How quickly a week flies by...

So overview of the last week: more field trips, Latin, quizzes, wine tasting, RAIN, and did I mention Latin?

On Thursday we went to Veii, a town 17 miles outside of Rome. There are remnants of an Etruscan temple there, we also saw an archeological excavation in progress. The archeologists working on the site think that it used to be a healing center (Like a spa with religious overtones). We got to walk (single file) through the site, as the Italian grad student pointed out various rooms, tiling, etc. Then we went to the Villa Guilia, which is a museum that had many Etruscan artifacts, including Greek pottery that the rich Etruscans imported. Very neat. We were a little rushed through the museum (1 hour to see the entire thing and fill out a 4 page worksheet) so we ended up taking more time... which made us over an hour late for lunch. We were all very tired and grumpy on the bus on Thursday.

Friday we had our wine symposium. The owner of a nearby wine bar came to instruct us on tasting and brought two white wines and two red. The Centro even had some brucetta and other snacks for the tasting. The man spoke in mostly Italian, but Franco the director of the Centro (he's not a professor, but instead the head of the administrative part of the program) translated, but some of his English is a little choppy. But overall it was a very nice evening.

It rained all weekend and I mostly stayed inside and struggled with my Latin translation. It's not very exciting, but that's what I was up to... I think some of the nuance has worn off and classes are starting to push me very very hard. I'm determined to do it all though. I'll improve my translation skills, learn Italian, and see the city!

Sunday morning Faith and I went in search of breakfast and found heaven! Italian pastries. Most shops are closed on Sundays, but not the pastry shops. I had un cafe e something amazing. It was like a croissant stuffed with nutella. It was all very inexpensive too. Definitely a new weekly ritual.

Today was another all-day excursion, but the weather was perfect and the sites were amazing! This week we went south of Rome to Lavinium. This the city of Latium where Aeneas is said to have landed after the Trojan war. We also saw Lake Nemi where two Roman ships sank and were recovered around 1930!! The wood of the ships was preserved after many centuries. Apparently it was stuck in mud on the bottom of the lake and that helped to preserve it. An anchor for one of the ships was 5 meters long. Sadly the actual ships were burned at the end of WWII, but we saw reproductions of the ships and artifacts recovered from the lake. The ships were huge, so big that they could hold a temple and gardens, all the comforts of home... even running *hot* water. I am constantly amazed by the Roman's engineering abilities. My roommate told me they had a kind of concrete that hardened under water, and we don't even know how they did it.

We also saw the Temple of Diana at Nemi which was one of Augustus' favorite temples, and we saw a view of the Alban lake... very beautiful. Finally our last stop was Tusculum, a town on an elevated spot outside Rome. The view was breathtaking, even after a day of other wonderful views. Here we saw some remnants of the early Latin city, like a theater, but more importantly we saw Cicero's villa!! As I've mentioned Cicero is the author I'm reading this semester in Advanced Latin, so even if the other classical history I've been rambling about is not interesting hopefully anyone can appreciate the awe of this visit. Cicero lived over 2000 years ago, I'm reading his work now, and I saw where he lived (well one of the places where he lived) back around 40 BC.

For the rest of this week I plan on studying a lot, but also taking time to do some shopping! There's a Profumeria I want to go to for shampoo, conditioner, and soap (the store bought stuff I have is not that exciting). This place is supposed to be very neat, as historically they served the Medici family. We also want to do some touristy sight-seeing and take in the city. That's the plan for Friday, weather permitting. Otherwise I need to keep up with my reading and translation, practice my Italian (with some shopkeepers perhaps...), and start a project on the Roman Calendar.

I'll bring my camera (or steal Faith's pictures) to put up some pictures of our next field trip.
So stay posted for pictures of the Forum, it's our field trip for Thursday...