So, it's been a while...

I feel like its been forever since I last updated. This last week I had three midterms, one paper proposal, one Italian oral exam, and three site visits. In sum, it was hell. I felt like I was running for like 5 days straight...just too little sleep and too much stress. But even though it was all stressful, I'm still way less stressed here than I am back in Santa Cruz. I don't know--today I went on a site visit to two sites two hours a way and on the bus I thought a lot (and also caught up on a lot of sleep). I realized I don't want to leave here. Not now, and I don't think ever. I had anticipated going through this terrible culture shock, but it's been a really smooth transition. Like yea, there have been two days here were I was super depressed, but that's good for me. I'm always gonna be depressed sometimes no matter where I am, but the magnitude and frequency can vary. I spent far much more time in Santa Cruz or in Orinda being bummed out than I have here. I'm just happier. And I feel truer to myself. I feel down back in the states far too often, and I don't feel like the real me, I'm different. I've missed myself. I haven't felt this true to myself since senior year of high school, except that I also have the added bonus that I'm less depressed than I was in high school as well. I want to hold on to my happiness. I laugh a lot here. And I'm fun here. I don't know, I'm happy here and I'm happy that I have gotten to feel this way again.

Also with being here I've gained some of the independence I've longed for. Yea, my parents pay for my school and my groceries. But I've never spent this much money in my life. It is because I'm traveling (and on the euro, unfortunately) and I don't know, it feels good knowing that I don't need to depend on my parents so heavily for money. So many people on this program are traveling completely on their parents' money. I'd feel terrible if that were me. My parents have already wasted so much money on raising me, my education, and now my living abroad, they shouldn't be wasting their money on me having fun. And eventually I'm going to need to take a loan from my parents, but I'm gonna pay it back as soon as I get the money. Somehow being abroad is different than just being at college. When I went off to college I did feel more independent, but Brian was still there and I don't know, I had someone to fall back on. Here, there is no one. It's all about me. And even though nothing has gone wrong, and if something did got seriously wrong, I have friends here to help me out, I still feel so much more in control of my own life. That's another added bonus to traveling on my own money--I don't need permission. It's liberating, really.

Okay, so now to what's been happening (first in pictures--descriptions below)...


our diner party

Florence
Toga Party!
Giornata Interazionale della Donna
Sancta Sanctum in Saint John Lateran
Temple of Young Jove, Terracina (can click on to see larger)
Tiberius' Grotto, Sperlonga


Okay, so....
1. diner party...already wrote about it last post, I just liked the picture
2. Florence, again. Wrote about it, and got nothing more to say
3. TOGA!!!! So much fun. So, we threw a toga party at our place. And didn't get in trouble for it!! Ingrid made sangria (yes, not Roman, but it's tasty all the same) and we played wine pong. We probably got about 30 people fit into our little kitchen. It got pretty loud though and the guy at the front desk was not happy with us so these really nice girls from upstairs let us move the party up there. Like within 30 minutes of the party moving up there, their apartment is covered in vomit and their toilet is flooding into the hallway. We felt terrible. But seriously, we are all juniors and seniors on this program, everyone should know their limits well enough to not let that happen, for shame. *tisk*tisk*
4. Giornata....International day of women. Celebrated everywhere except the U.S. Yea, we suck. Women are given mimosa (i think that's what they are called) flowers by the men in there lives and go out to diner and what not with their girl friends. Oh, and they get in free to city/state run museums! But, unfortunately, we had midterms to study for so we made our celebration quick--some cookies, chocolate, champagne, and a sunset over Piazza Dell Popolo. It was really nice.
5. Sancta Sanctum. So cool, this chapel was only opened up to the public like 7 years ago or something. The frescoes are amazing, they have this image of Christ from the 7th century that was used in the holy procession performed on Jubilee years (called the acheropita--literally meaning not made my hand because it was believed to have been started by Luke, and finished by an angel---even though we now know the dating isn't correct for this tale) and the relics they claim to have there are impressive--Mary's hair and milk, a piece of Christ's cross, some bread from the last super, and they had Jesus' foreskin and umbilical chord before they were stolen by the Nazis. Even though I don't really believe that these relics are real, I still think the whole idea is kinda romantic, I guess. I know so little about religion, but I'm so interested in it. I wanna know the stories and what makes religious people have such strong faith. I think faith is a beautiful thing. Oh, and also outside of this chapel, they have these stairs that you are only allowed to ascend on your knees--this is because they are supposed to be the stairs from Pontius Pilate's palace...aka the stairs that Jesus climbed during his passion. Pretty cool, huh?
6. Temple of Young Jove. We went there today and wow, we had beautiful views. Not much is left of the temple though
7. Tiberius' Grotto....well, we went to his Villa, of which the grotto is a part. One of the coolest things I've seen here thus far. A great way to spend the day. Beautiful views, by the beach, and it was just so cool. So Tiberius (Augustus' heir and emperor in the first cent AD) had this villa set up which had a bunch of rooms around a central piazza like thing. Most of it is gone. But attached to the villa was a grotto. He used the natural caves already there and just built into them. There is a pool sectioned off which his guests would lounge in--kinda like a spa. And in the center of the water is a platform where they would eat. All within the caves archaeologists found marble statues, in the round, that depicted scenes from the Odyssey. It was all so very cool. It's funny, cos when I took my Classical Rome class freshman year, I was like, "hell yea! I wanna minor in classical studies". And then I reminded myself that I would have to learn either Latin or Greek, and decided against it. But I'm so excited about all that I'm learning (well, minus a lot of the stuff from my women's study class) that I'm kinda thinking classics again. I know it won't happen, but I'd like to take more classics classes, I just think there are no more Roman ones taught at UCSC. bummer.

This week I have one midterm, so way less stress. And then on Friday we are leaving for Egypt!!!! Oh, and tomorrow we are going to a calcio game (soccer), Roma v. Milano. I'm so excited!! Yay, Rome!

Ciao,
Sarah