Rome sweet Rome...

The view from the park in my neighborhood, Monte Mario. I did some reading here...
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This place is getting to me. Getting to me in a good, wonderful kind of way.

For instance. This weekend. I walked around Rome by myself for hours. A city I have only known for 6 weeks. It’s amazing how much one can learn in 6 weeks time. I did not feel lost or anxious at any point of the weekend. I mainly walked around without much of a plan. If there was a plan, I checked out my map ahead of time and wrote a couple street names to check later…mainly I know where everything I wanted to see was hiding. If I didn’t, I knew that it was close to something else I did know. Today, I found a restaurant that Amy told me I had to find. It was so easy! I got there, but sadly, it was an evening restaurant and was closed up when I arrived. No matter though. The area around there was close to so much that I wandered around a bit more until I wandered my way to a spot I had found with Brooke on our wandering weekend. I was struck by how many different ways you can come upon the same place, seeing it from a different angle, hardly recognizing it until you get up close. I spotted this big old churchy looking building up a cobblestoned hill today, and when I got to the top, I found the church we had stopped in after the changing of the guard ceremony. It was one of those, “Now I know where I am!” kind of moments. I also snuck up on the Colosseum from a new angle. I have come to realize that you can’t NOT know where you are in Rome. Even if you honestly are lost, it’s almost like, “Who cares?” Being lost in Rome is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to you. There should never be nervousness, because soon enough you will turn around and smack into a big old ancient thing that will tell you where you are. Everything is near something.

wandering...
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There is something about wandering about a foreign city by oneself. I think it makes you love it more, makes it more personal, makes it your own. Makes you own it. I own this place. I’m not following a crowd to get to any particular destination…I’m wandering to my destiny! I feel safe doing this during the day. When it starts to get toward sunset and the chill starts to come, I find the nearest train or bus stop and head on home. I feel as if I know every possible route to get myself back to campus. How can you feel lost when this is the case?

The Colosseum from a new angle...
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The other thing about being alone while traveling. The quiet. I LOVE the quiet. The city isn’t quiet obviously, but you are. You come to realize that you hardly say a word all day long (except when you stop to order a gelato or slice of pizza). That’s a change. And it feels great. It makes me the silent observer of all. I get back to campus and wish I didn’t have to speak to anyone for a little while longer. After dinner tonight, I went to my room, closed the door and napped. When I woke up, I watched my roommate’s “Under the Tuscan Sun” DVD by myself, in my bed, in the dark. At one point, I had to stop and laugh at myself. I was so engaged in the movie, I found that I was laughing out loud to myself at the funny parts. In my room, in the dark, all alone. Laughing. I used to make fun of my roommate last year who would watch DVDs on her computer in her bed, because she would laugh hysterically to herself, and it seemed so silly to me. Laughter seems like a social response, something we usually only do when we are with others. But here I was tonight, cracking up with me, myself, and I. It’s almost easier to laugh out loud to yourself. And surprisingly, very fulfilling. By the way, I now love that movie. I have seen a good chunk of the scenery in the film in my 6 weeks here, and the areas that I hadn’t seen made me want to go to see them in the very near future. Like the Amalfi coast. I want to go there. I laughed also because here I was watching this movie which takes place in Italy and I’m IN ITALY. I know that people watch this film in their homes and think, “Wow I wish I could be there!” or “I want to go there!” I am, and I can. Like I said, if I haven’t seen it yet, I can go tomorrow if I so choose. There is something so freeing being able to do that. That was the whole point of the movie too….making crazy choices and taking chances. Holy monkeys.

Part of the freedom that I feel stems from self-support, supporting a good deal of my traveling with money I have saved since I was little. I bought my flight from Chicago to Italy in the first place. I bought my ticket to Paris. I bought my ticket to London (last night!). However, I did have some special support from family members and obviously my parents are helping me out with the tuition portion. Thank you so much to you’ze guys. You can’t begin to know how grateful I am for your help. I love you!

So this is my sappy entry I suppose. You’ve got to expect a couple of those from me every once in awhile….it’s my job.

One more thought for now. The sense of independence and adventure has caused me and several others to consider how we might be when we get back to the States. We see ourselves exploring the places we have lived all our lives, seeing these places in a new light. We see ourselves going back to St. Louis and actually trying to see a bit more of where we spend 9 months of our year. We see ourselves becoming better with public transportation. We see ourselves taking more chances and doing more wandering. We see ourselves wanting to explore parts of our own country that we have never visited before.

If we can do it with here with a language barrier and weird currency, I think we can do it on our own turf…