Two Weeks Completed -- For the Most Part.

Tomorrow I will have been in Rome for two weeks -- even though I technically flew out of Atlanta two weeks ago today.. but either way, it's gone by super fast. I'm having a blast and I love it so much here. TOMORROW WE'RE GOING TO POMPEII!! I'm pretty excited about it, if you couldn't tell.. But the worst part is, we won't have wi-fi or internet access while we're there so I won't be able to blog until Sunday evening when we get back. Meeehhhh. 

Today we went to the Museo Nazionale Romano, or the National Museum of Rome, to finish up the Republic of Rome. 

The two bronze sculptures below were found in the baths of Diocletian, which is now where the President's Palace is at. They are both of Greek nature, imported to Rome for some reason. The Greeks were very advanced in being able to capture a moment in time, rather than a still figure.

The Hellenistic Prince.

The Boxer. This one was definitely my favorite of the day. The detailing is so good -- he has cuts, a broken nose, boxing gloves on, his face looks exhausted, and his genitals are wrapped in the cloth they wore during matches. This boxer is a very good example of capturing a moment in time. He's obviously in the middle of a fight, taking a break during the rounds, and pushing through the match. But something catches his attention and he looks up and over his shoulder. It's brilliant how they could capture this in a single bronze statue.

One of the best surviving statues of Augustus. I thought it was interesting that he was never portrayed as aging, always a young man in his twenties.

The fragments of a Roman calendar.

Part of a huge fresco that covered the four walls of a dining room. The house was that of Livia's, Augustus' wife, winter house. 

This mosaic was hanging on the wall where you get your tickets and I had to take a picture because it's absolutely awesome! I love love love it. #futurehouseidea

After class, we headed straight to the beach and I got some sun on my buns. :) By the time we got back, everyone was starving and I think that was the fastest any of us have eaten this whole trip. Dr. Anderson gave us some tips about Pompeii and the Bay of Naples area -- apparently the world's best pickpockets live there.. eekk. But so we set out tomorrow at 7 am, and I can already tell ya that I'll be sleeping a lot of the way. I'm going to miss blogging -- it's become somewhat of a review for me and a way to keep my days in order. But if you check back Sunday night, I'm hoping that I'll have uploaded lots of pictures and stories of how a city was frozen in time. :)