Rommma

Overview: We just returned from our traveling seminar where we were gone for 6 days, the first half spent in Rome the off to Catania in Sicily. We had class everyday we were there, and we did a walking tour covering everything from the Colosseum to the Vatican to the Pantheon and even a private tour of the Government Building. Rome is amazing, very different than Siena or Florence. Everything around you seems to be an ancient ruin when you are in the heart of the city. The skyline is gorgeous - speckled with domes, crumbling columns and more vegetation than I had seen in any major city. The majority of the time we were there it rained but it was still great!

Night life: The first night I met up with my Bowdoin friends Chris, DJ and Kaitlin. We went out to a fabulous dinner on Gnocchi Thursdays, followed by one too many servings of Limoncello, then met up at a night club with a bunch of other Bowdoin kids who are also studying in rome or came for the weekend - it was great to have a huge reunion (the pic with all the people).

Art: We saw a Caravaggio exhibit which was AMAZING!!! He was a Baroque artist who reinvented the use of dramatic lighting. How the exhibit was set up was the rooms were almost completely dark except for several spot lights on each painting that mirrored the light sources in the painting. The other art highlight was the Sistine Chapel - after taking Art of Renaissance Italy last semester where we spent a week of class discussion and then writing my final paper on the ceiling, it was so cool to actually see the frescos in person!