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| Floor bricks we separated at the dig and put in formation |
When I came home from the vast adventure of Fall Break, I really needed a little me-time, so I decided to go to the new Van Gogh exhibit that was showing at the National Museum in Piazza Venezia (right near the Coliseum). My school (University of Richmond) reimburses me for "cultural events" that I clear in advance, so I basically "booked" myself some time there. It was so interesting to see all of Van Gogh's work in one place! Well, almost all of his works. Starry Night was missing! That was a bit of a let down, but other than that it was really kind of...grown-up to go to a museum by myself. I know that sounds corny, but thats how it felt. The exhibit was amazing, with so much that I had never seen by him, from paintings from Van Gogh's time in the Netherlands, to the complete change in artistic style when he moved to impressionistic Paris.
Despite an extremely boring start to my internship, things got pretty fun and interesting in the last few weeks of my time there. Of course, a lot of the best stuff came after I had already turned in my field journal for the course that went along with the internship itself, but oh well. We finally were able to power-wash the pottery, which made things go A LOT faster, both the time and the actual work itself. It was also pretty amusing. I was also taught how to label the individual pieces of pottery, bricks, and miscellaneous pieces of clay using a fountainpen (sooo hard to write with), making sure to keep the material from different parts of the dig separate. I also learned, along with two other interns Sam and Rosalie, how to separate how different kinds of building materials, and we were entrusted with placing them in different containers, and making new labels, and putting together possible formations of them. When you think that these materials, like stone from floors, and different kinds of tiles for roofs, were buried within the Mausoleum (which itself was built 2000 years ago), it just makes things all the cooler, and makes it so much more important. If we know what they were using at the time of building the Mausoleum, we can use that information to date a lot of other construction materials that have been found at other sites just like ours. There really is so much we can learn from them. A friend of mine from school who is studying in Perugia (about 3 hours by train from Rome) this semester came to Rome on a class trip a few weekends ago, and I was able to spend a little time with her. It was so crazy to think that we were in Rome hanging out! It was also nice to get out of my routine here--it is so easy to think "home-school-grocery store-home" and not get out of that mould, so when people visit, it really is the best. We ended up going to the biggest Jewish temple in Rome, and going on a tour of the Jewish Museum. The history of Jews in Rome is a long and sad one, and it felt good to finally learn more about the people that make up a pretty significent portion of the city population. I've shared this city with them, so it was about time I learn a little bit more about how they came to be in the situation they are in, or have been in.
Thanksgiving in Rome was so much fun! While it was sad not be with the people I am normally with during this holiday, it was good nonetheless. We made a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner with about 13 of us, a mix of Americans and Italians. I cooked apple crisp (a first for me, it was actually pretty good!), there was turkey and all of the fixings, candied yams, asparagus, and of course, pumpkin pie. It was great to get together, and really appreciate our time in Rome, and be thankful for everything I have been able to do during my time here.
I'm not sure if Italy's current political state has hit the new stations in the United States, but yesterday was an absolutely crazy day in Rome. Berlusconi, the Prime Minister and pretty much the head of government, had a vote of non-confidence called against him by people from his own party. The vote was yesterday, and ended in him winning "confidence" by 3 votes. THREE VOTES. The final count was 314 against 311. Really, Italians? Immediately after the vote, there were aleady allegations that Berlusconi had bought votes, which is pretty easy to understand and accept, but I'm sure that will never be proved. While there have been protests throughout Rome and Italy (but mainly Rome) against new education bills that the government is trying to pass these past few weeks, yesterday there was a demonstration of more than 50,000 people already planned to protest against the current government. When the news the Berlusconi had somehow passed the vote, and that the government would not fall as some had hoped, the protests turned into violent riots, and the center of Rome was pure mayhem. My school, which I was thankfully not at, was vandalised amidst the rioters (as students were blocked inside) by protesters with baseball bats. They ended up breaking the front door, and painting graffiti all over the building, along with a lot of buildings in that area. Piazza del Popolo was locked down after a couple of cars were set on fire. There was tear-gas, 1,500 police, and angry protesters who were absolutely out of control. Just another day in paradise, right?
Despite all that, I will always love Rome. How could I not? Maybe just not Berlusconi...I wish I had more pictures for you guys but the upload process is taking forever! Ciao and see you soon!!
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