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Published: February 2nd 2006
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Piazza Novona
A streetlight fixture detail, Piazza Novona, Rome. As much as I like to explore Rome as a tourist, living in Rome as a ‘temporary’ citizen of Rome as our instructor Katherine referred to, is interesting. By day eight, everything becomes so ordinary for us - a group of ignorant tourists everywhere blocking the narrow streets of Rome talking in different languages, doing groceries, loud dump truck that regularly comes at one in the morning in front of our apartment to pick up overloading garbage, locals that always reply in English even though I started the conversation in Italian, two line Metro and bus number 70 or 30 to go to the studio, and schoolwork.
The progress of my studio work in Testaccio turns out to become somewhat personal experience. I chose a small unattractive plaza of the
Parco della Resistenza dell'Otto Settembre, located behind the Piramide di Caio Cestia, an ancient tomb of a Roman noble, where a groups of Asian always hanging out and playing cards in this plaza. They really spark my interest for my project. Who are they? What are their backgrounds? What are they doing here?
Reuben, a middle aged man I’ve talked to, explained in hesitation that they are immigrants from
Villa d'Este
The moss that grows on stone (and on you) the Philippines. Most of them seem to be illegal immigrants, meaning that they came to Rome for a better life, but unfortunately without any money or legal status paperwork with the Italian government. Thus a new community is formed; as many immigrants from any countries, the Filipinos tend to cluster amongst themselves and speak the Tagalog about their homeland
Reuben left his wife and kids back in the Philippines to start a new life in Rome; sort of a blank sheet. He stays over a house owned by a Filipino lady who helps him out to start his life here in Rome. She sells food in the plaza where these people are hanging out, and she also provides Reuben with a job.
The most interesting class I take this summer is the Construction class by Katherine. Waking up at 7.30 in the morning to get to Mausoleum Augustus is hard, but as it gets interesting
We talked a lot about the Tiber, via Giulia, embankment, and Isola. San Bartolomeo della Isola was one of the neatest church I’ve ever visited. It was simple, but yet elegant. Plain and strong. We saw the chapel for the millers, and
Villa Giulia
A shadow study of Roman loggia. the relic of St. Bartholomew.
Around noon, we went to DiPer to get groceries. I need to cut down some spendings to save up money. Today was a relaxing day, so we did everything slow and easy. We decided to work on our project in Testaccio by the Piramide, to collect some observation data. Of course a site visit isn’t complete without any gelato shopping by the piazza at Testaccio. For €1.50, you could get a medium size cone with three scoops of flavors of your choice. I usually got coffe, chiocolate, and tiramisu. It was a great relief when we were actually having a conversation in Italian, well, at least, I spoke Italian and she replied me back in Italian.
I got only six hours of sleep last night, so I was pretty worn out. After getting up around 7.30, I took shower and got ready for Katherine Rinne’s class at 8 at the Mausoleum Augustus. Thanks to the Metro, I got there on time and was ready to go. Katherine’s class ended up to be interesting. Yes, I am a temporary citizen of Rome. We talked a lot about the Tiber, via Giulia, embankment, and Isola.
Mercato di Testaccio
Our studio highlight. San Bartolomeo della Isola was one of the neatest church I’ve ever visited. It was simple, but yet elegant. Plain and strong. We saw the chapel for the millers, and the relic of St. Bartholomew.
On my way back to the studio, I was riding the Bus 30 with a Filipino lady. She was super nice, and I felt guilty that I forgot her name. She was about Mom’s age, and she has a daughter about my age. I needed to visit the site again on Tuesday to meet her again, since she said she would introduce me to more people.
Then I went home from studio with the Hardy boys. The greatest thing about this lovely evening was that as planned, I went jogging! It was the greatest feeling ever, sweat like hell (as it was VERY humid in Rome), and since it was around 8 when I jog around, less people were on the street. I ran from via Scipioni to Castel San Angelo and back, and hell, I felt exhausted. I was so out of shape, and I decided to go running everyday in the morning. Or at least, more often.
Rome became a
place to live, instead of a place to visit. Even so, there are still many sites around that I want to check out before moving on. I realized that after two thousand years, Rome has developed many important points to see.
Some highlights from the last few days.
I walked pass the Piazza Bocca della Veritá, and I decided to check it out, even though it was cloudy and was about to rain. Santa Maria in Cosmedin, a 6th century church that is more “Greek Orthodox” oriented instead of "Roman Catholic", has the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Veritá), an ancient manhole from Roman Republic that became a symbol of truthfulness. Supposedly, if you put your hand inside its mouth and tell a lie, the jaw of the manhole will shut and trap your hand inside. Sure. As many other turist cliché, that will roll your eyes but at the same time, you are obligated to do it anyway, I tested my “truthfulness” at the manhold, and took a picture of the “in Testaccione” plaque on the wall, the original plaque of the one we had seen in the museum.
Next stop was the Arch of Janus,
Another Filipino lady selling food
Reuben was helping out this lady with her 'restaurant'. He stayed over her house when he arrived in Rome from the Philippines. and the San Giorgio in Velabro. There was a wedding ceremony inside of the church, but I managed to peek inside and saw the ‘recycled columns’. I also visited the Temples of the Forum Boarium (Temple of Hercules) and the Santa Maria della Consolazione.
The next day, we felt like having a greasy American style food. Burger King came in mind, so we rode Metro to Barberini Metro station, and walked to the BK. While we were eating, there was a Gypsy girl walking from table to table, asking for food. It seemed that she was pretty successful, as she was holding up a burger and partial fries. Only in Rome!
After the meal, we walked downhill to the Spagna, and chilled by the Spanish Steps. You could tell that a lot of Americans here, as English was spoken around us. The Hardy boys and I split up with Dietz because we needed to go to Termini to find out about the Venezia trip.
After asking questions at the information desk and a little discussion with the boys, we went to one of the ticket machines outside and purchased three sets of tickets to Venice. We bought
Infrastructure Class
Rome was flooded up to this line in 1805. the tickets to and from Roma Tiburtina and Santa Lucia (Venezia) for each €60.32, on June 4th. Finally, we are going somewhere outside Rome!
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CHITO
non-member comment
Its good your connecting with your roots
You seem to be enjoying your stay in Italy. Although the good thing is you maintain youir connection with your roots. Jogging is good for the health. But most of all it keeps you away from homesickness. Anyway, I was also away from my family in Manila for 5 years as I ventured into the opprtunities America offers. And I worked most of the time to keep myself busy. How are the opprtunities in Europe?