lunedì 18 giugno 2012
My Trip to the ER in Rome
I know this sounds like the beginning of a horror story but honestly that was probably the best ER visit I've ever experienced. I have major swelling in my tonsils and a really bad sore throat. One of my Magisters, Jason, took me to a hospital not to far from my flat. We had brought books anticipating a few hours of wait time. Instead we were immediately admitted to see a triage nurse who giggled at my passport photo then asked me a few routine question. They then took us right back to see the doctor and we sat outside her office for about 2 minutes. She didn't speak english but her assistant did and he helped me tell them what was up. No gloves, she looked down my throat with a tongue depressor and a flashlight and nodded sagely. As we went through the paper work dance of insurance and hospital forms the doctor asked me via her assistant if I was here in Italy alone. I said no, that I was here with a group for school. She said she was glad because I was too small to be roaming around Italy alone. She made sure I knew a few good swear words just in case. When we finished all the paper work they gave me a prescription and told me how to take it when I got it and told me where I would go to pay the small fee for coming to the hospital. (They said it was 41 euro but it ended up only being 25). As we were wrapping things up the doctor laughed and wiped her forehead with exaggeration and said that we all deserved a coffee and a cigarette. We all laughed and I left amid a chorus of 'ciao's' and 'arrivederci's'. We went to the main part of the church to pay, all of the hospitals are run by churches, and then walked in search of a pharmacy. My prescription, which I have found out consists of Amoxicillin and an antinflammatory, was 1.44 euro. Then Jason bought me some ice cream to make my throat feel better. It had bourbon in it. I felt like a big little kid getting candy after a shot. Now I'm home waiting for the drugs to kick in and make me feel better. I love this city.
domenica 17 giugno 2012
The Beginning of the Week. Still.
Its hard to keep up with posting, after traveling around all day I just want to sleep. Please feel free to Wiki any of the names you don't recognize, I wish I could explain them all but alas I fear I'm too young to write a history book.
On Tuesday this past week we went to the Capitoline Hill at the center of Rome. We didn't have time to really look at the Forum or Trajan's Column, we had to meet the rest of the class. We all sat on top of the hill and talked about the many different buildings which had been built and leveled on the hill. Everything used to face the Forum and now faces the Vatican. Mind you most of this discussion is in Latin. We were invited to stick around and keep exploring but I wasn't feeling well so I went home. I spent the next few hours trying to find little things like an ATM, a supermarket, a pharmacy, and so on. Rome is not on a grid system. It makes things interesting. Later that day we met again as a group and I can't for the life of me remember what else we did.
Wednesday morning, I had my usual Cappuccino and we had our first small group meetings. I ended up in the easiest class and was severely disappointed with the level of the class. We had taken a placement exam the first day to see where we should be and, having gotten off of a plane less than 24hr before and not having known about the exam, I ended up looking like a beginning Latin student. Fortunately after a brief discussion with the staff I've moved to the intermediate section. Wednesday afternoon was an amazing site visit. We met at the Arch of Constantine, there are pictures on my Facebook. We went into the Colosseum and began to delve into the history of the building. I won't name dates and if I get something wrong don't shoot me. The land where the Colosseum sits was originally part of the site of the Domus Aurea, the Gold House. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64CE which leveled a large chunk of the city Emperor Nero began construction of his palace using the space which had been cleared. He leveled out a large area in the middle for a fish pond/lake. This flattened area became the land for the Colosseum. Another interesting note is that my flat, which I hope to get pictures up of soon, sits on some of the stones of the Domus Aurea. I will also post pictures of me climbing the wall of those ruins. This is generally frowned upon. Shh.
A few years after Nero's suicide The Colosseum was built on the land to host the gladiatorial games popular in ancient Rome. The gladiators were slaves, though if they fought well were highly prized. These men would face not only each other either in single combat or in groups but also any number of wild animals, bears, tigers, elephants. These animals were also pitted against each other. There are some ancient accounts of flooding the floor of the Colosseum in order to reenact naval battles however this is unconfirmed. It seems so distant when put is such steril terms. Thousands of men and animals fought literally tooth and nail simply to survive. And most of them didn't. The Games as they were called could last for months. Each time. The activities for which the Colosseum had been built, the blood sports which captivated the Roman interest, fell out of favor eventually. The Colosseum was used for apartments, looted for metal (there are holes in every wall from where the metal used to line up the blocks of stone were dug from the walls), turned into a monastery, looted for stone and marble, renovated, and finally closed off as a historical site. But that last didn't happen until fairly recently.
Being in Rome is amazing. It literally amazes me every time I wake up, when I walk out of the door of my flat, buy lunch, all of the mundane things. Being in the Colosseum, which I'll remind you is about 5 min. away as I write, is an entirely different level of WOW. Honestly, I look around sometimes at the ruins and they make me really sad. Sad for how much we've lost of that distant time, how much we could have learned had preservation not come about so late. But there are little things that spring up and surprise me and make me happy again. Like this. Did you know there is a specific dialect of Italian in certain parts of Rome called Romana which has a particularly strong and noticeable influence from Latin? Did you know there is a mound in the south part of the city where the old amphora (containers used to ship oil and wine) were thrown and it pilled so high it became a small hill? The neighborhood there is named after what used to mean "that gross, smelly, old pile of Greek amphora". Its called
Testaccio :) and its one of the most authentic Roman areas of the City. I was there this morning to buy groceries. We're having a Roman cooking lesson at our flat tonight and having a few people over.
On Tuesday this past week we went to the Capitoline Hill at the center of Rome. We didn't have time to really look at the Forum or Trajan's Column, we had to meet the rest of the class. We all sat on top of the hill and talked about the many different buildings which had been built and leveled on the hill. Everything used to face the Forum and now faces the Vatican. Mind you most of this discussion is in Latin. We were invited to stick around and keep exploring but I wasn't feeling well so I went home. I spent the next few hours trying to find little things like an ATM, a supermarket, a pharmacy, and so on. Rome is not on a grid system. It makes things interesting. Later that day we met again as a group and I can't for the life of me remember what else we did.
Wednesday morning, I had my usual Cappuccino and we had our first small group meetings. I ended up in the easiest class and was severely disappointed with the level of the class. We had taken a placement exam the first day to see where we should be and, having gotten off of a plane less than 24hr before and not having known about the exam, I ended up looking like a beginning Latin student. Fortunately after a brief discussion with the staff I've moved to the intermediate section. Wednesday afternoon was an amazing site visit. We met at the Arch of Constantine, there are pictures on my Facebook. We went into the Colosseum and began to delve into the history of the building. I won't name dates and if I get something wrong don't shoot me. The land where the Colosseum sits was originally part of the site of the Domus Aurea, the Gold House. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64CE which leveled a large chunk of the city Emperor Nero began construction of his palace using the space which had been cleared. He leveled out a large area in the middle for a fish pond/lake. This flattened area became the land for the Colosseum. Another interesting note is that my flat, which I hope to get pictures up of soon, sits on some of the stones of the Domus Aurea. I will also post pictures of me climbing the wall of those ruins. This is generally frowned upon. Shh.
A few years after Nero's suicide The Colosseum was built on the land to host the gladiatorial games popular in ancient Rome. The gladiators were slaves, though if they fought well were highly prized. These men would face not only each other either in single combat or in groups but also any number of wild animals, bears, tigers, elephants. These animals were also pitted against each other. There are some ancient accounts of flooding the floor of the Colosseum in order to reenact naval battles however this is unconfirmed. It seems so distant when put is such steril terms. Thousands of men and animals fought literally tooth and nail simply to survive. And most of them didn't. The Games as they were called could last for months. Each time. The activities for which the Colosseum had been built, the blood sports which captivated the Roman interest, fell out of favor eventually. The Colosseum was used for apartments, looted for metal (there are holes in every wall from where the metal used to line up the blocks of stone were dug from the walls), turned into a monastery, looted for stone and marble, renovated, and finally closed off as a historical site. But that last didn't happen until fairly recently.
Being in Rome is amazing. It literally amazes me every time I wake up, when I walk out of the door of my flat, buy lunch, all of the mundane things. Being in the Colosseum, which I'll remind you is about 5 min. away as I write, is an entirely different level of WOW. Honestly, I look around sometimes at the ruins and they make me really sad. Sad for how much we've lost of that distant time, how much we could have learned had preservation not come about so late. But there are little things that spring up and surprise me and make me happy again. Like this. Did you know there is a specific dialect of Italian in certain parts of Rome called Romana which has a particularly strong and noticeable influence from Latin? Did you know there is a mound in the south part of the city where the old amphora (containers used to ship oil and wine) were thrown and it pilled so high it became a small hill? The neighborhood there is named after what used to mean "that gross, smelly, old pile of Greek amphora". Its called
Testaccio :) and its one of the most authentic Roman areas of the City. I was there this morning to buy groceries. We're having a Roman cooking lesson at our flat tonight and having a few people over.
My goodness, so much more to tell but I think we'll leave it at that for now.
Vale!
venerdì 15 giugno 2012
Ostia Antica
Today's site visit was Ostia Antica, which is said to be the first colony of Rome. The city and port were built at the mouth of the Tiber river. This allowed Rome to have access to sea trade routs while having some defense from pirates. Ostia was also the location of large salt mines. Sea water would be let into drying fields and allowed to evaporate. The salt would be collected and sold.
As for my experiences in Rome, I'm coming to the close of the first week here. When I arrived at about 5:30 local time I was exhausted and disgusting from being on planes for so long but I was in Rome. I found my party after a few minutes searching but we had other people to wait for so I spent another hour or two at the airport. When we finally left to drive to the city the numbness had settled in and I was glad that I had other people watching out for me.
People in Rome drive different. Hah. I first noticed when we were getting in the van and people were just kind of not paying attention to the lines. Then we got on the highway. The lanes are more like guide lines. And no one really follows them. Then you get into the city. The streets are tiny with tiny cars parked on the sides and pedestrians who don't seem to notice that there are cars driving. Or at least they don't really care. I'll have to take some pictures of the small street so you get the idea. Nothing else really makes you understand. The other thing is that in the cross walks pedestrians have the right of way and they use it. I've become one of them. If theres a cross walk you don't stop and look both ways. No, if you wait for someone to stop for you you'll spend all day on one corner. You just keep moving at the same pace and walk right out into traffic. They slow or stop long enough for you to get out of the way then they keep going. Its very.... exciting. Oh and the mopeds and motorcycles just go around the cars and keep going. And they're everywhere.
The first day I was here, Monday, myself and one of my room mates, Dani, went and got cappuccinos at the cafe down the street. Its become my regular morning routine at that spot, they're very sweet which cannot be said of everywhere you go. Our flat is not in a tourist area. We live in an apartment complex where most of the residents live here full time. Every shop I go into, before I start trying to get what I need by pointing and using what scant Italian I've picked up, I ask, "Parla inglese?", do you speak English? I've found two people in a 5 block radius. They're not rude but the guys at this particular cafe are especially nice. After jumpstarting our brains we took the metro to school, theres a station about 5 minutes from the house. We had our welcome lecture and were then broken up into groups and given a scavenger hunt of sorts. We were to find a monument and answer a question about it. We broke for lunch and had planned on meeting at a certain bridge before continuing to the monument. I went home with the roomies and had my first slice of Italian pizza which I wont even bother trying to explain, I wont do it justice.
I started walking because I figured that I could get to the meeting spot in time. I went down the street and around the corner and looked up and the Colosseum was about 2 blocks away staring me in the face. I almost fell over. I have to wonder if people sit at the Metro stop outside the Colosseum and just watch the tourists eat it when they step out and see this thing for the first time because. Its. Right. There. I walked through this lovely little park, I found out it was lovely later, I couldn't stop staring at the Colosseum. Its really big too. FYI. I continued on my treck and got lost somewhere between 4 and 10 times and was about 1/2hr late. I was also the first one there. We wandered and wandered up and down hills, through city streets and could not for the life of us fine this monument. Finally, some really nice lady who spoke english asked us what we were looking for and we told her and she said it was back up the hill we had just walked down. So we sat down at the bar and had a beer instead. Good plan. About an hour later we met up with the rest of the class at the Piazza del Garabaldi and had pizza and wine for dinner. I walked home with the girls, drinking bottle of wine between the 5 of us, got lost another 4 or 5 times. I think we left the Piazza around 8ish. when 11:00pm rolled around and we still hadn't made our way quite home so we stopped for a martini. We did eventually make it home and on reflection 14hr on my feet the first day may not have been the best idea. But it was an awesome way to get introduced to the city.
Ok I think thats enough for today, time for diner.
Vale!
As for my experiences in Rome, I'm coming to the close of the first week here. When I arrived at about 5:30 local time I was exhausted and disgusting from being on planes for so long but I was in Rome. I found my party after a few minutes searching but we had other people to wait for so I spent another hour or two at the airport. When we finally left to drive to the city the numbness had settled in and I was glad that I had other people watching out for me.
People in Rome drive different. Hah. I first noticed when we were getting in the van and people were just kind of not paying attention to the lines. Then we got on the highway. The lanes are more like guide lines. And no one really follows them. Then you get into the city. The streets are tiny with tiny cars parked on the sides and pedestrians who don't seem to notice that there are cars driving. Or at least they don't really care. I'll have to take some pictures of the small street so you get the idea. Nothing else really makes you understand. The other thing is that in the cross walks pedestrians have the right of way and they use it. I've become one of them. If theres a cross walk you don't stop and look both ways. No, if you wait for someone to stop for you you'll spend all day on one corner. You just keep moving at the same pace and walk right out into traffic. They slow or stop long enough for you to get out of the way then they keep going. Its very.... exciting. Oh and the mopeds and motorcycles just go around the cars and keep going. And they're everywhere.
The first day I was here, Monday, myself and one of my room mates, Dani, went and got cappuccinos at the cafe down the street. Its become my regular morning routine at that spot, they're very sweet which cannot be said of everywhere you go. Our flat is not in a tourist area. We live in an apartment complex where most of the residents live here full time. Every shop I go into, before I start trying to get what I need by pointing and using what scant Italian I've picked up, I ask, "Parla inglese?", do you speak English? I've found two people in a 5 block radius. They're not rude but the guys at this particular cafe are especially nice. After jumpstarting our brains we took the metro to school, theres a station about 5 minutes from the house. We had our welcome lecture and were then broken up into groups and given a scavenger hunt of sorts. We were to find a monument and answer a question about it. We broke for lunch and had planned on meeting at a certain bridge before continuing to the monument. I went home with the roomies and had my first slice of Italian pizza which I wont even bother trying to explain, I wont do it justice.
I started walking because I figured that I could get to the meeting spot in time. I went down the street and around the corner and looked up and the Colosseum was about 2 blocks away staring me in the face. I almost fell over. I have to wonder if people sit at the Metro stop outside the Colosseum and just watch the tourists eat it when they step out and see this thing for the first time because. Its. Right. There. I walked through this lovely little park, I found out it was lovely later, I couldn't stop staring at the Colosseum. Its really big too. FYI. I continued on my treck and got lost somewhere between 4 and 10 times and was about 1/2hr late. I was also the first one there. We wandered and wandered up and down hills, through city streets and could not for the life of us fine this monument. Finally, some really nice lady who spoke english asked us what we were looking for and we told her and she said it was back up the hill we had just walked down. So we sat down at the bar and had a beer instead. Good plan. About an hour later we met up with the rest of the class at the Piazza del Garabaldi and had pizza and wine for dinner. I walked home with the girls, drinking bottle of wine between the 5 of us, got lost another 4 or 5 times. I think we left the Piazza around 8ish. when 11:00pm rolled around and we still hadn't made our way quite home so we stopped for a martini. We did eventually make it home and on reflection 14hr on my feet the first day may not have been the best idea. But it was an awesome way to get introduced to the city.
Ok I think thats enough for today, time for diner.
Vale!
giovedì 14 giugno 2012
Friday 15th of June: Day 6
I'm a bit behind on posting, its day five and I've just opened this blog. I'll have to catch up on the first days later. Today is the second day I haven't woken up at 5:30 am. Yay! Yesterday felt shorter than the rest of the week. After my usual stop at the Cafe down the street for a Cappuccino I went to buy some salami, cheese, and bread. Those three major staples seem to always be in the house. Class was amusing, we watched an episode of the Pink Panther as a group or, if you prefer the Latin, Panther Rossa, while trying to narrate it in Latin. Then we spit up into our smaller groups and translated a John Keats poem into Latin. They let us go for some gelato or diner and we came back for more Latin discussion. The topics ranged from "fortune favors the brave" to "in vino veritas". I'm still fighting some illness of sorts in my throat so I came home and went to bed. The metro's here are interesting, the A line is very nice and clean and the B line is covered in graffiti and has no air conditioning. We're about to go get coffee even though I'm channeling my inner mad scientist and look like I stuck my finger in the light socket. More soon I promise.
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