic Day! It’s the Italian 4^th of July, the celebration of the founding of their republic. Knowing it was a national holiday, we got up early to walk to class instead of relying on public transportation. The streets were literally deserted, and it was quite the contrast from the usual walk filled with the sounds of car horns, vespas whizzing by, and people. As we walked we began to realize how big of a deal the celebration was, and feel more and more like we were the only people going to class. Tobin seemed to realize our sentiments as we arrived to class, conceding that we do have papers tomorrow and it is a national holiday, so he promised to let us out early. Not only is it a national holiday, it’s a celebration of the founding of the republic, and the purpose of our being here in Rome is to study comparative republicanism. Quite the injustice! We spent a lot of time in class talking about the field trip to Galleria Borghese, then moved on to Book 4 of Livy, which I only read half of. All of us were wondering in the backs of our minds when he was going to let us out, and finally it was time for break, but still no signs of hope. We begrudgingly went back inside after break, where Tobin whipped through the rest of Book 4 and let us out at 11am, an hour early. Not that it mattered because we checked with the Accent desk, and the parade was already over, and we had papers to write anyway. So we marched home, but Elli and I stopped to get some postcards on the way. We made it home when, not five minutes later, our power went out. This was very confusing to us since all we were using was the washer and our computers. Being girls, we didn’t know what to do, so we contacted the boys, but they weren’t much help. So we called Accent, found out the emergency number they gave us doesn’t work, then called the desk instead to let them know, and they said they'd get back to us. In the meantime, we were all worried that we wouldn’t be able to write our papers because our laptops would die eventually. Finally we figured it out (we had to go downstairs and flip some switches or something), and everything was fine. Then it was that time where it could not be put off any longer, so I worked on my paper for a couple hours, took a break to write some postcards, then worked on it a couple more, finishing everything but my conclusion (that and the introduction are always the hardest parts for me). Then Elli and I needed to get groceries because we’re out of milk, eggs, cheese, and wine, but we had little hopes of finding a grocery store open since they’re never open on normal days, let alone national holidays. When we got back, unsuccessful in our endeavor, I spit out my conclusion and, after I finished, Elli had her first draft done, so she made dinner, which was ground beef with tomato sauce and spiral noodles. It was one of the best home-cooked meals yet. Joe came over because he had finished his as well, and him and I decided to venture to attempt to find anywhere open that could sell us wine, and we wandered down Via Trastavere in vain, until we decided to turn around and go to a place that was open right across the street from us. It had an extremely limited selection, but we managed. When we came back we sat on the balcony waiting for Elli to go through her draft. Brandon wandered in some time later, and they were hungry, so we went back to the boys’ and made pasta. David was hard at work on his paper, and Dylan hadn’t even started yet. A little while later, Elli came down, triumphant in her victory of her paper. Brandon made delicious garlic toast, and we hung out in the kitchen for the rest of the night while everyone else wrote their papers. No one even thought about attempting to read Book 5 of Livy. I feel kind of disappointed and also ashamed that I missed out on the chance to celebrate Italian style, but what could I do, I had a paper to write? Oh JMC…

Bernini

Day 13: Wednesday
I failed at waking up early to work on my paper this morning. I didn’t wake up until close to 10am, but I spent a couple hours working on it and wrote about two pages. Then I decided to take a break and upload my pictures from last night. Around 1pm, Elli and I decided to start getting ready to go to Galleria Borghese and eat lunch. We looked up how to get there online before we left, and we were even successful in finding the bus stop. The bus stop, however, was on a tiny street we doubted a bus could fit on (but it is Rome), and the sign was “Bus 116” written on a piece of paper and taped to a pole. We waited for a while, but, doubtful a bus was coming, decided to opt for plan B and find a cab stand. We arrived just in time at Galleria Borghese, met up with Tobin and our tour guide, and she began to tell us the history of the museum. The property of Villa Borghese used to be the private property of the Borghese family, and the Galleria was a residence that was used to display the family’s art collection. The owner of the residence was an heir to the Pope, and they also had connections to the Napoleon family later on. The museum was private up until the 20^th century, and currently it’s restored to how it looked during the 18^th century, minus some missing things, thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte stealing them and the French never giving them back. We went inside and our eyes were assaulted from floor to ceiling with mosaics, busts, sculptures, architecture, and frescoes. The scene on the ceiling and some paintings on the walls were trompe l’oeil so they appeared 3D. One of the most interesting things I found about the entire museum was its spacial ironies, in that it was put together by religious figures and connected to the Pope, yet it was full of pagan mythology, depicting mostly Roman gods and goddesses. At the center of the ceiling in the first room is Jupiter Best and Greatest, and the fresco depicts a relationship between him and the Borghese family. In each room there’s a sculpture in the middle with other sculptures and paintings around it and frescos on the ceiling. The sculpture in the first room was one of Napoleon’s sister Pauline posed topless with a sheet draped around her lower half, which apparently  quite the scandal. The next room held one of my two favorite sculptures, both by Bernini: Apollo and Daphne. It depicts the story of, obviously, Apollo and Daphne. Apollo, the god of prophecy, falls in love (or lust) with Daphne, a nymph, and pursues her. She resists and runs away, and just as Apollo is catching up to her, she begs her father for help, and he turns her into a tree. The sculpture captures the moment as she’s turning into the tree, and Apollo is right behind her. I loved the way her toes were beginning to turn into roots and her hair into leaves, and the terror in her face is amazingly captured. It’s really impossible to describe, you just have to walk in awe around it over and over again. I really tried to find a good picture, but none of them do it justice at all.

Apollo and Daphne

In the next room was my other favorite sculpture: The Rape of Proserpina. This one also depicts a lustful man pursuing a reluctant woman. The man in this one is the god of the underworld, Pluto, and the woman is Proserpina, the daughter of the goddess of grain and Jupiter. Pluto was luckier than Apollo in his pursuit because he gets to keep his woman for six months of every year. This sculpture also depicts the moment of capture, just as Apollo is picking Proserpina up. The amazing thing about this one is the way Apollo’s hands indent into the skin of Proserpina's back and thighs, and the way even her toes seem to express her distress. From her cheek runs a subtle tear, hard to notice at first, but moving once you do.




Rape of Proserpina

 

I strongly encourage googling pictures of both sculptures to see different angles and close-ups of different parts. The rest of the museum was not very impressive compared to those two pieces, but there were some interesting parts, such as an Egyptian room and Caravaggio paintings. Another aspect of the museum I found interesting and in contrast to its ties to the Pope was the amount of nudity in almost every painting and every sculpture. Our tour guide told us apparently there’s a moral lesson as you travel through the rooms, such as don’t lust after women because nothing will come of it, but I thought that to be somewhat of a stretch. After two hours inside, my feet were hurting and it was time to leave, so we quickly bought some postcards (pictures of the Berninis since we couldn’t take pictures inside), and began to make our way through Villa Borghese. We somehow found our way through, back toward the Machiavelli statue and out by the Spanish Steps. We made our way down the steps, and as we began walking we noticed some conspicuous-looking blacks cars that were far too large to be European cars. We noticed the Washington DC license plates, then the sign on the window of one that said “Dr Biden.” We Madison-geeked out for a couple moments, then pressed on, being hungry and having papers to write. I did, however, research when I got home whether or not Joe Biden really is in Rome for some reason, and it turns out him and his wife are here for the celebration of the founding of the republic tomorrow. Once we finally made it home I collapsed on my bed and finally took my shoes off. Then we made dinner, which was some risotto from a bag that we found at the store and decided to try. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either, it really just didn’t have any taste. After a cooking/jamming to N’SYNC session, we decided it was time to get serious about our papers, but as soon as I began to read, I fell asleep. I woke up some time later, and decided to shower because of my headache. We were hungry again, so we made some eggs, then had another jam session with Kari in the kitchen and exposed Breanne to the greatness that is “I Just Had Sex.” Then finally we retired back to the room to for real work on our papers, and I wrote down some quotes and wrote a little more. I am now at three pages, and it has to be four to five, so I can definitely finish it tomorrow. I was supposed to read another 40 pages of Livy though, but that’s not happening. Tobin assigned us the most amount of homework on the day of the national celebration so we can’t even enjoy the celebrations! Oh well, only two more days of class and then Naples!

Spaghettification

Day 12: Tuesday
The best part of class today was during the break when Elli, Brandon, and I went to the fountain to get some water, and Elli literally fell into it. Her foot slipped and she got her pant leg wet. So graceful. After class we went to run errands, but on the way to the tram we walked by the Campo de’ Fiori again to buy fruit cups (which were SO delicious) and dick-shaped pasta! Then we went grocery shopping, made lunch, and went to the train station to buy our tickets for Napoli. It was closed between 3 and 3:15, and we got there right at 3, so we went across the street to our favorite gelato/bar to pass the time. When we got back to the station the line was huge, but we were at least satisfied the Italians were actually waiting in a line. We managed to get our tickets for €21 each round trip. Then we went home for some hardcore siesta time. I started to work on my paper, but I didn’t get very far before I decided it was siesta time, but Elli and I decided to skype Krista for a couple minutes, which made me so happy. I love my Krista Bur! Then we passed out and were so confused when we woke up to Elli’s alarm at 7:47. Then I showered while Elli made dinner, which was eggs with ham and cheese again, then she put laundry in and we got ready to go out on a little wandering adventure with David, Dylan, Brandon, and Joe. We decided to stay on this side of the river since we haven’t explored much of it, so we walked up to the piazza that had the street performer the other night, then along the river all the way to St. Peter’s. We took beautiful night pictures, then decided to walk home via Castel Sant’Angelo. Some people were hungry so we decided to stop and eat, and thankfully we found a place still open, since it was already 11pm. Our waiter was adorable. We ordered a bottle of wine, and when he pulled the cork off he shoved it toward my face and I was so confused, but apparently I was supposed to smell it. Everyone laughed at me. I wasn’t hungry so I decided to order “buffalo mozzarella,” which just turned out to be a big ball of cheese. Then for desert I had my first crème brulee and I was so happy to crack the top of it. The restaurant was right next to the Accent center, so we walked home. It was a good night of bonding, and I’m not too worried that I didn’t get to work on my paper. Tomorrow we get to sleep in because we don’t have to be at Galleria Borghese until 2:30, but I will probably wake up early to work on my paper. I feel a little sick from all the cheese, so I’m going to go to bed.