Pompeii

It's difficult, as an American, to grasp the length of 2,000 years. Where I come from, 200 years is old, and if you find something that's from 500 years ago, it's close to the oldest thing around. Then I come here, to Pompeii, and the entire city is over two millennia old. And yet, here are the remnants of a civilization - with baths, theaters, amphitheaters, shops, houses, sculptors, and artists. It's a strange feeling of sameness and difference at the same time, compared to civilizations of today.

And yes, there are many dogs still here, just as there were back then. The phrase "cave canem" still applies.

Naples / Stabiae

On Friday we left fairly early on a charter bus to Naples. The city itself was dirty, but definitely had character to it. Actually,Most of the "dirty" was due to trash left out in the streets, since Naples was in the middle of a trash-collector strike. We at lunch on a street corner (all 110 of us), and entered the National Archaeological Museum. Dr. Flusche gave us a guided tour, providing the history of each piece we observed, which consisted mostly of who stole it from which part of Italy to put it in this museum. Many of the pieces were removed from the excavation of Pompeii, where we were headed the next day.

This is one of my favorite sculptures that we saw. It's Hercules, bulging muscles and all, resting on his lion skin propped up on a stick, after completing his 12 tasks. It was created during a period that emphasized the strength of the human body -- it's no surprise that the sculptor chose Hercules.

After the museum, we headed to Stabiae, where we stayed in dorms provided by the Society for Restoring Ancient Stabiae. We had a chance to walk through the town and down to the beach. Some of group waded out into the water, but I didn't want sand in my shoes, and the water was very cold. I settled for putting my hands in it and collecting shells, which I accidentally sat on later.

View of Stabiae and Mt. Vesuvius covered in clouds, from the dorm balcony

Rome Scavenger Hunt / Wine Tasting

We started Saturday, Jan 26 with a scavenger hunt in Rome. The Romers were divided into groups of seven or eight people, but half of our group bailed out at the last minute, so our group was all of three people, which actually turned out to be a good size. We were given a list to things to find: mostly historical sites on monuments, but also everyday sights such as pigeons, nuns, people kissing, and the Old Bridge Gelateria. My group (Jocelyn, Jeffery, and I) started off very determined, but after about an hour decided it would be more fun to slow down and enjoy Rome, and just keep our eyes open for items on the list.

This worked out very well, and we wandered through many side streets of the Trestevere region of Rome. It's a place I want to visit again at some point. There aren't many monuments in the area, which, consequently, means it is much less of a tourist destination. We were able to see the daily life of Rome, and it was a quiet atmosphere, which was nice after all the bustle of the monuments.

Enjoying a quiet moment atop the Janiculum Hill

The day concluded with a trip to Castel Gandolfo, a large dinner, and wine tasting led by Msgr. Fucinaro. Wonderful food, good wine, and great people - altogether, quite an enjoyable evening. We ended up leaving to come back at 11:15 PM, an hour or so later than they had told us -- but it was time well spent.

Class Orientation

Classes will be difficult. They should also be wondrously fun! All of the professors so far seem reasonable, at least, and many of them are very interesting. Western Theological Traditions should be very good. The prof has a great sense of humor, and knows his stuff. His favorite saying, as any recent Romer knows, is "What does the text say?" Any answer that is not supported directly from the text is not a valid answer, for him. He has already said that is paper will likely be the hardest we have ever written. But, it's on Aquinas, which just sounds like fun to me.

We also had computer orientation today, and I got hired on the spot to assist in installing and updating antivirus software on 80+ computers, and configuring the network printers. It went well, and I got to help out the other students while making some extra cash on the side. I hate paying for things in euros with the high exchange rate, but I love being paid in euros. :-)

At dinner I sat with Alison Lytle (the campus director), J.T. Kennelly, and the Roper family (Dr. Roper teaches Literary Traditions 3). We had a great time that included discussing families, paintball, and cats, and singing "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." :-D It was great fun.

Buonasera!

Sean