cause i wanted my name in lights

day 12: wednesday
- woke up at 9:30 and read livy book 4 while sunning myself on our balcony; caught a little bit of sun
- breakfast, got ready, lunch, headed off to our field trip at the galleria borghese
- took the 8 tram and then walked to where our bus stop was supposed to be, only to discover that it was a pole with a fermata sign at the edge of a cobblestone alley with a white piece of paper with the number 116 drawn onto it... sketchy

apollo and daphne

- waited for about 15 or 20 minutes before deciding it would probably be safer/more reliable to find a taxi, so our hunt for a cab stand began. after wandering down a few crowded streets, we managed to find one with tons of taxis and thus began my second cab adventure in rome! now that i'm used to the city, our driver's erratic driving did not disconcert me in the least. additionally, i am much more familiar with the area and was able to appreciate the sites we were passing and keep my bearings a little better
- tour of the galleria borghese which is known for its collection of bernini sculptures and caravaggio paintings. personally, i'm not a big fan of paintings and did not find the caravaggio particularly inspiring. the berninis, however, completely blew me away. the balance of the sculptures, the attention to detail, the weightless appearance of the marble... it was incredible. i can't decide whether i like apollo and daphne or the rape of persephone better. i couldn't believe the detail in apollo's cloak, or the way daphne's toes were becoming roots, or the way her hair was flying off her head into branches... but i also was so impressed by the palpable tension in the statue of the rape of persephone, the way his hands pressed into her thighs so perfectly was incredible. the house in general was also amazing. all of the walls and ceilings were painted in perfect trompe l'oeil, my brain could not figure out which parts of the walls were actually in relief and which weren't, nor could i really tell what the shape of the ceilings were... i was blown away. the frescoes all over the ceilings (which were designed to compliment the statue that was the centerpiece of each room) were also beautiful. oh, and as if that wasn't enough, parts of the floors were inlaid with originial roman mosaics. not as cool as the one at fishborne, but still... the history and beauty of the place was amazing
- walked back to the apartment through the villa borghese, down the spanish steps and all the way across town

rape of persephone - detail

- finally managed to buy the right stamps and mailed my first postcards to krista, tim/travis, and my parents. i need to buy all my rome (and naples) postcards next so i can get them sent off as well!
- made a risotto-type thing for dinner with caryn. it kind of lacked flavor, but it was nice to have a break from pasta
- went out on the balcony to begin writing my paper, only to end up falling asleep outside for 45 minutes... ooopsie!
- skyped with victoria and my mom for a while. she is class salutatorian and i am so proud of her! she had to speak at honors night though, which was on wednesday (today) which was also the day they told her (good job dearborn high) so she was trying to pull something together that wasn't ridiculously cliche... oh dhs
- began pulling together textual support for my paper, skyped with greg and travcat, second dinner of scrambled eggs with caryn, and multiple n'sync/justin bieber/backstreet boys/katy perry/i just had sex jam sessions with kari and caryn in the kitchen... aka the procrastination station
- finally gave up around 2:30, blogged and went to bed