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. :) 

Extreme Roman Street Crossing Behavior.

You're probably wondering why this post is titled "Extreme Roman Street Crossing Behavior"... Well you see, ever since the second day here, Dr. Anderson likes to yell out something similar to this phrase when we're about to cross the street. The Italians drive like crazy people and don't slow down for anything, unless it's like a huge group of people clumped up tightly and crossing the street in a timely fashion. So we don't get separated or ran over, he'll yell this out and of course, it makes us all laugh and then actually pay attention to what we're doing/where we're going. I've been meaning to title a post this for awhile now, so I decided today would be a good day as any. 
Anyways, today we saw some more of Rome as a Republic.

This is a seating portion of the Circus Maximus. Believe it or not, this horse/chariot racing arena held more people than the Colosseum did -- 110,000-150,000 people as compared to 50,000-55,000 people. Crazy, I know. Also, this Circus held all of the martyrdoms that took place, with many historical documents backing this up. And you would think the Colosseum held them too, but it didn't. There is not a single document that records a martyrdom in the Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum).

This is just a picture looking down the spina of the arena, which is just a dividing barrier between the turning posts.

The Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin floor. This pattern is called cosmatesque -- I think I may have mentioned it before. But the Cosmati family were the main practitioners of this style and further enhanced an older version from classical antiquity by adding spoliated pieces of colored glass. 

La Bocca della Verità, or the Mouth of Truth, is in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin. It is said that if you tell a lie while your hand is in its mouth, it would be bitten off.

Originally thought as the Round Temple of Vesta, this is actually the Temple of Hercules Victor in the Forum Boarium. It has 20 columns encircling a small temple -- 11 of which are fine, imported Greek marble, and the remaining 9 being that of Italian marble. Some speculate that this is the result of serious damage and instead of importing more Greek marble, the Romans used a similar, cheaper marble.

The facing of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, or manly fortune, just finished reconstruction and refurbishing months ago. It was built in the late 2nd century BC in the Ionic order and overlooked the Port Tiberinus, where the god Portunas overlooked things coming in from Ostia.

The Tiber Island, since antiquity, has been associated with healing.

Basilica of Saint Bartholomew on the Island. Since the Tiber Island is associated with healing and medicine, they constructed a church and dedicated it to Saint Bartholomew, who is also associated with medicine and hospitals. Oh and there is a hospital on the island too. I'm tellin' ya, these Romans truly believed in their gods.. even to this day the idea of coming to the island to get better still exists.

Just getting a few more floor designs for my future house. :) But this is the floor in San Crisogono, a church in the Trastevere region in Rome, dedicated to the martyr Saint Chrysogonus. 

The beautiful ceiling depicting the Virgin Mary's assumption into Heaven.

I don't know if you can tell or not, but I'm semi-obsessed with the cosmatesque style of flooring. #futurehouseideas

The apse of San Crisogono. 

After today's little excursion, a few of us girls had planned to drop off our laundry at the Laundromat and then go shopping; however, we got back to the hotel and all passed out. I'm still not sure why this tends to happen almost every day! But before we all took our naps, we tried to go over some notes and compile them all into one document -- I think we did this for about ten or fifteen minutes, then gave up. My nap was awesome, my laundry got done, and my belly is full from dinner -- a successful day in my book.

Tomorrow we are going to the beach after class, and I'm soooo excited to get my Mediterranean tan on. :) And then on Friday, Pompeii bound! Eeekkk!! :D

Pizza & Beer for Lunch? Yes, Please.

I didn't blog yesterday because we didn't go out on a little class adventure. Woke up at 7:20, took a shower and got ready, ate breakfast, and then found out that we weren't leaving the hotel for class because it was supposed to rain all day. So then he chose to start class at 10 and I just sat in my bed, literally had nothing to do. It did clear up though and a few of us girls ventured out around our neighborhood and found a supermarket and a post office -- I'd call it a successful day.
Despite yesterday's weather, today was beautiful. We did some of Republican Rome -- went to Campus Martius and walked around where Pompey's Theater used to stand. 

The remains of four temples in the Campus Martius. A "campus" was just a public park area with small temples and dedications.

The ceiling/dome of the San Andreas Della Valle Church. It's the second largest dome in the city of Rome, the first being the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

This is a replica of Pompey's Theater. It was said to have held up to 11,000 people at one time. Sadly, this theater is now under 8+ blocks of modern Rome. I personally think they should tear down all the buildings that now sit on top of it, excavate the remains, and rebuild it to it's former glory. 

Fontana Monumentale delle Tartarugha, or better known as The Turtle Fountain.

Porticus Octavia. 

The Temple of Apollo.

The Theatre of Marcellus was built in 13 BC and could originally hold up to 11,000 people. Now it has become an apartment complex, where one apartment went for 8 million euros last summer.. Oh and the owner of Fiat has an apartment there.

After class, someone had a great idea to grab some pizza and a beer. I tried my first Italian beer today at Mercato, and it was alright.. definitely something different. 

When we were done stuffing our faces, we went through the marketplace they set up daily in the Piazza Fiore and found some good ideas for gifts to bring back to people. Can't wait to go shopping for peopleeee! Oh and I may or may not have taken a two and a half hour nap when we got back.. whoops. Don't judge. Walking around all morning really does wear you out. After dinner and just chillin' and hangin' out, we decided to go see the Spanish Steps at night. Once we got there, we kind of got hustled pretty hard. These guys were just walking up and down the steps trying to sell you stuff, and we were pretty good at saying no until this one guy... He's from Bangladesh -- I know this because that was one of a few lines he knew how to say in English -- and he likes to tie bracelets on your arm and then make you feel guilty for not giving him a euro.. So needless to say, Katrina, Cristina, Katie, Kelly, and myself now all have matching bracelets. Yayyy, middle school again! 

Sun's Out, Guns Out.

I am continuously falling in love with Italy. Forum Friday was pretty nifty --

I saw some pretty flowers on the Palatine Hill.

This is a reconstruction done of what archaic Rome is said to look like according to remains and writings from various writers. The huts are very Etruscan-like, which shows that the Romans/people that lived there were heavily influenced by them.

These are three remaining columns of a temple dedicated to Castor and Pollux. These gods are originally Greek, so it's strange they hold a temple in one of the most important places during anitquity. It's said that in order for them to become "Romanized," the gods appeared in the forum one day announcing that Rome had won the battle they were currently at. The victory was confirmed, and the gods were deemed Roman.

The Temple of Saturn. 

The famous Capitoline Wolf -- this she-wolf rescued and cared for Romulus and Remus after they were thrown into the Tiber River by their great uncle, Amulius, who had usurped the thrown from the twins grandfather, Numitor.

Sun's out, guns out Saturday on the beach in Ostia. It was such a great decision --

We went to a private beach for 8 euros. It wasn't that bad because they set out chairs for us, it was pretty nice, there wasn't a lot of people, and we only got asked to buy things a few times rather than a million times..

Obsessed with the rocks. Can't wait to use these for something cool.

Sunday fun-day... at the Vatican. Every month they have a free day to get in the museum and guess what.?! Today was free. But of course that means it was superrrr crowded.

Apoxyomenos the "Scraper" -- he is a Greek athlete who is scraping sweat and dust from his arm with a tool called a strigil. 

Laocoon is a Greek and Roman mythological figure represented in many epics. Here he is wrestling with two serpents that were sent to kill him and his sons for warning the Trojans against accepting the Trojan horse from the Greeks.

Julius Caesar!

School of Athens by Raphael. 

I may or may not have snuck this picture.. but it's Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam!" Soo excited to snap this one.

My first complete weekend in Rome was so much fun. I love it here and I'm having a blast. So thank you again to all those who made it possible for me to come here. It truly has been a dream come true thus far! :)

Oh and I must give credit to Brandon for the phrase, "sun's out, guns out." It makes me laugh and I like to steal all of his cute little sayings, of course.