Rome

We had our orientation for the Rome seminar today. Alice and I walked into the auditorium and found it filled with about a hundred undergrads, the less well-heeled versions of the kids I studied abroad with three years ago. The study abroad people started off by showing a slideshow of images of Rome, but when they asked us to close our eyes and meditate on what our lives in Rome were going to be like, I knew there was trouble. Luckily, at that point, the equally-disgusted head of our program jumped us and whispered something to one of them, and then they announced that the Art and Culture students would be continuing their orientation elsewhere. As we left, they were beginning the part on "don't be freaked out by Italians invading your personal space." No thanks.

So there are nine of us; three photographers, two sculptors, three art historians, and one girl who studies English lit. Besides the English lit girl, who Alice and I requested as our third roommate, I'm pretty sure everyone else is over thirty. Listening to Dr. Singer explain the program and go over the syllabus, it certainly doesn't seem as god-awful as some of the other girls made it out to be; yes, it's intense, but he emphasized that they know these readings are difficult and that we're not philosophers, the intention is that by the end of each week we'll have grasped the arguments being presented and the consequences of accepting or dismissing that argument.

We have two trips outside Rome. For the first trip to Florence, they give us an open-ended ticket for the fast train, which is sweet (sweeter if I could stay with Carla). For the second trip, to Naples, we're going down and back on a bus in one day, which is going to be the definition of grueling, but we're going to see an active excavation site of a Roman villa in the Bay of Naples, and eat some Neapolitan pizza, duh. Dr. Singer is definitely a foodie, he kept reverting to talking about food, and how the bread in Rome is the best in Italy, and where we'll have dinner in Florence, etc. Thus, I will wind up having two weekends where Sat/Sun is free, which will still probably preclude me from going to Venice, because it's five hours away. Dr. Singer pointed out that the Biennale will be on at that point, though, so it's going to be even more of a madhouse there.