GL Week 4

So it seems like each time I sit down to start writing my blog the only thing that pops into my head is, “Wow I seriously can’t believe that week (insert week number here) is done!” It just amazes me that week four has come and gone. I mean we are only here for eight weeks and four out of those eight are gone already. Good thing my camera hasn’t left my hand and I have been able to capture a little bit of the reality I am living daily. Anyways, back to week four. Week four in Rome brought days full of traveling and exploring the city of Rome, which you think I would be semi-familiar with by now but every day brings new streets, shops, and bakeries. Also during week four we traveled outside of Rome to Florence but I’ll comment on Florence later on.

Thinking back on this week there really isn’t much I can say. Every day we do something that just blows my mind. Like this week Rachel and Aimee took us on a tour with the usual stunning churches and art and Danielle showed us ancient ruins of various worship places.  Then on Thursday we visited the Museum of the Mind which was an insane asylum until just recently. It makes me wonder if there is anything in Rome that is plain and average; so far my mind is saying no.

For class this week the readings assigned were “My Rome” written by Muriel Spark and “Without Reservations” written by Alice Steinbach. “Without Reservations” was a reading that I really was able to connect with. It was a reading that not only made sense for my journey through Rome but also through life. Steinbach wrote “The unexpectedness of life, waiting round every corner, catches even wise women unawares. To avoid corners altogether is, after all, to refuse to live.” Reading this the only thought going through my mind was this should be every person’s life motto. When I made the decision to come and study in Rome I turned a corner in my life and I just feel like every day I am here it’s just another corner being turned. Each day something new happens; I haven’t had one day where I’ve done the same thing I’ve done another day. If I see something chances are the next day I won’t be passing it again. It’s that unexpectedness Steinbach was writing about; it is exhilarating.

Florence. I don’t even know what to say about Florence right now. As it is currently I am sitting on a train that is taking me from Florence to Rome and I am not happy. The experience of Florence went incredibly too fast for me, and thinking back on it right now all I can recall is leather. Leather EVERYWHERE. Well ok actually that’s a lie I can remember the seven course dinner too, but I mean who doesn’t remember a seven course meal?