Thursday, June 24, 2010

"To judge Christ by his posterior is a serious infraction of decorum"

I never knew so much about art history. In the reading I've been doing for the past couple of hours, I learned that people build cool things to immortalize themselves (ahem, Arch of Kristin!) and that they believed circles were magical in Ancient Rome. Like passing a partridge egg three times around a woman's chest would prevent her breasts from sagging. There's my fun fact of the day. Also, it's inappropriate to judge a statue of Jesus by his butt. Look at how much I'm learning in Rome!

But seriously, I am learning a lot. Today we had "real class" in an actual classroom, unlike our art history class that mostly entails wandering around the city. After our usual stop at our favorite cafe (this morning they set out our cappuccino cups and pastries as soon as we walked in the door), we headed to our "Islam and Italian Cities" class where we proceeded to discuss the entire history of Italy in about an hour and a half. Italian history is ridiculous. They weren't even a united state until 1860! Ancient Rome is by far the coolest part of their history, let's be real here.

After class number one, we went to lunch (insalateria, again) and tried to sort out some phone issues with the crazy people at the phone store whose English is very limited. Anyways, soon it was time for class number two, "Migration, Markets, and Minorities". We again just talked about how crazy Italians are.

Finally, when class was over, it was almost time for the Italy/Slovakia soccer game! Italians are VERY in to their soccer (it's one of the few things that unifies the country, apparently). We had just enough time to go grab some gelato before heading to our usual soccer game cafe. Here is when I had a revelation. They make BLUEBERRY gelato. I thought it was a pretty pink color so, having no idea what flavor it was, ordered it. And then it was blueberry! Basically the most fantastic part of my day.

The soccer game was depressing because Italia is out for good now! They put up a good effort, despite their main guy kicking the Slovakian goalie in the stomach for no apparent reason. But they lost, crushing the spirit in the cafe.

After the game, I headed home where my roommates and I cooked dinner as usual and then procrastinated for a while until I realized how much reading I really had to do.... It's done now but my two papers are definitely not. Oh well! Things will get done, eventually. Hopefully.

Overall, it was a pretty uneventful day, aside from my blueberry discovery. Tomorrow we have two separate art history lessons so I have a feeling it's going to be a long day, meaning I should get to bed soon before I have to become dependent on cappuccino to function.

2 comments:

  1. We're enjoying your blogposts so much! What an adventure. Nice you're able to have gelato daily - even blueberry at that! Could it be the Italian version of blueberries are pink? Love, Gubby and Grampa

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  2. I can't recall ever hearing of blueberries in Europe! Lingonberries in Scndinavia are more like cranberries - maybe they get canned blueberries from us? We had blueberry ice cream here for supper, and it is hard to beat!
    I think the Italians are a lot of fun - exasperating at times, but they are cheerful and make me feel happy. Ask me sometime about our hotel experience in Rome - only in Italy, and after all these years I still laugh when I think of it. Maybe you could get them to call the Crystal Cathedral in LA the Kristin Kathedral. Now that would be a real memorial!
    L n K Nanny

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