Roma If You Want To: Birthday a la Roma

Topped off 22 with a week full of visits to ancient sites (both in and out of Rome), and kicked off 23 with birthday cake and the warmest February weather I’ve ever seen.

On Thursday I ventured inside of the Colosseum and explored the Roman Forums with my class, learning all about the history of Gladiators and the significance of the Forum as one of the earliest formalized public spaces. We climbed to the top of the Palatine Hill to peer down at the ruins of what is thought to have been the hut of Romulus--the sort of, kind of, might-have-been founder of Rome.

This weekend we field tripped to Pompeii and Paestum, two sites of city ruins that date back to the 6^th and 7^th centuries BC. On Friday we clambered through the ancient streets of Pompeii, checking out the homes, baths, theaters, and stadiums that are still surprisingly in tact, thanks to the volcanic ash that covered the city for centuries before its re-discovery and excavation in the 1700s.

After Pompeii, we bussed to Paestum, catching a huge sunset over the Amalfi Coast and views to Capri (where I’ll be in less than a week!) on the way. We settled in to our beach-front hotel in Paestum and watched the crazy Californians dive into the fa-reeezinggg Mediterranean Sea before heading off to a restaurant for a big group dinner. Throughout the meal, a band which consisted of a couple of accordions and a mishmash of other funny little instruments along with four belting voices walked through the restaurant, playing catchy, happy music that (with a little help of a lot of wine) got most of us dancing between the tables with a goofy crowd of German tourists. Back at our hotel, we had a bonfire on the beach…with more wine, chilly beach air, and good company.

All day Saturday we visited the ruins of Paestum, where three Greek-style temples from 650-ish BC remain almost entirely intact since they happen to stand on a shock-absorbing plate of earth that has protected them from centuries of earthquakes that have destroyed surrounding ancient sites. The immense size of the temples was absolutely stunning, and the thought of them standing upright for 3000 years is mind-bogglingly insane.

Back home in Rome, I spent Sunday just hanging out and doing a little birthday shopping for myself. Last night, ABCD (Angel, Brian, Colin, and David--the Woodbury guys who live upstairs) cooked dinner for me and Marissa, who conveniently shares my same birthday, complete with a to-die-for chocolate gelato cake—think Carvel icecream cake, only wayyyy better--Yum!, and an hour of watching ridiculous YouTube videos. Nothing like ‘Chubby Kid dancing to LMFAO’ to make you feel 23...

I am leaving for Capri this Sunday where I'll be spending a week participating in a design workshop with a bunch of international architecture graduate students and hiking around the island with Eric, my PSU classmate and fellow-adventurer. From there I'll be heading to the Amalfi Coast for a week of spring break with Marissa...ooooo baby!