Thursday, August 23rd

Gelato Flavors of the Day: Fig and Chocolate Hazelnut

When one thinks of Rome, inevitably one of the first images that comes to mind is the Colosseum. The scale and grandeur of the behemoth symbolize, in many minds, the Roman Empire at its peak. Today we made our way to the still awe-inspiring remains of the amphitheater.

Kelsea presented on the Colosseum (above), a formidable task given the long history and immense structure of the building. I tried to imagine the arena filled with seats, crowds gathered to watch a gladiatorial fight. That posed a stark contrast to some of the recent uses of the space: Paul McCartney gave a concert here. In the end, I was rather overwhelmed by it all, unsure and unable to quite absorb everything during our visit. This is one sight that would certainly merit a second viewing.

Our second stop was the Baths of Caracalla (below), presented to us by Mindy. Both the grounds and the baths themselves are very large in scale, and while the baths are no longer there, the size of the buildings themselves give us an idea of the huge number of people who entered those doors each day. While the Baths, much like other historical sights in Rome, have had parts "reappropriated" throughout the years, it is incredible how much has remained intact, weathering time, natural disasters, and looters. It may be simplistic to say that what has struck me so much about Rome is how old everything is, but coming from the US, particularly the West Coast, where the oldest buildings are a couple hundred years old, perhaps is isn't so surprising.

Today was also our first day of Italian class. Not far from the Rome Center is Italiaidea, a school whose philosophy is to teach through language immersion. To facilitate this, we were split into two classes. My class was taught by Costanza, an energetic Italian woman with a knack for communicating via gestures and sounds when we were faced with unfamiliar Italian words, which was not infrequent. I am excited to (hopefully soon) be able to go to a restaurant or bakery and order something without just pointing and nodding.

Phrase of the day: “Come ti chiami?”/“Mi chiamo….” (“What is your name?”/“My name is...”