Me time. Those were my first thoughts when I woke up this morning. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with our group, but it was about time for me to get lost in the city on my own (don't worry, I actually knew where I was going thanks our impromptu excursion to the Lady Gaga concert).
I decided I wanted to see the Arco di Giano and Piazza della Bocca Verita. I surprised myself by waking up early and making a beeline for the Lepanto station before 9am. I go off at the Circo Massimo station and went for a stroll. It didn't take long for me to find the arch, but I stumbled upon a few things along the way and decided to play photographer.
I snapped some photos of archaeologists at work at a scavi. This dig was set up behind a church around the corner from the arch on via Di Monte Caprino, one of the historic districts of Rome (I'm still trying to figure out/remember the name of the church, work with me). I found myself walking along the back side of the Forum and turned on to a street with a monastery. I guess I had perfect timing because I could hear the monks chanting and church bells ringing in the distance, which reminded me that we'll be in Assisi soon! Sidenote: A friend of mine told me she could hear monks from their monastery in the distance when she went to visit the statue of St. Francis during her last visit. That's one of the things I look forward to most during our stay.
Anyway, I passed the monastery and made my way to Piazza della Bocca Verita. I researched the site before going there and found the art work Bocca della Verita by accident. It's a sculpture on display at Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Archaeologists believe it was originally a part of a fountain and the face represents the ancient god of the Tiber river. As it turns out, I took a picture of this weeks ago without realizing it. During our first week I ventured to the Trevi with Lauren, Kristen, Kylie and Rebecca. On the way back I took some photos of the novelty shops lining the street. At the time I called it "the Mantelpiece" because I thought it would be a perfect trinket to decorate with, but I didn't think I would see the original weeks later.
Needless to say I liked the Piazza. I didn't stay there for long though. While I was walking I was approached by a guy who started speaking to me Italian. I told him I spoke English three times and turned to leave, but he persisted in speaking and tried to maintain eye contact with me. I automatically put my defenses up and looked around to make sure he wasn't trying to distract me from something or someone. He gave me a rose and said, "For you bella, smell it!" and raised it to my nose, which was odd because it wasn't the entire rose, just the flower that had been almost entirely cut from it's stem. Who walks around with roses in their pockets? All too suspect. I bid him adieu, threw the rose away when I was out of sight, washed my hands and headed back to campus.
I was frustrated and discouraged when this happened because I had such a good morning, but it reminded me that, as comfortable as I've become in our new city, you can't forget to remain alert, especially when you're alone. I was just around the corner from the Embassy when this happened and would have never guessed that I could find myself in a bad situation in broad daylight. But such is life. I shook it off and returned to campus.
On a lighter note, I enjoyed class. I gave a presentation on Pope Clement V and we began wrapping up Dante. Afterwards I grabbed some delicious Chinese food around the corner from Rienzo, which was a nice change of pace (I definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to try something new before we leave) and Sebastian treated us to gelato! Overall a great night.
Ciao.
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