Whew. One week of class left. Good thing, too, because my ability to focus has been sufficiently drained. Don’t get me wrong - I wish I could stay here in Rome even longer, but I’m just about worn out from class. Add that to a small batch of homesickness and I’m looking forward to the journey home. I think a lot of us have started to reach this point. It’s an interesting struggle between realizing that this is the last week that we will be living together in Rome and wanting to go home to our “friends”. I say that because I now consider most people here my friends too, and we’ve been joking around about how we’re just pretend friends here. We all understand that its one of those things that will never be the same after this trip. Sure, we’ll talk and hang out occasionally, but the atmosphere of living and taking class together every day in such a closed setting will not be the same. Anyways, things like this have been what have preventing me from fully focusing on class, but don’t worry I’m still getting done what needs to be done. Well, I believe I got all the melancholy out now, so on to what I did this week…

This week was another good one. Busy, of course, but when is it not? Monday was a little bit of a catch-up day. After that long, fun weekend we all – teachers included – took a little bit of time to readjust. Monday morning I joined a group of people from the history class that were headed to the catacombs. I wasn’t sure if I would get to see them if I didn’t hop on the trip, so I risked being a little late to class to see them. Turned out to be a good decision, because I got to see them and even arrived on time! We took the metro to a bus stop that took us right to where we rented our bikes for the Appian Way adventure. Then we walked about a half mile up a hill to one of the catacomb locations. There are over 60 different Christian catacombs outside of Rome, and this one was the largest. It housed over 500,000 tombs from three centuries at the beginning of the millennium. The walk was hot, and then we had to wait for an English tour, because they don’t let people down there without a tour. Our guide kept reminding us that it was a labyrinth down there and that we needed to stay close. There are four levels of tombs which extend close to 50 meters down into the Earth. The top ones are the earliest, as they started from the top and worked their way down over time. So, this also means that the higher ones are the most important. We went to the first and second levels, but didn’t go any deeper than that. When we walked down the entry stairs we experienced an immediate temperature difference of at least 20 degrees. It was so nice – like being inside a refrigerator. I think that’s the only time this whole trip that I have actually bordered on cold, which because of the heat, made it a good experience.

The catacombs were a little different than I expected though. There weren’t bones stacked up and lying around like they are in Indiana Jones, but the tombs were quite orderly and sealed. Actually, most of the bones from the part that the tours go to have been moved to other levels, but still they never were just strewn about or stacked into piles or anything. Also, it wasn’t a place where people ever lived. The humidity is so high that it would be impossible to stay there for any long period of time. It was merely a holy ground where the early Christians chose to bury their dead. And the Romans respected this, even during the Christian persecution. Outside the walls, burial places were given respect and Romans kept their distance. Obviously, inside the walls was a different story. But this was one misconception that I had. Anyways, the tour was good, our guide wasn’t great but good enough. It was actually pretty short – perfect for me, since I had to get to class. We came back up to the surface, walked to the bus and then got on the metro. I headed to Termini and then caught a bus to Accent. As I mentioned, I actually made it on time.

So writing was pretty chill on Monday. There isn’t a whole lot left for us to do besides our final projects and our paper revisions, so we talked about those and then split into our groups to work more on our presentations. Our group is making decent progress, but we’re just having a hard time putting words to paper….probably something to do with a lack of motivation. Anyways, the class went by fast and then we went to lunch at a nearby pizzeria. For as much pizza as I have had, I am surprised I am still enjoying it so much. However, when I get home I’m definitely going on a no-pizza diet for awhile. Paninis and pasta might have to be included in that too. So then it was back to Accent and into ISE. I know it’s probably starting to sound old, but it was boring again. It really just isn’t a thrilling topic and the teacher doesn’t help. But at least he has begun to let us out early on most days.

After class I went on a little sightseeing adventure with my roommate Eric. We went over to Trastevere, a cool little part of Rome with many shops and little restaurants. It’s also a pretty popular place at night for bars and cafés. We went to visit three churches there that are far enough south that we haven’t seen yet. We walked along the Tiber and then crossed at Isola Tiberina, a boat shaped island in the middle of the Tiber. Then we went to the three churches. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the names of all of them at the moment and I’m too lazy to look them up. The first too didn’t have any particularly famous works of art, but the last one did. It was up a pretty big hill, but at the top there was a great view of Rome. Unfortunately the church was closed on Monday for some reason so we couldn’t get in. But we did get to see the Tempieto, which is a cool little chapel that is inside a wall of the church. I believe it was built by Bramante, but don’t yell at me if I’m wrong Mrs. Hartford. It was so proportionally and symmetrically pleasing to the eye that I’m not surprised that is so famous, even though it is so small. I’m glad we got to see it.

In order to get back to our apartments by the shortest route, we decided to walk through the botanical gardens. At least that’s what we thought. Somehow we ended up on a wrong path and we ended up in a shady part of the gardens. And I mean shady in all senses of the word. There was trash everywhere and the path was getting kinda scary. Luckily it ended, but there was a locked gate. So we decided to jump it and walk along the right path that met up on the other side of the gate. As we later found out, we were supposed to pay to get into the gardens – that’s why the gate was locked. Oh well, we just wanted to get out. It was pretty much a straight shot from there, but it was a long walk. We were quite tired when we got home, and the rest of the night was homework and rest time. Thankfully, it was a night where I could get to bed early.