When in Rome...

I had a hard time getting my mind around the history and significance of Rome. It was so much bigger and more monumental than I had imagined, and I feel incapable of truly grasping the importance and depth of it all. I'm American, so the idea of living in and around so much history is a bit unusual for me. But, I live in France, so I have learned to meet a certain amount of history in my everyday life. I live in a city built in the 14^th century, and I work next to a castle that Charlemagne frequented. This is an amount of history that I can comprehend. But anything over 800 years old (that's not a forest or a rock) is way too old for me to relate to. It's so old and therefore significant that I have no concept of its placement. It is no longer in a human scale, even though it's human history.

Rome was for me a whirlwind of colors and smells. It was energetic but strangely relaxing. I think this might be because I had to go on auto-pilot for certain portions of the day. Everything I saw was so incredible, that often I reached a limit of sensory retention, and had to just kind of float through the city, looking at everything the way you do when you go to the Louvre. It is so overwhelming. I found myself also wondering if I was appreciating Rome enough, or in the way I should be. Maybe I was supposed to be getting more out of every experience there, but I think that I did what I was able to do in five days. It is definitely a place that you could go back to over and over and always be intrigued. I hope to return there many times.

On the airplane to Rome, Emily was seated next to two Americans who then joined us on our trek to the hostel, and with whom we spent our first day in Rome. When we arrived at our hostel, Gulliver's House, the guy working there (“I am Chozhan from India”), offered us juice and set about making us comfortable. Chozhan turned out to be an extremely friendly guy, who wanted to make everyone happy, and who REALLY liked Emily and me. Our second day there was Emily's birthday, and Chozhan threw her a little party!

So our first day we spent “Rome-ing around” (HAHAHAHA) with Scott and Andrew, the guys we met on the plane. Emily and I both felt like it was some weird first double blind-date. Scott is a Seattle-based pharmacist, and Andrew (currently a Hilton Hotel night club manager) assured me that he will soon be taking an early retirement off the fortune he is sure to accumulate through an entrepreneurial nut company! “Dees Nuts” - keep a look out! :)

We hit up the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, plus just walking around. That night, Emily and I cooked dinner at the hostel.

The next day was Valentine's Day and Emily's birthday. We didn't know it, but soon found that all the monuments were doing a two-for-one deal. With our French residency cards we got E.U. Price reductions, and then with the Valentine's Day deal, Emily and I got to see the Colosseum and Palatine Hill (LC represent...!) for like 3 Euros. Palatine Hill is the part of ancient Rome where the wealthy and the rulers had their villas. It was incredible to walk around the ruins of these pleasure palaces and see the modernity and opulence of the rich Romans. After Palatine Hill, we entered the Colosseum. It's huge. I don't really know what else to say.

After, we wandered over to the Trastevere, the old Jewish neighborhood for lunch. This part of town is way less touristy and full of students and young people. Then we checked out the Campodiglio (a square designed by Michaelangelo). Finally, we headed home for Emily's birthday party at the hostel. Then we all went out to dinner together.

We had about three more days in Rome, seeing all the sites, eating all the food, and hanging out with all the people. It was wonderful!

The Grand Tour

NOTE: Read this for the quick synopsis. I will be adding longer essays on Rome, Naples and Pompei in a few days!

Winter vacation was a wonderful two week voyage in Spain and Italy! I went with my friend Emily to Girona, Spain and then Rome, Naples, and Salerno. Along our way, we visited the Dali Museum in Figures, the ruins of Pompei, and the Amalfi Coast.

Figueres, Spain: The Dali Museum

This museum, in the old theater, was designed and renovated by Dali himself to be a personal museum. The building itself is a piece of surrealistic artwork. It is an immense bright pink structure with huge eggs on the roofs, and an Epcot-style dome. Inside, the galleries are full of paintings and drawings, as well as enormous installations and 3D representations of 2-dimensional works. For anyone who is a Dali fan, this is a definite must-see!

Girona, Spain

We went to Girona because our Ryanair flight left from there, but we discovered a charming university town with beautiful winding streets, gardens, tons of history, and very warm people. We spent two nights there at the beginning of our trip, walking around the old town and the old Jewish quarter, and seeing the sites. We met kind people, including an old priest who showed us back behind the altar of the church, and told us the story of the sculptures. It's a lovely town that we really enjoyed. From Girona, we flew to Rome.

Rome, Italy

Please see “When in Rome”

Naples, Italy (includes Pompei)

Please see “Naples”

Salerno, Italy (includes Amalfi)

A beautiful little resort town on the Amalfi Coast. It has a long promenade on the waterfront where everyone takes an evening walk. The highlight of these two days was taking the bus along the Amalfi Coast from Salerno to Amalfi. It was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Girona, Spain

For one more night on the return.

Carcassonne, France

After a wonderful vacation, it was nice to be back in Carcassonne and see friends!

Using My Friends as Lesson Plans

So, Nick, Devon, Celeste and Scott, Ariel and Charlie, James, Flavia, Shey, Austin, Massene, Carine and Jeremy, you have all become a part of my lesson plans, and with great success!

I have pictures of you in either pairs or threesomes, and for a lesson on Romance and Relationships, I gave pairs of students a picture, and asked them to make up a story about the people in the picture. They gave you each new names, new jobs, and new relationships to each other. Then I told them your real names, personalities, and relationships, and we were all laughing. So, for your entertainment (and everyone else's), here are your parallel universe lives:

1. A few of the pictures inspired overly-realistic stories. The picture of Shey and Austin at a bar on Mardi Gras, for example. My student wasn't too creative on this one, he simply described the situation- two friends at a bar. She looks like she's been drinking, and she is trying to tell her friend a story, but he is really confused. Sounds about right to me! Shey's stories usually are confusing!

2. A picture of James and Flavia (also at Mardi Gras) yielded two stories. One was that they were really good friends who were secretly attracted to each other but didn't want to risk or ruin the friendship by trying a relationship. So they wait a really long time and are eventually together and are in love and have lots of babies. The other story is a slight variation. This one says that the guy is bold and the girl is shy. He is very interested in her, and she is interested too, but she doesn't know it yet. Of course, they will both figure it out, and will one day be married and have a great love story. But for now they are just friends. Maybe my students know something I don't?

3. Next we have Scott and Celeste, who, according to my students, met at their college's Wet T-Shirt Contest, and have been very happily dating ever since. The picture is from their first date, and they were so happy together!

4. The picture of Devon and Nick at the World Cup down at Pio Place is funny. She is looking right at the camera smiling, and he is looking off into the distance. The story here is that He is a pizza delivery boy, and she is a nurse named Monica Lewinsky. One day, he has an accident on his motorbike, and goes to the hospital, where he must spend much time recovering. Monica nurses him back to health, and one night, he gets up to use the bathroom, and, totally naked, falls in the bathroom. Nurse Monica comes running to his rescue, where he declares his love for her and asks her to marry him. According to Benoit, my student, “they make the love there”. I asked, “in the bathroom?”, and he responded, “yes, and all over the place”. They are together for their whole lives and have three children and are very happy together.

5. The picture of Carine, Massene, and Jeremy created an interesting scenario. My students decided that Massene (named James), and Jeremy (Billy) were a couple who wanted to have a baby and asked Carine (Katherine) to carry it for them. Billy was to be the father because James was unable to have children- I'm telling you Massene, sterility has many causes...!

6. And finally, a picture of Ariel and Charlie gave us two stories. One, sickeningly obvious- “they are a loving couple, and very respectful. She is shy, and so is he but less so. Perhaps they will be married”. And the other, more imaginative: She is a masseuse named Hilary who works at a beauty institute and he is a stressed out IT guy named Steve. He goes to get a massage at the institute every Saturday at 4pm. Why? Because he knows that's when Hillary will be working. It takes him six months of weekly massages to get up the courage to ask her out. This is a picture from their first date, and they are both very happy and will fall in love.

So, my dear friends, thank you for letting me use you as characters in your very own romance novels!

January 22-28

Monday- Hours at the cyber cafe with Emily to plan our February vacation to Spain and Italy. We are going to spend three days on the Costa Brava in Spain, and then fly to Italy and spend time in Rome, Naples and around, the Amalfi coast, and maybe a city called Matera with prehistoric cave homes dug into the mountain sides!

Tuesday- Dinner and travel planning session with Katie and Emily. We are planning on rejoining each other in mid-may in Rome, and then traveling to Greece, followed by Istanbul. After that, plans are somewhat unclear, but may include such places as Budapest, Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. There are many factors to consider (like money and time!), so I'll keep you updated as I know!

Wednesday- Pygmalion! Pygmalion is the original of My Fair Lady. The play was wonderful, with beautiful sets and fabulous costumes. There was no music, but it was so enjoyable! The funny thing about the play is that the accent that Eliza has before she goes to Prof. Higgins is usually a strong cockney accent. Then she learns to be a lady and speak in a more refined accent. Since the play was in French, she needed to have a strong French accent that would be equivalent. So, of course, she has this incredibly strong accent from the South- the exact accent that everyone here in the Midi has, and the one that I am gaining. It was funny to me to hear this accent being used as the 'uneducated, unrefined' accent, but I wonder if my fellow theater-goers were at all offended? They didn't seem to be.

Thursday- House warming at Elena's, then out at the pub and dancing at cafe de nuit until 4:30am with Julien, Susan, Elena, Nico, Jerome, etc.

Friday- On Friday night I had dinner at Michaela's. She made a traditional German dish that was delicious but super heavy. Then I met up with Nico and his friends at the pub, but was so tired from the night before, that I didn't stay out too late. Besides, I wanted to be in good shape for Saturday night!

Saturday- La soiree Petasse. The theme of Saturday's joint birthday and going away parties, and definitely not my idea. A huge party at my friend Charlotte's apartment for her birthday, my own, and Julien's going-away. The men were dressed also as trashy women, and really seemed to enjoy it. We filled the apartment, danced like crazy, and had a merry time. We exchanged gifts, I got from everyone a really cute Carcassonne t-shirt. Then we went out to cafe de nuit, that same late-night club, until they closed around 4:30am, and then back to Charlotte's. It was an interesting night, complete with a proposition to accompany a monsieur on his weekend trip to Portugal, and various conversations with the guys about how to remove makeup.

Sunday- RECOVERY and cleaning the apartment after the party!