All Roads Lead to Rome

This morning there was a Rome Program-wide meeting, where everyone from every program (about 85 people, total, which is apparently some sort of record for the UW Rome program) gathered at 9:00am to discuss the basic introductory necessaries. The meeting was a little boring, and everything they told us was in the booklet they handed out. Afterward, the Classics program went off on our second little preview walk. Yesterday Professor Stroup took us on a small tour around the area where we are living, showing us some of the better food vendors, familiarizing us with the area, and giving us various tips on living in our area. Today we went on a more extensive short tour, on which Professor Stroup stopped briefly to talk about a few things, and mostly was again just showing us around the area a little bit, exposing us to how close so many things are to where we live (the Palatine Hill [where many emperors lived, and obviously where we get the word "palace"] is less than 15 minutes walking distance from my room).
The buildings are fascinating. We started walking around 12:45pm, and my jaw was open until we stopped to buy gelato around 3:30pm. The city is ridiculous. The cathedrals here make Fort Vancouver look like Lincoln Logs. We walked up to the top of the Palatine Hill, through the Jewish Ghetto, and a few other places that I barely remember what the professor said about them. Most of what we saw today we will revisit later and talk about much more in depth, but it was a pretty serious teaser. I don't know how many times I tripped from staring up at pillars well over 100ft high that have been standing for literally thousands of years. I wanted to stop and stare for so much longer than she let us today, but I know we'll be back, and I'm not leaving the country anytime too soon, so I have to keep reminding myself of that.
There is a huge soccer game between Manchester United and Roma tonight, the rivalry between which has been increasingly more violent over the years; the last time Manchester was in Rome 12 people were stabbed in the riots that ensued and many more hospitalized. What that means for us, is that once the match begins tonight (around 8:15pm) we might have to stay indoors, or not venture too far off (we've been warned several times by the administration and advised in e-mails to stay close or indoors). Unfortunately, the Campo de Fiori, right where we are staying, happens to be a popular congregating place for both British tourists and fans and Roman citizens after matches. Because of the severity of the violence of last year's match in particular, a city-wide ordinance went out declaring any sale of alcohol illegal for the day. Europe takes its football very seriously. An older woman today pointed at my Adidas athletic shirt I was wearing (it looks like a jersey, but is not affiliated with any team or league) and asked me if I was "a-going to watch-a the football today." I said "si," and she yelled "Viva la Roma!" shaking her fist in the air and walked out of the bakery (the bread in the campo is baked fresh on stone, daily, and absolutely fantastic).

The group walking past the Theater of Marcellus (I think) in the Jewish Ghetto.


Part of the group behind the Palatine Hill. From left to right: Dan (with the brown sweatshirt), Pamela, Robin (grad student), Ariana, Kayla, and Tabitha. The arch directly behind the three girls is that of Severus, far off in the left corner is the Colosseum (you can't really see it here). I've already forgotten what the rest are, but they're all incredible.