We are Rome! (we aren't Pisa)

Ciao all!  I hope you are all doing well.

So lets see, there is a lot to say.  I went to Rome!  Joey, our roommie Anna and I went with our Baroque class.  I don't know where to start, actually.  It was such a beautiful city-much more a city than Florence.  I love Florence, don't get me wrong, but she is small and in a certain way trying to retain a past that is so far gone that she becomes a fantasy facade hiding filth behind the initial beauty.  I love this about Florence, but Rome is much bigger and busier and real.  

Anyway, can we please talk about all of the great art I saw?!!!  The Caravaggio's I saw were so moving....he is the greatest painter that has ever lived.  The Calling of Saint Matthew was beautiful.  The Matrydom of Saint Matthew is horrific.  It really is.  I stared and stared at it and it was violent and disturbing.  The nude body, just bearing down....I really had a hard time looking at it.  But my favorite was Judith and Holofernes.  Oh my goodness Judith is so beautiful, the whole piece is a punch in the stomach of a painting.  I stood in front of it for about 20 minutes totally transfixed.  And the Bernini sculptures (particularly his Daphne and Apollo) were breathtaking, like powerful poetry in the round.  There were moments where I would look at a Carravaggio and would be unable to move.  I am still so over taken by him and Bernini and completely moved by the power and grace that came out of their hands......

We saw the Roman forum-so amazing!  And we saw the coliseum!  Anna and I are going in two weeks to rome again on our own so we can go in and go to the vatican.  But I touched it!  I touched the coliseum!!!!  and the Pantheon!!! I went in the Pantheon!!!  I went in then just starred at the oculus...it was so freaking beautiful.  Though, all of the tourists walking around and bumping into me really took away from the experience.  It was odd to stand in front of the Forum, to think that this was where everything all began, this was what set everything up for now.  "Empires rise and empires fall" our professor said just as the sky cleared and the sun came out.  I couldn't help but think that America is the Rome of today, and think that some day there would be ruins of ancient America (okay maybe there will be..."look that was a wal-mart!'...how embarrassing)

Katy and I are currently chilling in the kitchen of our apartment, listening to JC Superstar, singing along like loons.  It's pretty fun.  We took the train to Pisa this afternoon.  It rained like crazy, but it was cool to see the leaning tower.  Pisa is weird.  Its really quite boring.  Its the Cathedral and the tower with green space around them, then urban suburbs.  But I love riding on trains; the countryside is so beautiful.  Sometimes I look out the window and feel like I'm in a fairy tale.   

Thats all for now, I want some foodies!

I love and miss you all,

Em