I’ve been here for almost a month and I’m beginning to feel at home here (or at least a little less foreign). Upon meeting my Italian professor the first week, something she said really stuck with me:
“The Italians are a very visual people, and do everything in a way that remains very humanistic. Take Rome for example; everything is constructed within human measure, the buildings are not larger than life as they are in New York, they are made to be visually strong, but in proportion to human life.”
This was totally something I didn’t realize until she said it, but I’ve thought about it everyday since I’ve been here. Everything in New York makes you feel rather small and insignificant (which for me, adds a certain charm to the city) but here, everything is meant to be beautiful to the human eye in a way that they feel as if they are almost an integral part of everything that happens. This is the life that the piazzas have as well. This is where people meet up to make plans, share a cigarette and talk or listen to live music. I think this is a really interesting aspect of the city itself, the piazzas were and remain the center of town/various neighborhoods. It’s been engrained in the dialogue of the city and in the DNA of Italians. It’s downright charming.
Something else I noticed immediately and forgot to mention: Italians seem to have a different view of the professional space. This was my first observation upon arriving in the country because as my driver drove a bus full of us to the residence, he was also talking to four different people on the phone. Keep in mind, this is an individual who was hired by the University to safely transport us to where we needed to be. I just got the feeling that in the US that could have been walking the fine line of lawsuit had something happened. The second taste I got of this was that one of the porters at the residence seemed to be having a lovers quarrel with his significant other behind the front desk. A heated, angry conversation behind the official desk of his workplace…like while on duty…at work…was arguing…with his girlfriend. That would have been like a huge no at home. Also every single store I walk into here (unless it is a place to eat) the employees are on their phone, and don’t really acknowledge you until you speak to them. In the states, you have a greeter at the door who is annoying as hell (but attentive nonetheless), and unless it’s an emergency you shouldn’t be on your phone while working.
Across the street there is a lovely American woman who runs the Tabbacchi with her husband Paolo (LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE ANYONE?! I MEAN , COME ON). She was a student in Rome back in the 90s and fell in love with this man whom she then decided to marry and have kids with…and now they live here. She’s become our adopted mom of sorts, it’s just really nice to talk to someone else who is from the US, who was in the same situation we were in but took a different path. She was able to help us with some Rome hacks to make the transition easier and offered some laughs and little tidbits of her family life here. Well yesterday, Kelsey and I stopped in to buy some metro tickets and she was explaining to us that one of her neighbors had recognized her from her morning smoke on the balcony every morning. Her and this man had began talking, formed a friendship, and now they frequent the local café every morning. A little backstory, her husband was born and raised on this block, so everyone knows him and (upon seeing his wife and this new man-friend get coffee every morning) people started to talk. She had to explain to her husband that they were just friends before he heard it through neighborhood gossip. The funniest part of this was she said, very lightheartedly and with a chuckle “Jesus I couldn’t have an affair even if I wanted to!” Not that cheating is any different here than in the states, but this idea of little communities that have lived for generations in the same neighborhood and are involved in everyone’s business seem a little more intense than they do at home.
Fruit just grows on trees here…as in like I can walk down the street and there is an organge tree above my head, and if I continue another block there’s a lemon tree. So that’s pretty awesome.
My Week:
Sunday we went to the Vatican (see the Vatican post) because there’s just too much to say about that in one post.
Classes were better this week (mostly because I was prepared to deal with my long Wednesday classes). My last Thursday class, is a session dedicated to excursions for a Galleries and Studios class I’m taking. This week we went to the MAXXI which is one of Rome’s contemporary art museums. It was definitely more industrial looking than the contemporary museums I’m used to frequenting, but interesting nonetheless. Temple’s art gallery works closely with the MAXXI and we primarily went to view the Iranian artist exhibition that was on display. The collection of chosen artists were interesting because they are a group of young Iranian artists who had studied at the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome, which is a prestigious classical art school. Many of said artists have stayed in Rome and their work speaks to the struggles/experiences/interests as Iranian born, but individuals that are heavily influenced by the Western art institutions and education systems.
I met with Paulo and Guillaume on Thursday to discuss the parameters of my internship with their gallery and I start Tuesday. Their just the nicest people, and made us feel really at home. Guillaume is French and Paulo is Argentinian, and their little dog Igloo inhabits the gallery space too as he bounces around and plays with his tennis ball or curls up at Guillaume’s feet. Being that Guillaume is French, he doesn’t do the whole espresso thing, and offered us (basically) American coffee which was a lovely, LARGE cup of black coffee and I felt right at home.
Yesterday Kelsey’s friends from high school arrived from Paris and we got dinner at Gaillo Brillo which is a very delicious (very affordable) ristorante not too far from our housing. We then went downtown to get gelato and meander towards the Pantheon down these darling side roads fully equipped with string lights, cheese, bicycles and cafès.
I felt I should end this entry with another sentiment from my Italian professor who told us: “There is a difference between existing, and being.” I carried this with me this week, and tried my hardest to communicate in Italian, switch up my route to school/work, and interact with the people in this city. I think that’s something I will continue with whenever I feel homesick or bored. I need to be a part of the experience and not just exist in it.
To conclude: The absolute highlight of my week was finding a restaurant with Penne ala Vodka because that’s apparently not a thing in Rome. I mean, the Vatican was cool and all but…Penne ala Vodka.
“The Italians are a very visual people, and do everything in a way that remains very humanistic. Take Rome for example; everything is constructed within human measure, the buildings are not larger than life as they are in New York, they are made to be visually strong, but in proportion to human life.”
This was totally something I didn’t realize until she said it, but I’ve thought about it everyday since I’ve been here. Everything in New York makes you feel rather small and insignificant (which for me, adds a certain charm to the city) but here, everything is meant to be beautiful to the human eye in a way that they feel as if they are almost an integral part of everything that happens. This is the life that the piazzas have as well. This is where people meet up to make plans, share a cigarette and talk or listen to live music. I think this is a really interesting aspect of the city itself, the piazzas were and remain the center of town/various neighborhoods. It’s been engrained in the dialogue of the city and in the DNA of Italians. It’s downright charming.
Something else I noticed immediately and forgot to mention: Italians seem to have a different view of the professional space. This was my first observation upon arriving in the country because as my driver drove a bus full of us to the residence, he was also talking to four different people on the phone. Keep in mind, this is an individual who was hired by the University to safely transport us to where we needed to be. I just got the feeling that in the US that could have been walking the fine line of lawsuit had something happened. The second taste I got of this was that one of the porters at the residence seemed to be having a lovers quarrel with his significant other behind the front desk. A heated, angry conversation behind the official desk of his workplace…like while on duty…at work…was arguing…with his girlfriend. That would have been like a huge no at home. Also every single store I walk into here (unless it is a place to eat) the employees are on their phone, and don’t really acknowledge you until you speak to them. In the states, you have a greeter at the door who is annoying as hell (but attentive nonetheless), and unless it’s an emergency you shouldn’t be on your phone while working.
Across the street there is a lovely American woman who runs the Tabbacchi with her husband Paolo (LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE ANYONE?! I MEAN , COME ON). She was a student in Rome back in the 90s and fell in love with this man whom she then decided to marry and have kids with…and now they live here. She’s become our adopted mom of sorts, it’s just really nice to talk to someone else who is from the US, who was in the same situation we were in but took a different path. She was able to help us with some Rome hacks to make the transition easier and offered some laughs and little tidbits of her family life here. Well yesterday, Kelsey and I stopped in to buy some metro tickets and she was explaining to us that one of her neighbors had recognized her from her morning smoke on the balcony every morning. Her and this man had began talking, formed a friendship, and now they frequent the local café every morning. A little backstory, her husband was born and raised on this block, so everyone knows him and (upon seeing his wife and this new man-friend get coffee every morning) people started to talk. She had to explain to her husband that they were just friends before he heard it through neighborhood gossip. The funniest part of this was she said, very lightheartedly and with a chuckle “Jesus I couldn’t have an affair even if I wanted to!” Not that cheating is any different here than in the states, but this idea of little communities that have lived for generations in the same neighborhood and are involved in everyone’s business seem a little more intense than they do at home.
Fruit just grows on trees here…as in like I can walk down the street and there is an organge tree above my head, and if I continue another block there’s a lemon tree. So that’s pretty awesome.
My Week:
Sunday we went to the Vatican (see the Vatican post) because there’s just too much to say about that in one post.
Classes were better this week (mostly because I was prepared to deal with my long Wednesday classes). My last Thursday class, is a session dedicated to excursions for a Galleries and Studios class I’m taking. This week we went to the MAXXI which is one of Rome’s contemporary art museums. It was definitely more industrial looking than the contemporary museums I’m used to frequenting, but interesting nonetheless. Temple’s art gallery works closely with the MAXXI and we primarily went to view the Iranian artist exhibition that was on display. The collection of chosen artists were interesting because they are a group of young Iranian artists who had studied at the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome, which is a prestigious classical art school. Many of said artists have stayed in Rome and their work speaks to the struggles/experiences/interests as Iranian born, but individuals that are heavily influenced by the Western art institutions and education systems.
I met with Paulo and Guillaume on Thursday to discuss the parameters of my internship with their gallery and I start Tuesday. Their just the nicest people, and made us feel really at home. Guillaume is French and Paulo is Argentinian, and their little dog Igloo inhabits the gallery space too as he bounces around and plays with his tennis ball or curls up at Guillaume’s feet. Being that Guillaume is French, he doesn’t do the whole espresso thing, and offered us (basically) American coffee which was a lovely, LARGE cup of black coffee and I felt right at home.
Yesterday Kelsey’s friends from high school arrived from Paris and we got dinner at Gaillo Brillo which is a very delicious (very affordable) ristorante not too far from our housing. We then went downtown to get gelato and meander towards the Pantheon down these darling side roads fully equipped with string lights, cheese, bicycles and cafès.
I felt I should end this entry with another sentiment from my Italian professor who told us: “There is a difference between existing, and being.” I carried this with me this week, and tried my hardest to communicate in Italian, switch up my route to school/work, and interact with the people in this city. I think that’s something I will continue with whenever I feel homesick or bored. I need to be a part of the experience and not just exist in it.
To conclude: The absolute highlight of my week was finding a restaurant with Penne ala Vodka because that’s apparently not a thing in Rome. I mean, the Vatican was cool and all but…Penne ala Vodka.