Ja’von Langley ’19 — Ciao da Italy. In my short time, here in Rome with my classmates for Religion 260/Classics 212, I have had the experience of a lifetime. So far, we have visited the Forum Romanum, St. Clemente Basilica, and the Vatican just to name a few. To understand the city of Rome, I have learned from class discussions and my time in the city that Rome likes to look back to their past. Romans thrive off it and reference it through history. Not only do they like referencing their past, the city itself is a city of layers. What I mean by this is that there are several buildings that are built on top of previous buildings. For example, we went to visit the St. Clement Basilica on Monday and it serves as a prime example. It is a 12th century church that is built on top of a 4th century church which is also built on top of a church from the 1st century. Another example of this is a restaurant that is only a couple blocks away where you can walk down the steps of restaurant into the a room where you can see the walls of the Theater of Pompey. Now, I don’t know about you, but there aren’t many times I have been able to walk into a restaurant and walk down a flight of steps to discover important Roman relics and Roman history such as this one.
As from a cultural standpoint, I can also tell you that I might have suffered from a couple of food comas. When I heard that the food here is to die for, I wasn’t quite sure that they were telling me the truth. After a couple of days though, I have found no matter what you order the food is mouthwatering such as wild boar meat I had yesterday. I have also learned, along with the phenomenal food, the important phrase “Permesso” or excuse me in English. It’s important to use so I can weave in and out of the busy traffic at bus stops so that I can’t lose my speedy Professor Dr. Hartnett as he’s racing to the Colosseum.
Thank you to the Alumni, Wabash College, and Professor Hartnett and Nelson for this opportunity
