Week 2- The Protestant Museum

 British journalist, H.V Morton stated, Rome is both "exhilirating and oppressive for the traveler." I could not agree more with his statement. Before coming to Rome I had many opinions and expectations for the city. Rome has exceeded some of my expectations yet made me feel uncomfortable or "oppressed" in many ways too. Lets see, Rome as a whole has been very beneficial to me. From all of the ancient history such as a Prostestant Cemetery , learning a different language, and beautiful fashion such as Gucci and Burberry everywhere I look has made me less ignorant of the city as a whole.
 Because Rome is an "open-air" museum  almost everything around is an artifact or treasure of some kind of history. Whether it be the 17th, 18th or 19th century Rome is filled with "open air" museums. What us Americans' think of as a museum is not how most museums are at all here. Statues, monuments and buildings that are ancient are all around the city, not confined in one building with four walls and a roof.
 The Protestant Cemetary is a perfect example of an "open-air" museum. Because it was the first cemetary actually inside of Rome that accepted non-catholics it is a huge deal. Looking around and seeing graves such as John Keats dated back to the early 18th century was a real eye-opener of how ancient Rome really is. Even though it may sound weird, roaming old cemetaries has always brought me excitment and grief in the same way. Being excited because I am visiting so many people whom I did not even know and thinking how beautiful the place is. However, grieving because of death in general. Both exhiliration and oppression could have described the feelings I got from the cemetary.
Hearing Italian everywhere has made me a lot more interested in the Italian culture. Once again, I now realize that as a world traveler, it is nessecary to learn the language of other cultures in order to respect them and gain more knowledge of the culture as a whole.  Once again, I feel both oppresive and exhilirating feelings of learning Italian. I get frusterated that learning Italian does not come easy to me. However, I realize that with practice and hard-work I can master some of the basic means of communication. The frusteration captures my emotion most of the time but learning another language can only make me a well-rounded educated traveler.
The only way i can describe the fashion in Rome is unbelievable. It is wonderful that I can wear my clothes from home and feel 100% comfortable. At home I could be considered a "hippie" because I love big comfy clothes with huge bracelets and necklaces and designer sunglasses. However my funky style goes right along with the culture here. On the other hand, Rome is kind of depressing in the fashion sense. It is hard to walk down streets with stores such as Gucci, Burberry, Prada and Chanel without being able to buy anything. In reality, it is evident as a 19 year old girl I shouldn't be able to buy such expensive things. Well at least without the help of my parents wealth. I do not think I would complain if I could though. Once again, fashion is definitly an "open air" museum. Clothing on any person can be considered a personal fashion. Whether it is in or out of style it is still fashion maybe just not fashionable :).
Being in Rome brings all sorts of mixed feelings to me personally. I feel like there are ups and downs to every situation. However, I try to focus more on the ups than the downs. Sure, there have been things such as expensive fashion, feeling bad at walking through a cemetary of noone I know and struggling with learning Italian can only make me a stronger person in the end. After all life is full of ups and downs....what is there to really complain about when I spend every day in such a beautiful ancient city?

Week 1- The Colliseum and Forum

While reading the novel, The Italians by, Luigi Barzini, it becomes evident that he is very bias free. Barzini tries to look at the Italians as a foreigner and an Italian which he is. Upon his ways of "splitting apart" the different people who visit Rome, I believe I fall under the student category. Although I am currently quite ignorant of the Italian culture, art, linguistics, and everything else, I do want to learn and broaden my views of Italy itsself. I now understand how difficult it is for foreigners to enter another country. Especially not knowing the language of their foreign destination.
While some Italians have been very helpful and polite about my lack of Italian language, others have been very distant and even a tad rude at times. Do I blame them for being rude? Not at all. Adminittingly, in the United States, I personally have great frustration dealing with foreign people. It was always my belief to "learn the language" before you visit somewhere. Personally, I have grown to realize "learning the language" is more difficult than expected and to be a student here has graciously given me instruction of others in order to help my language barrier. While studying in Rome, I hope to not only take away all sorts of knowledge including art, history, philosophy and other topics.
Before entering The Colliseum, I was once again not very educated on the the topic including the site and history. I became throughly amused when learning about the dates when The Colliseum was actually used. Especially after I figured out that events were going on about 2,000 years ago. The whole idea of arcitecture lasting that long really blew my mind. Some buildings that were built in the 20th century in America have not even lasted until today. Thinking that over 2,000 years ago, man was smart enough to build buildings makes me wonder how many other things were done and just not left for the history books.
Although The Colliseum amused me in many ways, I got a sense of erie feelings while being inside. Although people are killed in war and I find that very exciting, the fact that men were killed for entertainment really bothered me. Not only were men killed, animals too. Looking at all of the seats in The Colliseum I felt disgusted that so many people were watching and getting amusment out of the torture and killing of others. I realize that the killing of others for entertainment was yet just another fad. It was in 2,000 years ago however, not much today. Although there are dog fighters and other animals used currently, it is not as influental to the public or socially excepted. This makes me feel a lot better because people doing the killings are not getting praise for such things.
The Forum was very appealing to me because of the huge change in the appearance of politics. In America, we do not always put all parts of political branches together in a 'piazza' or center. The whole idea of it really fascinated me. Especially the use of the temples. Temples in the United States are still used in the appearance of political buildings. Knowing that certain architectures have been carried on and built in more modern versions to this day is absolutly crazy.
My world view has changed a lot in the few days I have been here. I have realized that being more open is a better way to be. Being trapped in my United States bubble has restricted my beliefs and values. Being able to struggle with language has only made me a better person. I can now explain myself better by using my hands and speaking slowly. Also, I have learned not to get frusterated when people cannot understand me. Because, personally I cannot understand others who come to the United States. Personally, I have come more worldy by accepting other cultures too. I realize that in Italian culture it is acceptable to drink a glass of wine at dinner, almost at any age. I have also become more protectant of myself by becoming more worldly. I now realize that guarding my personal belongings and keeping myself in safe cities in Rome is very important. Knowing how to be worldly becomes very nessecary in order to adapt to other cultures and respect how they live on a daily basis.