Eataly and the Pantheon

Monday was the first time I actually completely understood what was going on in Rome Through the Ages. (Thank God!) I really am not a fan of this professor. He is very knowledgeable, but he moves through time so quickly that all the names start flowing together, and following the progression of rulers is very difficult. So, I get to work extra hard to bring up that grade! 

Tuesday was another fun day of Italian class! We went with Bruno's Intermediate Italian II class to Eataly! Eataly is a giant grocery store with all products made fresh in Italy. The best part I think is that each product has a map showing where in the country it is from! They have locations in NYC and many other cities! (Theo and I saw one in Bologna, too!) 

We got divided up into three groups and had to solve riddles and come up with a 4 course meal with only recipes from our assigned regions. We were there for hours, but it was a lot of fun! I wanted to buy everything in the store, but I don't think my wallet could have handled that trip.

Wednesday in Rome Through the Ages, we went on a site visit to the Pantheon and Largo Argentina! The Pantheon is beautiful, and I learned a lot of things that I can share with my family! For example, did you know the modern Pantheon was actually the third version? But I was more excited to go to Largo Argentina, which is the busy piazza I walk through every day to get to school. It also happens to be the location where Julius Caesar was killed. Neat, huh? Today, it’s a cat sanctuary. And I’m not kidding. Cats live in the area and are cared for by some volunteers. It’s kind of strange that it happens in such a historically important area!

The Pantheon built by Agrippa!

The tomb of the artist Raphael.

Wednesday was also my roommate’s birthday (Noah). About 15 of us went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant and got a beer after. I’ve never had Indian food, and it wasn’t at all what I expected, but I think I will stick with Italian and Mexican as my favorites. :)

Today, my group presented about soccer in our Made In Italy class. My portion of the project was the history of soccer in Italy. Now, in doing the research, I realized I had NO idea what any of it meant… So many different leagues and championships and corporations! They all sound the same to me. But have no fear! I am a MASTER bull-shitter, so my skills were put to good use, and I think we all did ok! Probably the funniest part was one of my group members was still drunk from the night before, so his water bottle was right by his side the whole time. I couldn’t make eye contact with him the whole time, because I kept cracking up!

Also today in Italian, Bruno announced that my group had won the challenge in Eataly! So we each get 7 extra credit points for our final! (Even though I kind of feel bad, because I don’t need them at all, but I will still take them!) And, while practicing for our oral finals, we had to introduce ourselves in Italian and keep talking until he decided we said enough. With the other people, he made them talk for about 30 seconds. When it got to me, he made me talk for over a minute! When the class said I deserved an A+ for it, he said something along the lines of, “Your skills are better than theirs, so I know you can do better on the actually final.” While it was a compliment to me, he kind of insulted the rest of the class. Oh, Bruno!

My plans for the rest of the day are as follows: Shower, Get dressed, Go get dinner somewhere (probably this new burger place near me), Go to Abbey’s Theater (a bar… shocking, right?) to hear one of my classmates sing, Come home, Sleep. And then my weekend consists of STARTING AND FINISHING my Rome Through the Ages paper and finishing my Made in Italy paper. Because guess what? They are due in 5 days! AHHHHHH!!!!! Talk about procrastinating!