A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...

Finally. I've been waiting to use that title since I decided to blog from Rome.

But something funny really did happen-- your favorite blogger tripped and fell flat on her face before (therefore: on the way) even entering the place.

I went to the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and the Palatine today for my Art in Rome class. Honestly, last night I was thinking about dropping the course. I was reading the unit in preparation for today's class and it was the most boring thing I have ever read, except for my Calc. book. God, that was horrible... But anyways, this was awful, too. I couldn't care less about how the Arc of Vespasian was erected to commemorate his looting of some city that I'm sure could not defend itself. Hooray! Let's celebrate NYC's ability to kick the crap out of of Podunk, Louisiana! =-/

But today was awesome. I got up ridiculously early (6:45) and was ready by 7:15, as my friend said we should leave a little after 7. 7:30 rolls around and I knock on his door and wake him up. Needless to say, I was less than amused... We still got to the Forum with 15 minutes to spare, though, so I should probably just let it go.

Picture this for a second: a tiny older man surrounded by 25 Italian speaking 20 year olds, who are all wearing what appears to be large, electronic hearing aids with big old battery packs touring Lambeau, because that is what we looked like to the Italians. We all had what I can only describe as walkie talkies, with the professor having the ability to talk to everyone. Hypothetically, we could turn him off and just pretend to listen...

My prof reminds me so much of Fr. Gilsdorf, in that he knows everything about everything. We could (and did) point to an obscure part of an ancient arch and ask him what it meant and he could (and did) go on about it. I was tempted to pick up a pebble, show it to him and say, "Now this pebble. How long has this pebble been here?"

We did the Roman Forum in depth and then went to the Colosseum, but didn't go in as a class. He gave up some background info and then dismissed us. I explored it (and got some great pics) with a few friends and then went to the Palatine. The Palatine basically is a bunch of ancient ruins (surprise! more ruins!) that used to house the emperor and his family.

Now I'm back at school, a mere 8 hours later, to change and I'm off to the Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Church of San Ignacio!

Arrivederci!