Momentary Blindness

I walked into the restaurant Old Bear and I immediately knew I picked the perfect spot for this assignment. The place was extremely packed and different aromas filled the air making my mouth water. I chose a table by the window and sat down. I initially closed my eyes to see if my sense of smell was heightened. I did not disappoint. I was pin pointing dishes made of beef, potatoes, and those covered in cheese. It may have also helped that I was starving. I did not want to appear weird so I did not close my eyes the entire time, I opened them until I received my wine and food. I ordered white wine with the Spaghetti all'Amatriciana. This meal contained spaghetti with tomato sauce, bacon, and pecorino cheese. As I closed my eyes I inhaled the fresh sent of tomatoes. As my nose was working I could also hear the sizzling of the pasta through the loud chatter of the restaurant. All my focus was on my plate. I was able to focus all of my senses to my immediate surroundings and my food. Again, this was probably because I was starving. It’s crazy how focused you can be when your hungry. My mouth was already watering before I took the first bite. The first bite was magical. Having my eyes closed allowed me to savor the food and not worry about what it looked like, but more what it tasted like. I noticed the little things that I would normally ignore, like the texture of the pasta, the way my taste buds danced as I chewed my food, and the aroma that hits my nose every time I go to take a bite. I put my food down for a bit and decide to savor the wine. I have strong taste buds so once the wine touched my tongue I felt a quick delightful pain. I think that was another sign of approval from my taste buds. It was letting me know that the wine had a strong flavorful after punch. As I continued to sip my wine, to my dread, I started choking on cigarette smoke. I’ve inhaled second hand smoke before, especially in Italy, but having my eyes closed made it feel like I was physically having my lungs squeezed because it was so unexpected. I quickly opened my eyes and noticed a man smoking next to me. To make matters better another man lit up a cigarette across from him. Momentary blindness was then over and the choking on cigarette smoke as I chewed my food began.

Voyeur

As I sat on the steps of the Vatican looking out to the papal audience a huge Brazilian flag peaked my interest. It was bigger than most of the other flags people brought, and its range from me allowed me to perfectly see the curves the wind created every time it blew onto the flag. I got up to see the mysterious person holding the flag and I noticed it was a family. It was a Brazilian family. There was a mother and a father with a little girl who was 4 years old and boy who was 10. They were all casually but gracefully dressed. The mother had a yellow cotton floor length dress on with a white cardigan on top of it. The little girl wore a cute pink flowery dress with a cardigan matching her mothers. The dad and the son both wore a short sleeve button down shirt with pants. They came all the way from Brazil to see the pope and you can see the excitement on their face. The little girl was not as entertained as her the rest of her family. She was fussy and seemed bored. She held on to her mother’s leg and played with her dress. The mother was so entranced by the pope that she did not pay much attention to her daughter. The father waved the flag vigorously, showing his patriotism to his country, hoping that having the symbol of the flag can bless his country as much as the pope’s presence can bless him and his family, so he too paid no mind to his daughter. The little boy had a gleam in his eyes that matched the faith and excitement of his parents., but the little boy, who cared deeply for his sister, noticed her boredom and took her hand in his. He smiled at her and gave her a toy. With excitement the little girl played with her toy while her parents listened to the ceremony. They stopped waving the flag while the pope spoke to show respect. Everyone held on to every word they could understand until the ceremony was over.

Ekphrasis

In a dark room little tiny fingers softly caress the face of a mother. His other hand holds an apple as small as him. With red cheeks and soft brown eyes the baby stares lovingly at his mother’s face while he is curled up naked in her arms. A blanket lightly caresses his back while a cushion finds comfort under his bottom. The mother gently holds the baby and gives into his touch. One hand lightly positioned on his back and the other under the blanket barely touching his feet. She looks down with eyes of admiration. Her features are fair, making her appear as if she is angelic. Her smooth face does not crease one bit. They treat each other so delicately. Its like one or the other might break. The love radiates through the picture. 

Madonna Col Bambino by Pampeo Batoni

Space and Place

I entered through some grand spacious stairs. It was welcoming but it made me feel small, which inevitably added to the enormity of the space. I had a choice between a left or right turn and I choose left due to the talk of it being Romulus’ living space. I began walking behind my professor and was tempted to follow in his footsteps to gain more knowledge but a huge building structure caught my eye. I decided to turn into the bumpier road instead of the nice flat road through the trees he and many others took. The space felt like a park because of all the tress, benches, and singing birds but once I climbed into one of the buildings, I immediately felt like I was in a fortress. I kept imagining how Romulus would feel walking around this secluded space over looking the city. I walked from building to building touching walls and climbing up steps. I found myself wanting to be higher and higher. I wanted to reach the highest peak so that I can feel as gran and powerful as the space I was in. I started thinking about the few chosen people who were able to experience this palace and those who could only dream of it. As I proceeded through the space I found that I would walk towards doors and secluded side areas because I was curious to know what was inside. Anything that seemed secret made me want to discover. In some areas I found beautiful views and in others just a dead end. My process was very much of discovery and my curiosity stemmed from wanting to feel grand and also wanting to ease mystery.

Markets of Trajan

Giornale uno

I decided to go to the Markets of Trajan for my solo excursion with Sarah. I knew that I could receive extra knowledge on this trip because of Sarah’s previous experience with Rome so I was excited for that. My day started off at 9 am, which was kind of early for me but I can now see it was a blessing (just kidding..maybe). I was able to get up and shower but was not able to run for breakfast. Luckily Sarah allowed us to get some breakfast. My life changed that morning. I had my first freshly squeezed orange juice in Rome and it was amazing. There was a burst of flavors and my taste buds were so confused that it was painful. It was like sticking a straw into an orange and sipping it. I know have to have a glass every morning to function. Anyways, a group of about 10 of us headed to the metro to get to the Coloseum train stop and walk to the markets. This was also the first time I got on the metro in Rome and to counter my amazing experience in the morning this one was more traumatizing. As we waited for our train at the termini station we witnessed a lady getting robbed. We were really close to them but I was not able to tell who was robbing whom. I just remember seeing both ladies pulling, yelling, and screaming in Italian, but there was one that was smacking the other in the face, so I’m using she was the one getting robbed. It was very sad and the sadder part was that everyone stared and no one helped. Sarah told us to move away and I understand that we couldn’t do anything because putting ourselves in a dangers situation in a country that is not our may not be the smartest of things. I still felt that the own Roman people did not feel the need to help their own people. After that I started clutching my bag and becoming more alert. It’s sad because I live in a dangerous city and I never felt the need to constantly clutch my bag and watch the people around me. 
I remember saying the day before and quote “we survived the day no one got robbed, maybe its not so bad”. Now I am always prepared and follow a buddy system. 
Moving on from the sadness; we all made it safe to the stop. I walked out of the train station and the first thing I see is the Coloseum. I knew it was the stop, but I did not think that it was going to be so near. I was literally in shock. I was not prepared to register the grandness and its beauty. We had to move on quickly to get to the markets but I kept looking back at the Coloseum because I was not ready to let it go. Eventually we got to the markets of Trajan and in my mind it had a lot to live up to because I just saw the damn Coloseum. I didn’t expect to actually walk through an ancient building so it did live up to my expectation. It was very cool to be able to walk inside a place that others in ancient time laid their footsteps. Looking back on it now it’s kind of special because a lot of the structures and ancient buildings we visit are sometimes closed off or are ruins that don’t allow us to have a full experience (I still love it, don’t think that I hate it). The museum was my first experience with ancient structures and it really brought me back in time. There was one set of stairs that brought me back so much that I was shocked.. It reminded me of the movies. It led up the stairs but it was dimly lit, had dirty old bricks, and actually looked very dingy and dungeon-esk. I guess I think of ancient hallways like scary dark dungeons. Regardless, it was very cool. Other than that I walked around the space, enjoyed the ancient structures, and touched a lot of walls just so that I can feel a part of the history. Sometimes I imagined others walking through the same space and it just made me feel damn cool. 
My only complaint was the random art that was in every single room and exhibition that held ancient structures or ruins. The first room I walked into had manikins with designer dresses in the room with the statue of a headless armored male man. I was a bit confused but I let it go. As I continued walking around I notice there were random instillations of art, jewelry, dresses and abstracts in every room. The Modern art pieces really took away from the exhibition. It was taking away from the significance of those structures, which to me were beautiful in itself. I’m not sure if they were training to make it look like a modern market, which I get but by the end I was seriously pissed and hated all the art instillations no matter how beautiful. Imagine walking into a room where there is a beautiful marble structure of a cupid angel that’s thousands of years old in a room with designer dresses and sound it the background. It totally ruined the moment and overshadowed the piece. I could not even here the explanation of the piece because the sound installation was too loud. I may have gotten overly worked but I really think those art instillations took away from the moment. Other than that I really enjoyed the ancient structures and ruins. I was able to see a lot of beautiful scenic views when I went to the outside area of the markets. It blew my mind how old the structures were and it really made me internalized the moment.