My band Like Bells has been popping up on the web:

http://skopemag.com/2009/01/29/exit-stencil-signs-like-bells-mp3s

http://www.scenepointblank.com/news/6746

http://popstereo.blogspot.com/

http://advancecopy.blogspot.com/2009/01/future-like-bells-similar-dirty-three.html

http://www.comfortcomes.com/2009/01/27/like-bells-atlas/

stadium of domitian

This is one of the fountains on the piazza navona. They are all really gorgeous, and this area is really cool for a number of reasons...one of which is the fact that underneath it is an ancient roman stadium, the stadium of domitian (so we suspect). It's a cool blend of the old and the new. We went down to the ruins of the stadium, popped back up, took a coffee break, and then continued on our way to another area that is layered with old and new stuff, excavated in such a way as to show each layer..ancient, renaissance, new, etc..really sweet.

Then me and a few greek students got mind-spanked by our homework, and then my latin homework felt like a breeze. For dessert at dinner tonight there was the best ice cream i've ever had in my life.

hehehe. sorry.

Tomorrow I can sleep in, and then we have a trip out. Then..it's friday night in Rome!

update

Hey all,

First full day of classes today, quite full indeed. Class/Work from 9 AM to 11:30 PM

I'm getting the hang of the bus system, meaning I can go where I want and find what I want in the city! A very important development for me.

Found some real hot spots in the city last night.

The Tiber River looks beautiful at night, I would have snapped a shot but I didn't have a camera. I'll do it this weekend.

Rome is overwhellllllmmingly crazy.

Sorry not much substance here,

Gabe

Airplane

(Written while on Plane) - I’m on the airplane right now next to an Italian! I was a little shy at first due to my inadequate Italian, so I asked for her name in English. What I heard was “Marlbora”, kind of like the cigarette brand but a little more feminine. Looking back, it could have been “Marba”, “Marbury”, or anything really beginning with M and ending in A. In any case, she’s an Italian Phd student in Physics who was studying at Nashville for a few weeks, and from Nashville had a flight to Philly then back to Rome. I told her my Italian was bad but she encouraged me to try some. We ended up practicing some verbs (to do, to come, to see), and I could tell when my pronunciation was bad when she just said “okay”, as opposed to when my pronunciation was bearable and she said “yes! yes! yes!”. Typical. So, “okay” came to mean “not so much”. Fine in my book, I want and need the practice.

I asked her how she liked American food and she said that she didn’t even know what “American food” was, but that she liked the Indian and Chinese restaurants in her hotel in Nashville. I explained to her that I was a vegetarian but that I was maybe interested in having fish a few times in Italy. Then things got REALLY confusing. I forgot that in Italian when a c is followed by an e it’s a soft sound. Marcella is pronounced Mar-che-lla, not Mar-k-ella. I knew that rule but for some reason thought that there was an exception when there was an s before the c. S before c, though, just means a “sh” sound. So when I said the Italian word for fish (pesce), I was saying “pes-kay”, not “peshay” as I should have. Now, it turns out there is a fruit in Italian called pesco (pronounced pesko, peski in the plural), which is what she THOUGHT I was saying because of the hard c sound. So basically, in Italian I was saying…"I’m a vegetarian but when I’m in Italy I’m really thinking about trying this fruit!” That really threw her for a loop. I couldn’t get to the bottom of what a pesco is, she described it as a “round, orange summer fruit.” Maybe an orange? Anyway, I’m pretty good pals with Marlbora or whatever her name is. It’s probably a good thing that she’s asleep and not reading as I type this, though. ☺ Especially now that she thinks I’m a vegetarian who for some reason thinks oranges qualify as meat.


Well, now I'm at the Centro. Jet-lagged, overwhelmed, and really happy. Just took a few shots while strolling around, but now really have to hit the hay for a nice noon-time nap.


This is the view from my window. It's a nice sight. I very much like that curvy tree.











Here is my roommate Tim Platt. All smiles!

Hello all: family, friends, teachers, and beyond!

This is a travel blog that I will update as frequently as possible while I spend a semester studying abroad at the ICCS (Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies) at Rome with 37 other language and literature enthusiasts. Expect main courses of photos accompanied by ramblings about the photos, and side dishes of general reflections from me about what it is that I'm learning and experiencing in class. For dessert: general reflections about what it is that I'm thinking while I cruise around this city about which I have read and studied, but never lived and truly experienced. Dessert may not come as frequently, but... we all know how dessert goes sometimes, right? Sometimes it's the only course.

On this post, dessert comes first. I must admit that while I am almost overflowing with excitement about this upcoming semester, this experience will come at something of a cost. The band that I play in, Like Bells (myspace.com/likebells) is on the brink of releasing our first cd, and these next few months are going to be very busy for the band and our record label. I regret that I will not be able to give as much attention as I am able to this very important part of my life. As the Italians say, "campa cavallo, che l'erba cresce". The sense of this is: "while the horse starves, the grass grows". I thank my band members and labelmates for graciously encouraging me to do this.

I will miss my friends and family in the United States. There are some people who I have only in this past month been able to interact with in ways that I have been unable to manage in the past. For that reason and others, this trip is coming at something of an inopportune time.

Distance, however, has been known to do strange things, both good and bad. It's something of a riddle. Perhaps I should just take the advice that Catullus wrote to himself a few thousand years ago: "desinas ineptire, et quod vides perisse perditum ducas". In my other ear, though, comes Virgil's words: "et nos cedamus amori". But hell, Catullus never took his own advice anyway...but here I'm getting a little off-topic. Sue me.

I owe much to my parents and teachers for encouraging me in my studies and providing me with the tools necessary for me to follow this pursuit. Studying Greek and Latin is a privilege. When I first heard about this program during my freshman fall semester at Oberlin College, I knew that I would have to try to go. My teachers made this possible. Thanks for pushing me. And it was you, Mr. Mastrangelo, who first set me on this path at Dickinson College, this path so rarely followed but so alluring precisely for that reason. A sense of necessity draws me towards it, one good glimpse was all it took.

For those of you who are thinking about coming to visit me, I assure you that the later in the semester you come, the more fun will be had. Quid petis, hic est...."Whatever you seek is right here." So, quod petis? Che cerci? What do you seek? Let's find it together.

Well! Here's what I'll be studying:

In Latin, I'll be reading Suetonius' Life of Nero, an ancient, gossip-ridden biography of a figure who is one of the most notoriously brutal leaders of ancient Rome. One story that I am familiar with describes how he tried to kill his mother by giving her a present of a nice boat ride, not informing her of the fact that he had the boat made such that it would collapse in the water after a little while! That's just a taste. He also killed Christians like it was his job. According to him, it probably was his job!

In Greek, I'll be reading Book Six of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, the book which recounts the Athenian invasion of Sicily which was the beginning of the end of Athens with respect to their war against Sparta. A few different parties convinced the Athenians that invading Sicily would be the right thing to do, citing a whole host of reasons that turned out to be for the most part fabrications. The Athenians didn't know a lot about Sicily, and were easily convinced that vast amounts of money were to be had from a successful Sicilian invasion. Wrong! Kinda reminds me of a more recent situation, wherein one country is convinced that a bunch of WMD's are stashed away in another country far, far away about which the general population knows very little, and for that reason (the weapons) has to invade it. Wrong! At least the Athenians, though, were honest about their motives! ;)

In Italian, I'll be learning beginner's Italian. I've started a few things in the past month here at home, but my pronunciation is undoubtedly wretched and my grammar is as of now quite limited (conjugations of the present tense, perfect tense, imperatives, and a basic grasp of nouns). I am finding Italian pronouns to be somewhat confusing. In any case, I plan to be at least decent by the time May rolls around. If I end up having to drop a course due to workload issues, this would be it, although I would still plan on being pretty good in Italian.

Then, the Ancient City, the course where we get taken around to the sites in Rome and learn about Roman history, architecture, art, politics, etc. This class counts as two classes (8 credits?!), and takes up the most time. Intimidating, but this is going to be a real treat. And it's the reason why we get awesome, serve-all-purposes bus passes!

τρέφεται δέ, ὦ Σώκρατες, ψυχὴ τίνι; "And what, then, Socrates, nourishes the soul?" So someone asks Socrates in one of Plato's dialogues. For me, this stuff does. And even then only parts of it.

Be well, readers.

Gabe