Rome Week 6 (GL 350)

The first chapter of The Talented Mr. Ripley is filled, in my mind, with apprehension.  Tom Ripley doesn’t know if he wants to go to Italy for Mr. Greenleaf to retrieve Richard.  On top of that Tom doesn’t really know who he is as a person, a theme that plays out further into the book.  With that, I think back to the day we left for Italy.  We all gathered in the David Center at Walsh and sat in apprehension, fear and excitement.  We didn’t know what to expect from this country, we only knew about what others’ had told us and what we’ve learned from books.  Now, we’re in week seven of our eight week journey and reflecting on what we were expecting from Italy and realizing that some things we heard of were spot on and others still, were completely unexpected or not what we were told and still more we find new things that we get to create our own opinions of. 

The other thing that Tom Ripley makes me think of is our series of firsts here in Italy.  The book describes Tom’s first time seeing the leaning tower of Pisa.  It was a time of awe-inspiring and mesmerizing glory that he saw this landmark that he’d only ever heard of.  Our first time into Rome we were going to see the Colosseum, we literally walked off the metro and out of the station and there it was.  I remember my mouth literally dropping open.  It was a moment that I’ll never forget and a feeling that I couldn’t forget even if it tried.  Katie and I had another moment like that in London, England.  We got off the Tube at the stop where Big Ben was supposed to be and we walked off the train and to the bottom of a set of stairs to exit.  We both stopped and looked at each other and said in unison, “This is going to be a Colosseum moment…” and we took out our cameras and it was.  It was amazing and perfect in all its glory.  We soaked it in and just stared, mouths open for a long time.  And even after we passed it we kept turning around to make sure it was still there. 

The Talented Mr. Ripley also describes Tom’s first time on the train and the bus.  On the bus Tom was surrounded by a man who smelled and a gaggle of girls who smelled worse.  I can attest to that.  Our first time on the 64 bus wasn’t a pleasant or forgetful moment.  We were all crammed in like sardines.  My face was very close to some man’s armpit and I don’t think he used deodorant that day or any day and he definitely hadn’t showered recently.  Our first time on the trains wasn’t quite as scarring as the bus.  Nonetheless, we were still apprehensive.  We didn’t know if we had to keep our “antennas” up or not.  We were all wide-eyed as we travelled by railway into Rome; something that I won’t ever forget.  Everyone stared at us as we stared out the window.  Now, no one really notices us on the train anymore and we all sleep the whole way there and back usually.  We’ve become so accustomed to it that it’s just normal to us. 

This entire trip has made me look at things differently.  I try to find the beauty in everything, to look and find the good in each situation and mostly patients, to go with the flow.  It’s hard to believe that in ten days I’ll be on a flight back to America, just thinking about the time I had in Italy, and everywhere I travelled.  And it’s hard to imagine, a month from now that all of this will just be a fond memory.  And in ten or so years, it will turn into a “when I was in college…” story.  All I know is for these last ten days I’m going to try an experience everything that Rome has to offer.  

My first view of Big Ben

My first view of the Colosseum