Category: Three Months in Rome 2001
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Last Week in Rome 2001 Edition
GRAZIE E ARRIVEDERCI Thank you and Goodbye. This is the phrase printed on the bottom of every receipt you get in Italy. It seemed somehow fitting as I bid farewell to my ancient city. Writing my final dispatch from Rome was almost impossible. What could I possibly say to wrap up this adventure? That last…
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Festa del Ringraziamento 2001
During the week of Thanksgiving, folks back home were having their Festa del Ringraziamento. Back here in Rome, we were having our own festival, an international party of foods from our home countries. The international festival at school was a party to which we are all asked to share typical dishes from our own countries.…
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Sempre Diritto Part Three 2001
During this week, sempre diritto reared its head once again. Literally, it means “always straight” or, straight ahead. Italians often say this when you ask for directions. It signifies to me that I am lost. I had a revelation: getting lost is una metafora per la vita. It is not so much that we have…
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Florence Trip with Friends 2001
OUR VISIT TO FLORENCE This week it was clearly time for me to visit this Tuscan city of Michelangelo, Dante, and leather jackets. And so, my friends and I hopped onto the Eurostar and headed to the sepia city of Firenze. We didn’t need our tour books for this visit, because one of my favorite…
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Due Ragazze from Marion Street
Two girls from Marion Street in Albany, Oregon, together in Rome. My best friend from childhood visited me with her family during my tenth week. It was, without doubt, my best week in Italy. I have known this woman since I was three years old. When Sandy found out I was coming to Rome, she decided, on…
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Venice through My Eyes (2001)
I am not the first person to write about this magical, mysterious, and dark city which I visited in my ninth week. And though I was bowed by my own audacity, I still gave it a try. You remember that scene in “Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy steps out of the house? That is exactly…
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Sempre Diritto Redux (2001)
Italy is beautiful, fabulous, and embraces a much different way of life. It is also a country most maddening, with its own share of quirks. Read on. Sempre Diritto, “straight ahead.” You may recall that in Calabria whenever I asked for directions, I was told sempre diritto. In Week eight, I got my revenge when…
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Rome, 2001: Bridging the Halfway Mark
In this city of many bridges, I realized that I had crossed a very important bridge. Week seven marked the latter half of my stay here in Rome, and that sharpened my experiences. My seventh week in Rome began with an excursion to the Roman flea market called Porta Portese. I went with my padrona a…
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Trip to the Villa 2001
One of my best friends here took me for an excursion outside of Rome. A Dane and former Lutheran minister, he is in Italy studying to be a Catholic priest. My friend Gregers is living in the English College in Rome, where he is staying while he studies for the priesthood. The college was built…
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Week Six 2001: Ballare sul Tavola
BALLARE SUL TAVOLO (Dancing on the Table) Starting Week Six, the U.S. started bombing. I realized that Bin Laden is really fighting his war with words of terror, not airplanes. I decided that I would not let him win by making me afraid. So, I went dancing. One of my best friends in Rome is a…