(no subject)
So the bottom line here is that we are completely spoiled rotten. If I didn't miss my completely awesome hallmates at MHC I would regret having to go back! Not only do we have housekeeping to launder sheets and towels once a week (!) but they also apparently clean our floors/sinks/desks once a week. Meals are all family style at a bunch of small tables and are served right to us. We don't even have to take our dishes to the kitchen. Dinner is 3 courses and is completely expected to take an hour and a half. Luckily breakfast and lunch are sort of optional with fresh fruit set out on the sideboard if we don't want a full meal. I've found a great park down the street to run through--I think the circuit plus there and back to the centro is about a mile and a half. There's a great overlook of the city in the middle of the park that's just perfect at sunrise. I've found a running partner who's even willing to get up insanely early in the morning with me (dressage team, what have you done to me that I now need 6:30 workouts?!).
Tuesday we were sent out into the city to find two obelisks and present a short powerpoint/lecture thing about them. I lucked out with the best obelisk ever--the adorable little one standing on top of Bernini's elephant in the piazza della minerva--along with a similarly enthusiastic group. A little research turns out that the elephant is even more awesome than previously thought (and you all know that I have a certain fondness for the little thing). The Italians used to call it porcino 'piggy' because it's so solid, but now that's devolved into pulcino or little chick. The sculpture itself is apparently based on a woodcut from (dad, you'll love this) the hypnerotomachia polophili, where the main character apparently meets a prophetic stone elephant carrying an obelisk. The pope who comissioned it also hated the dominicans for some reason, and placed the elephant with his tail toward the monastery :)
We wandered around the city for awhile after we found our obelisks and then spent the afternoon and evening working on our powerpoint. One of our group members is a computer whiz and in five minutes remixed a digital video of of us walking around the obelisk into an epic introduction.
No class this morning, so I'm working on the readings for next week and memorizing my part for the presentation tomorrow. Went for a long run this morning when it was actually light out and am currently enjoying the fact that someone down the hall is blasting country music. As of yet there have been no howls of protest, so I am forced to assume that my hallmates here have far better taste in music than MHC ;)
Language class this afternoon and then we'll see where I really am in classes and whether I'll end up auditing art history or taking it for reals. It all depends on how many lines latin class assigns, I think. Luckily the MO here seems to be sleep, study, and socialize after dinner. Most of us are still so jet-lagged that we're still crashing after dinner (although in my class that may be the serious lack of caffeine. Earl grey is just not cutting it. May have to start choking down coffee in the near future. ), so no crazy wild partying yet.
Tuesday we were sent out into the city to find two obelisks and present a short powerpoint/lecture thing about them. I lucked out with the best obelisk ever--the adorable little one standing on top of Bernini's elephant in the piazza della minerva--along with a similarly enthusiastic group. A little research turns out that the elephant is even more awesome than previously thought (and you all know that I have a certain fondness for the little thing). The Italians used to call it porcino 'piggy' because it's so solid, but now that's devolved into pulcino or little chick. The sculpture itself is apparently based on a woodcut from (dad, you'll love this) the hypnerotomachia polophili, where the main character apparently meets a prophetic stone elephant carrying an obelisk. The pope who comissioned it also hated the dominicans for some reason, and placed the elephant with his tail toward the monastery :)
We wandered around the city for awhile after we found our obelisks and then spent the afternoon and evening working on our powerpoint. One of our group members is a computer whiz and in five minutes remixed a digital video of of us walking around the obelisk into an epic introduction.
No class this morning, so I'm working on the readings for next week and memorizing my part for the presentation tomorrow. Went for a long run this morning when it was actually light out and am currently enjoying the fact that someone down the hall is blasting country music. As of yet there have been no howls of protest, so I am forced to assume that my hallmates here have far better taste in music than MHC ;)
Language class this afternoon and then we'll see where I really am in classes and whether I'll end up auditing art history or taking it for reals. It all depends on how many lines latin class assigns, I think. Luckily the MO here seems to be sleep, study, and socialize after dinner. Most of us are still so jet-lagged that we're still crashing after dinner (although in my class that may be the serious lack of caffeine. Earl grey is just not cutting it. May have to start choking down coffee in the near future. ), so no crazy wild partying yet.