March 2013
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Day 25: Bruciare
7 July
“I could boast that not a groan or cry of fear escaped me in these perils, but I admit that I derived some poor consolation in my mortal lot from the belief that the whole world was dying with me and I with it.” – Pliny the Younger, on The Destruction of Pompeii, in a letter to his friend Cornelius Tacitus
Today was the day that we left the city for our extended weekend getaway to...
November 2012
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Day 24: Essere Malato
6 July
“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” – Abigail Van Buren
“Visiting a museum is a matter of going from void to void… Museums are tombs, and it looks like everything is turning into a museum.” – Robert Smithson
This morning, we returned to St. Peter’s square again, for part two of our Vatican adventure. Joy. The day before we walked with our group to St....
September 2012
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Day 23: Credere
5 July
“Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies: one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.” – Bertrand Russel
It would happen to me that I lose my phone and then the next day we go to the Catholic Mecca (is that an oxymoron of some sort? Not sure): St. Peter’s Basilica and...
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Day 22: Rubare
4 July
“The art of losing isn’t hard to master/ so many things seem filled with the intent/ to be lost that their loss is no disaster/ Lose something every day. Accept the fluster/ of lost door keys, the hour badly spent./ The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” – Elizabeth Bishop ‘One Art’
It’s odd being somewhere else and celebrating your country’s independence. To be honest, most of us...
August 2012
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Day 21: Riposare
3 July
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.” - Oscar Wilde
I had my alarm set for the god-awful hour of 3:30 AM. I had packed the night before and was pretty much all ready to go. The roommates and I left the hostel on time, with our cab out in front and made our way to the Dublin airport.
My eyes were feeling...
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Day 20: Bere
2 July
“When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served at all the pubs in Dublin.” - J.P. Donleavy (why do I like this quote? I just do. Sorry)
Travelling is incredibly exhausting; that’s pretty much all I did today.
Chelsea and Kayla and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM. We hurriedly got ready and left the hostel about 6:15 AM. We had to go to...
July 2012
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Day 19: Essere o Non Essere?
1 July
“I think that London is very much like that. I find there’s humour in the air and people are interesting. And I think that it’s a place which is constantly surprising. The worst thing about it? I think it can be smug and aggressive.” - Colin Firth
Today, I think, was fairly successful, and definitely worked out much better than the day before, although I...
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Day 18: Explorare
30 June
“They look outside the windows of their apartment in town and realize they’re not living in a terrace anymore. This is a room full of dreamers who like to go to London.” – Johnny Vegas
Our hostel, Clink 78, used to be an old courthouse/local prison. It’s refurbished quite nicely, with bright colors, quotes from famous people painted in swirly hands, and bright red couches. The...
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Day 17: Avere Paura
29 June
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
This day was perhaps one of the craziest days I’ve ever had. Ever.
Because it was the day that I was leaving for London and wasn’t sure of the wifi situation, I got up extra early, about 6:30, to call my parents and let them know how I was doing and my general plans. It was good talking to them and...
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Day 16: Giocare a Calcio
28 June
“It was a cruel city, but it was a lovely one, a savage city, yet it had such tenderness, a bitter, harsh, and violent catacomb of stone and steel and tunneled rock, slashed savagely with light, and roaring, fighting a constant ceaseless warfare of men and of machinery; and yet it was so sweetly and so delicately pulsed, as full of warmth, of passion, and of love, as it was full of...
June 2012
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Day 15: Recitare
27 June
“Roving amiable little soul/ Body’s companion and guest/ Now descending for parts/ Colorless, unbending and bare/ your usual distractions no more shall be there.” – Hadrian, Roman Emperor
Today was field trip day: we ventured early in the morning, via a lovely tour bus (how we love our tour buses, air conditioned and cushioned and perfect for naps) to Tivoli, where Hadrian’s Villa and...
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Day 14: Cucinare
26 June
“When the Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls— the World.” - Lord Byron
Another big day, as always. Today we got up early to venture to the Roman Forum, home of all of the ruins of the old republic and imperial Rome.
At the Forum are many important places, some that I can’t really recall any facts about, but I’ll do my best about what I do know. If you...
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Day 13: Parlare
25 June
“I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren’t certain we knew better.” – George Bird Evans
It’s the start of our second week, and I think I’ve actually started to settle into a routine:
I get up in the morning, anywhere between 7-8:30. I’ll usually text with Bradley as I get ready to go, which is nice. He is just going to bed...
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Day 12: Nuotare
24 June
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen
I needed today. Good God, Lemon, I needed today.
Today was beach day! Hooray! We’d been looking forward to this all week. My lovely roommates woke me up at 9:30, saying they wanted to leave soon, so I scurried around and the three of us, Kendra, Kim, and I (Kathryn wanted to stay home), left around 10 AM...
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Day 11: Disegnare
23 June
“It seem[s] that the unrest around us would not cease that the foreigness lay with the weight of homelessness around us… Rome has an oppressingly sad effect for the first few days… no more than chance remains of another time and of a life that is not and must not be ours…. Finally, after weeks of being daily on the defensive, one finds oneself again, if still somewhat confused, and one...
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Day 10: Predire
22 June
“So you may have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field.” – Sibyl Trelawney, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Let me just say: I’m so fucking tired of Etruscans (do you notice the internal...
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Day 9: Morire
21 June
“So he gazed into the hot liver, but these fields and regions were those of the red, shining consciousness that runs through the whole animal creation. And therefore it must contain the answer to his own blood’s question.” – D.H. Lawrence Etruscan Places
This. Day.
It certainly wasn’t something else, and it’s not even over yet. It was another early day for us—we were to meet at the...
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Day 8: Scrivere
20 June
“The true poetry of Rome lived in its institutions; for whatever of beautiful, true, and majestic, they contained, could have sprung only from the faculty which creates the order in which they consist.” – Percy Blysshe Shelley, from A Defense of Poetry
Today, thank goodness, only seemed like one day. Actually, perhaps more like two days. Nevertheless, it was much easier than the day...
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Day 7: Attraversare
19 June
“As you set out for Ithaka, hope your road is a long one, full of discovery. Hope your road is a long one. May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time.” - CP Cavafy Ithaka
Rebecca says that a single day in Rome is more like one week, and I have to say that that aptly sums up this day. I...
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Day 6: Guardare
18 June
“For that reason you can’t write with music playing, and anyone who says he can is either writing badly, or not listening to music, or lying. You need to hear what you are writing, and for that you need silence.” – Philip Pullman
Today was the last day of orientations. We got up around 8, finished some of our homework, and made breakfast. Kendra made eggs and I made bacon, while Kim...
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Day 5: Perdersi
17 June
“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” – Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost
Usually, Sunday’s are a day of rest, but today was an exception. Our wonderful instructors led us on an optional trip to an Italian Flea Market in Trastevere, the main...
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Day 4: Orientarsi
16 June
“If you are at Rome live in the Roman style; if you are elsewhere live as they live elsewhere.” – Saint Ambrose
I must say, I definitely slept better last night than the night before in the hostel. It was much quieter and our room was at a good temperature. Our apartment has air conditioning in one bedroom, Kim and Catherine’s, and in the main living area, where I am right now. So...
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Day 3: Trovare
15 June
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things—air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky—all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
Another long day. I am exhausted.
As it frequently happens...
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Days 1 & 2: Viaggiare
13 June
14 June
“Rome became my home as soon as I saw it. I was born that moment. That was my real birthday.” – Federico Fellini
So I don’t know if I’m really going to keep up with recording everything like this, but I figure I might as well give it a shot, anyway. I’ll be writing something, one way or another, whether or not I post it here.
The past two days are already blurring...
I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow.
And I am much more scared than I thought I would be.
What ever happened to being fearless?
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I suppose this used to happen quite often:
James: Lily?
Lily: Mmmm
James: I may have wrapped Harry in my invisibility cloak for his nap...and now I can't find him.
Lily:
James:
Lily:
James:
Lily:
James: ...but I swear, the last time I saw him he was somewhere in the room.
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Resident Advising in Review
It’s weird to think that in a week, not only will I be done with my junior year of college, but I will be done being an RA as well. I feel like being an RA has somehow become engrained in my identity, not as a student, but as a person, as well. I can’t help but think that’s a little pathetic, and yet at the same time, unsurprising. This job has been a huge part of my life over...
May 2012
48 posts
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The Opposite of Loneliness →
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"For every Yeti there is an equally yeti Yeti...
Can I please just write a bitchy post and just say that witnessing the Yeti Code in real life is unbearable to one’s eyes.
I mean, part of me is glad, because it leaves all of the non-Yetis out there (Hemsworth Brothers, Chris Evans, Josh Hutcherson, and the like) to all of us other non-Yetis. There is nothing sadder than when you see a Yeti settling for a non-Yeti.
BUT STILL.
This is...
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I know it’s like, two weeks too late, but I just saw The Avengers and it was worth waiting so I could watch the other five movies before it.
Poor Brad, sitting next to me, while I went through a roller coaster of feeeeels and emotions! His poor hand. His poor, poor hand.
I could go on and fangirl about every important scene and such, but I will refrain. I will just say that I love it,...
