Leaving Rome...

From yesterday.. since it would not post at the time:

Well, today was my last day in Rome, but I have to say it was one of my favorites! I really loved the Colloseum and the ruins! They are so beautiful! I took a lot of pictures, but they really don’t give you the full effect of experiencing the sights for yourself. I actually got sun burnt, which usually doesn’t happen, so that sucks, but overall it was a great day.

We had a reading assignment that taught me some interesting things about wine I never knew. For one thing, wine was suggested to have first been produced in the Neolithic period, between 9000 and 4000 BCE! Because it had to be imported from wine-growing lands far away and the cost of importing it was high, someone who was able to afford wine would be considered to be wealthy. Because of the low availability and expense of wine, it was considered to be “worthy” of religious ceremonies. Availability of the beverage, help lower prices, which eventually allowed for wine to be a social as well as religious or “elite” drink.

We learned today while we were out walking about how and why wine and olives played such an important role in the Roman world, and even how figs figured into it. There are 3 trees planted together in the forum (this is what they call the collection of ruins next to the colloseum). One fig tree, one grape tree, and one olive tree. Even 2000 years later, the importance of these items is being shown through the symbolism of the three trees planted together. We were told that the Romans would use wine and dilute it with water, and that would allow them to drink water in new lands they were exploring without fear of the water causing them to get sick. That in combination with the calories from olive oil, and the sugar from figs allowed them to explore new lands they ordinarily would not have been able to.

I actually went out on my own to dinner tonight and navigated my way to the restaurant and back with no problems. Not that it was that hard… I just went right up the street from where I’m staying, but I still did it! I found a little Indian food place that smelled good, so I decided to try it. They had a couscous with vegetables on their menu, but he looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for it, so I told him to just give me whatever he would suggest… I think he gave me falafels in like a wrap type deal with veggies and some kind of sauce on it. It was really good, except the (what I am assuming to be) falafels were kind of dry, but I’ve never actually had falafels so maybe that is how they should be. In the Indian place I found a sort of wine cooler type drink I decided to try when I got back to the hotel. I find it funny that it is socially acceptable to waltz in to a gift shop with a beer in your hand and nobody even seems to notice here. I couldn’t imagine doing that at home. I really probably wouldn’t have done it here either, but I forgot I had it in my hand until I was already in there and realized the store clerk didn’t care.

So looked around in his shop a little bit and headed to my hotel…. I’m all packed up to head to Arezzo tomorrow morning and start classes. Believe it or not, I am really excited about getting into school stuff. I generally really like chemistry. I just hope I am better at organic that I seemed to be with the little bit of it I dealt with in gen chem. =/ Well, I am going to look over my syllabus and school information my teacher posted. I’ll post again soon!!