To Southern Italy we go...

Sooo once again time has moved into hyper speed and our third and final class trip is upon us. Dave Shove-Brown arrived safely in Roma after having his first flight cancelled and will be joining us on our trip throughout Southern Italy this week. We are meeting bright and early tomorrow, per usual, at 8am for a 9am train. Through out the next couple days we will be visiting Naples, Capri, and Pompeii, amongst other destinations, and will be returning Friday evening. I think most, if not all of us, are very excited to finally have a trip where we wont have to pack/wear multiple layers and freeze our fingers off sketching. The warm sun will be a nice change of pace (except for those of us who got extremely burnt at the beach on saturday *cough* Justin *cough*).

Speaking of Saturday, this weekend was a very beautiful and restful one. Thursday night, after finishing the second part of our final project, most of us went out to enjoy a couple drinks in Campo. Friday brought with it plenty of sunshine which some of us enjoyed on Tiber Island in the afternoon followed by some shopping, household tasks (laundry), or enjoying our freshly manicured courtyard (and oranges picked by our friendly old man). On Saturday we adventured to the Lido Centro to go to the beach which was pretty nice beach but as mentioned above there were a few casualties of somewhat severe sunburn… I myself was quite rosy/pink but I thank my father for my Native American genes which made my skin less susceptible to burn. Our day on the beach lasted until pretty late and by the time we all got home there was barely enough energy to shower, fix dinner, and check our emails (aka facebook). Most retired for the night pretty early and slept like babies through till the morning.

And that brings us to today, Sunday, the day we all had been waiting for since Wednesday… Roma vs. Juventus night game. Some of the group met Dave for a late lunch/early dinner at Magnolia's (where the owner is a friend but also a Juventus fan) and then met the rest of the group to catch the bus to the stadium.  Our little group was pretty much completely decked out in fresh Roma gear and could've blended in except for the fact that we're still clearly American (or at least NOT Italian) and for the fact that once in the stadium we really didn't know any of the songs, cheers, etc… That is until the Italians around us started teaching us. I cannot, however, repeat the cheers we were taught here for they are far from appropriate or kind. The experience as a whole was amazing and even though Roma lost it was a very good game. Extremely different from US events; in some ways better, in some ways worst, and even a couple things that were a little scary (like when the Juventus fans started throwing exploding things over into the Roma section… Not cool Juventus, J-U_J-U VAF…. oh wait). When the players from AS Roma were being announced the fans followed with the players last name (or only name if they only had one like "Juan") and then before the game started all of the stadium was a wash of Maroon and Orange; everyone with a scarf or flag held them up above their heads as they sang the Roma song. It was beautiful and oh soooo cool. I'll add pictures to this blog when I get back from this trip… I may not have taken pictures of that moment because I was so emersed in it but other people did. 

Backtracking a ton, I will be putting up pictures after the trip from Wednesday for this week. We spent the day at three different sites with Eric and Marina; Chiesa dio Padre Misericordioso (also known as the Jubilee Church), Sports City Calatrava project construction site, and the MACRO Museum. It was a very long but amazing day which I will be sure to post about when I get back!

Ciao for now. Ci vediamo a giovedi. GO ROMA!