Time is starting to fly by!

02/21/11, 02/22/11, 02/23/11, 02/24/11

     Another week in the great city of Rome again flew by with the blink of an eye. With the week came a couple tests and a couple visitors. On Tuesday, our Layers of Rome class traveled to two sister churches in Rome, Santa Prudenzia and Santa Prassede where we discussed Roman mosaics and the proper way to interpret them. While there, it was very interesting to see how much the mosaic style changed over the centuries considering one church was constructed in the 6^th century and one in the 10^th century. 

Santa Prudenzia

Mosaic at Santa Prudenzia

Mosaic at Santa Prassede

     The following day, Wednesday, was a day of exams. First, the wine test, which may sound easy, but is actually much more difficult than you would first think! Trying to learn every detail about how wine is made, the various regions each grape comes from, the regions of Italy, and labels is a very complex task. However, I found the material fascinating making it much easier to try to study for. Our other exam was in Italian and so far this has been my favorite class because it comes easier after taking Spanish all these years so not much studying has to go in for those exams. The day of class concluded with a guest speaker who is the marketing director of a major TV station in Rome, the one we are going to visit next Friday! His presentation was interesting, but after a morning filled with exams, we weren’t the happiest campers cooped up in the same classroom for another two hours! Ashley’s parents arrived on Wednesday as well so we got a chance to see them for awhile and chat with them. Although it’s not the same as having your own family here, it’s always nice to see familiar faces from back home! 

     Thursday was a quick day of class, always a pleasant feeling. Thursday night we went to a bar called Dee Jay Bar where we had already been several times, but this was the first time we had the true experience of this bar. It is known for a drink called the “Spaceship” and myself and four others split it. It was a very fun night and thankfully we didn’t stay out too late so I was able to get a decent night’s sleep before a long weekend in Paris!