June 9, 2012 day 11 Ostia Our last day of class is here.

I feelabout ready to go back home but once I do get home I'm sure I'll miss going toclass and learning something I never even imagined learning about.  We made our way to the famous bus 75, the sunwas hidden behind the clouds and there was a very pleasant breezing leading ourway.  

None of us want to talk about this being the last day of class, me made a deal not to mention any type of count down from day one.   The activity we participatedin today was a perfect way to say good-bye to Rome.  We went around Ostia searching for different artifacts, very much like what I saw and experienced in Pompey. We gave ourgroup presentations, took a couple of group pictures, and made our way back home. 

June 8, 2012 day 10 Spanish steps and Cemetery

Today ourtip to the Spanish steps gave us quite an experience. Two of the professors gotoff the bus at the pyramid and only Arlene and I followed while the rest of thegroup stayed with Dr.Weber. We tapped on the doors to try to get back on withno luck. The professor we were with figured out the rout the others would betaking and realized we would be just fine. We headed towards the subway andenjoyed a fresh, non crowded ride to the Spanish steps. This has been thegreatest public transportation I have had yet. We even arrived ten minutesbefore the rest of the group. As we got there a large group of people withcardboard made Owls were going up the Spanish steps. This was a greatopportunity to take a somewhat tourist free picture at the site.   

  

As wewaited to enter the Keats- Shelly Memorial House we were told this plaza usedto be the meeting point for poets, artist, and sculptures. In the house welearned more about Keats, more of a quick bibliography. What I found amazing inthis house was the fact that there were a number of bookshelves on every wallthat were completely filled with books.   

June 7, 2012 Day 9

A littlebit of historical background. Galleria Borghese is a seventeenth century palacedesigned by architect Flamino Ponzio for Pope Paul V. Construction commenced in1608 and continued until 1790. Scipione Borghese began the collection withRaphael's Deposition.  

Today, Ihate to admit, has been the most unpleasant day during this trip. I like artbut I don't enjoy it. I like the fact that I can take back what I have seen,such antique and valuable art from the hands of the greatest artist. One thingI did enjoy was the fact that I saw Pope Julius II's portrait. Another statue Ienjoyed viewing was the statue of David as he's getting ready to toss the rockto Goliath. There was a lot of religiously connected art as well. I'm not toosure how I feel about a painting of Mary teaching baby Jesus how to step on asnakes head. Her foot is already on the snake and Jesus facial expression is ofdiscomfort. Up to this point I like the idea of Mary teaching this to Jesus atsuch a young age. She stepped on the snake by accepting the will of God inbarring his child and savior of the world. As we know, Jesus would do the sameonce he gave his life and resurrected three days later. What I find a bitdisturbing about the painting is the fact that Mary looks extremely seductive. Herdress is showing cleavage and if it weren't for her foot stepping on the snakeI would think it's any other woman but Mary. Along these same lines, baby Jesushas absolutely no clothing. He doesn't look like anything else but a sweetlittle boy learning how to walk but I can't imagine seeing this image in anychurch.  Once out of the museum we madeour way back to the Trevi Fountain. I find it amazing how we are now able tofind our way around using public transportation. We arrived to the fountain andmade our way to a pizza/gelato store. Although I've been eating nothing butpizza, pasta, and fruits, I have not had enough of it.

I simply alternate between meals and with all the walking we do, anymeal will work just fine to charge up my energy.  After our quick meal we made our way to theSpanish steps. Along the way we found many, many fancy shops. I'm not too pickyabout my clothes so store names didn't ring a bell but from the reactions of myclassmates and the prices of the items I was quick to realize we were on apretty fancy street. 

June 6, 2012 Day 8 Vatican

Our daytoday stated at 8 am. We walked our way out to the taxi stop instead of walkingto the Vatican or takings the bus. We would be seeing the Pope today, therepresentative of God here on earth for Roman Catholics. Our merits were wellpaid off as we had sets in the main ail and right on the edge.

The event would start at ten thirty so as we waited we accumulated avariety of emotions. I was with Arlene, Blanca, Jessica, Veronica, and Caesar.There were emotions of excitement, disbelieve, amazement, as well ascarelessness all in one. For me, I just wanted to sing and wished I could besharing this moment with my loved ones but at the same time felt grateful forexperiencing this on my own. The time was getting closer and people were gettinga bit more anxious. A woman next to where we were sitting started shouting atanother person in a language I didn't understand. The guards did walk up to herand very calmly signaled her to be calm. This was the only unpleasant momentand the fact that the ladies behind us didn't let us open our umbrellas.  Finally, the moment I never imagined or even thoughtabout was taking place. Everyone went crazy with their cameras, as if they allhad a special someone they wanted to take this moment back to whether it be forfaith or simply touristic reasons.

We had twospecial moments as the Pope made his way across to the other side and the backthrough the central ail. My moment of moments was when the Pope blessed us.

 I am a true catholic that enjoys going to mass every day, praying, and praising God. I felt this moment as a true gift from God. 

June 5th 2012, Day 7 Tuesday

Today we went to a museum but it was very difficult for me toconcentrate. I feel like I have been on the go for far too long. I've beenunder the mentality of being in Rome and wanting to see it all and do it allbefore my time here runs out. Because of this fact, I was very grateful of themuseum being inside and away from the sun.   

I really need to get home and take a long nap to stop feeling like this and missing outon the day’s adventure. 

Before wemade our way back to Santa Maria Arleen and I realized we only had today leftto go into the Coliseum.  It was close byso we walked, truly feeling like an Italian and moving away from my laziness. 

June 4th, 2012 Day 6 Monday Pompey.

Only Cesarand Veronica from UTEP went with me on this trip. We started off taking the busto the train terminal. From this point we were on a very nice and extremelycomfortable train for about two hours and a half. We had to be ready by six amso the train ride was excellent for a nice nap. Once we arrived to theterminal, we took a train up to Pompey. I had to stand and it was quiteinteresting to try and keep my balance every time it stopped and started movingagain. Pompey received us with a nice climate and a bit of a sprinkle. This hasbeen the most amazing site for me seen through my teaching eye. My studentslove the unit on rapid land changes especially when it comes to volcanoes. Beingat Pompey and seeing how far the hot mud had moved the seashore was almostunbelievable. It was impressive to see the roads and houses and market placebut the most impressive site was the body crippled up trying to protect itselffrom the happenings.

My studentsand I had seen this on expository text and online videos. Having the chance tolook at it and take a picture standing next to it will surely add insight to myteaching of the topic.

We walked around for a couple of hours but it was apleasant and calm walk. I truly want to purchase a book with the before andafter settings of Pompey for my students and myself.






Our ride back home was notas pleasant due to the smell of the restroom dispersing throughout the train. I had a short nap and woke up just in time to take an excellent picture of the coast.   

Day 5 Sunday Mass at the Vatican and a day at Ostia beach

This wasour day off.  For me it started with avisit to the Vatican for mass on my own. I made it on time and had some what of a problem getting back butnothing waking couldn’t solve.

June 2, 2012 -Day 4 Saturday Vatican Museum

Today wasan interesting day to walk to the Vatican museum as the Roman's celebratedtheir independence. The Vatican was much closer than I expected. As we walkedthrough the curves and beautiful views of Rome I felt the excitement andanxiety to get there increase. Once we took the final curve, my heart justdropped to the floor and pushed back up to the sky in a matter of seconds. 

I foundmyself in a mixture of emotions. I felt mostly happy at the site with a bit ofdisbelieve. I had seen this image in movies and photograph but to actually bein front of the Vatican was too much for me to take in all at once.

We were there for about a minute or two before we found our way to the museum. A coupleof feet away I was able to see a defender of the church's freedom, a Swiss guard,standing tall and sharp.

As we kept walking and turning, Dr. Weber pointed out how short the linewas compared to previous years. The Vatican museum was another world of itsown.  We did seem like a river of peoplebeing taken down stream with no time to stop. I still enjoyed every piece of art and the years it carried withit.  I loved the fact that I understoodthe stories behind several of the paintings. I had never waited so anxiously to get somewhere like I felt as weapproached the Sistine chapel.

The room was amazing! Somewhat small than what I had in mind but truly beautiful.  I can’t believe the hands of a human madethis.  We had been told we couldn’t takepictures but everyone was snapping away when we walked it and so did we. 

Blanca andI walked over to mass and got a great first look of the Vatican before ourclass visit.  I have to admit it took mea while to look away from the amount of tourist disrespecting the church andkeep in mind this is not the religion of all people.  Once I looked away from that I was able toenjoy the mass and take in the peaceful presence in the place. 

June 1, 2012- Day 3 Friday Palatine Hill/ travelers

Today westarted the day at the patio as we have been doing every day but today’s talkwas quite interesting as we compared tourist and travelers. I definitely wantto live this experience as a traveler. By this I mean that I want to learn tocommunicate in Italian as well as appreciate the history and layers of Rome ineach Arch, fountain, and church. Looking at things through this perspective, Istarted to pay more attention to the conversations going on in the bus as wegot to the Coliseum. I couldn't really make out a full conversation but I didpick up bits and peace’s of what people were talking about here and there.  I also saw many quite observers just lookingat everyone else as I was.  As the daysgo by I realize how stress free this experience has turned out.  We had been talking in class about takingcare of our bags and watching out for one another but I don’t feel I have toworry so much about this.  I think I findmyself surrounded by more tourist than actual residents on every bus and everysite.   

Once we gotto our destination and waited around for the rest of the group to arrive, Ifound myself surrounded by different languages and cultures. Everyone, nomatter the age, sex, or nationality, had the same look on their face,admiration. The first picture stop was the arch of Constantine for everyone.

Some simplystood in front of it and smiled while others took a special picture. Going backto the group, we couldn't go into the Colosseum because of the time so we walkedback to the Palatine Hill.  We decided togo back on a later day and during the evening to appreciate a different view.  There were a lot of tour groups moving rapidlyin this beautiful place. Us, on the other hand, after climbing about fiftysteps, sat down and enjoyed our lunch under tall trees and a fresh breeze. Thedrinking fountain at this area has been the most beautiful one I've seen yet. Oncewe finished our lunch we were told to turn on our imagination caps and becameservants living miserable lives. I enjoyed this approach in understanding thelife of servants and their duties. This place was extremely clam and had asense of being peaceful. The tourist groups where not clustered up in anyparticular point. There was so much green and pretty flowers everywhere. Myfavorite spot here was the top garden although it had a particular unenjoyablysmell. 

It seemsthat in every site the walking journey seems endless but as we head back outour time there seems to short. I think we all took with us the peace andcalmness of the place as we all claimed to needed our bed to rest.

May 31, 2012- Day 2 Thursday. Visit the Heart of ancient Rome, The Forum

I remember showing my students images online of the Triumphal Arch and the temple of Castor and Pollus. For my students and myself it was interesting to see these images and how different it all was compared to our historical community. San Elizario is filled with small buildings made of adobe in the area surrounding the San Elzeario Catholic Church. Now that I am standing in front of these historical pieces, I find myself in complete amusement. I know this was work from the hands of slaves and I imagine there were a number of accidents in the creation of such work. My amusement exists because of the size and width they have. Come to think of it, a picture is not quite worth a million words because the appreciation that exists know that I'm in front of them does not even compare to what I thought of them when seen online. In my teacher point of view, this has made me think and rethink about my measurement lessons. I definitely have to switch into being more hands on and include many visuals instead of relying on technology so much and expecting it to do the trick for my students. I really hope my students from this year go visit me in August so I can show them the photographs I've been taking with me as part of the picture. This might help them see the Triumphal Arch and the temple of Castor and Pollus with different eyes. I’m also taking back a book with images of what this site looked like before.  I can't imagine what tomorrow will be like as we go into the Colosseum.  

May 28-29 Off to Rome! Tuesday

Being theworkaholic that I am, this trip has had a great start for me. No papers tograde, lessons to make, interventions to keep track of, just time off to relaxand take plenty of naps along the way. Although I do wish I had planned for themoments I wouldn't be taking a nap. I should have downloaded a couple of moviesand books and brought along some headphones as well.   

Jamie,I have one more first to add to my list. Today was the first time I saw arainbow up close, simply beautiful!

I don'tthink I've mentioned before but I used to sing every Sunday in mass and atother church activities. The great thing about singing in church is peoplefocus more on the lyrics than in any actual talent, for the most part. It's beennice singing way up high "closer to all the angels" during this trip. 

One morehour to Rome! This last plane made the last and longest checkpoint moreenjoyable. For starters, we have free movies and we had a lot more space tomove around. Arlene and I wanted to see the ocean, or so we thought. That left Patrickwith four seats all to himself. After he woke up from his nap and after Irealized there would be no ocean seeing, I took my own nap stretched out onthree seats. It felt so amazingly great to fall asleep lying down instead ofsitting. I don't know how I would have survived without such a privilege. 

And we made it! Finally at Rome feeling nothingbut excitement.

May 23, 2012

So this weekend I decided to catch up with my Rome to do list. My loving family is really close to each other, not a good thing at this time for me.  My sister and her 2 and 4 year olds visit every weekend and my brother and his 3 year old are our neighbors. It's party at grandmas from sun up to sun down. As soon as I taught my mom how to answer my calls on face time I had to run out of there to work on my grades.  Once that was out of the way I went to the airport to exchange dollars for euros.  I'm glad I didn't wait until the 28th, something went wrong and I was there waiting for the issue to be resolved for more than 30 min.  
After that I stopped by best buy.  I'm now set for picture taking, blogging through my Ipad, and face timing with family back home.  I thought I was asking for too much when I asked if there was anything I could use to transfer my camera pics into the Ipad...its called an Ipad camera connection kit
My next stop was at Radio Shack where I purchased the adapter.  I went shopping around to see how much it would cost to unblock my phone in order to use it out there as Jamie suggested... I'm still thinking about that.
I was completely exhausted once I got home.  Sunday I had to run out of my house once again to work on my paper and pamphlet.  I now know why the Swiss guard the Vatican! :)  


These past days its been nothing but packing, submitting paper work, meeting with parents, and passing out awards to my students.  I read them Last day blues by Julie Danneberg and all I've been getting from them are good bye huggs every day as they walk out to the bus and lovely notes left on my desk.  It's very hard not to get attached to little people, their ideas, laughs, sad moments, and growth.  We googled Rome and the places I'll be visiting in to give them an idea of where I'll be.  I plan on sending them post cards as soon as I arrive to Rome.  
Only a few people knew I'd be leaving early.  As they see me running around like crazy and I explain why, they keep telling me to bring back plenty of pictures and to have fun.
Since the moment I received the email about this cours, I've been living an unexplainable adventure.  I haven't had a chance to sit down and let everything sink in.  This probably wont happen until I'm actually on the plain.  One think I can't wait for is to be able to see my God daughter to be before the trip.  She should be here any day know.

Day 2 and 3 of class

Yesterdays in class we looked into the reason for astrology and the strong implication it had upon decision making.  This had nothing to do with superstition but the continued record keeping astrologers held in order to correctly advice others.  Specifically we looked into Thrasyllus the Astrologer. 

On this same note, today in class we learned from the experts in travel.  Dr. Weber has been off and about in Italy and shared with us plenty of useful information to survive and enjoy our trip.

We have our Sun travel information ready to go as well and a couple of corrections to make with the travel abroad office.  The count down is really coming to an end…so is the time I have left to submit all the repetitive paper work I have to turn in for each and every one of my 18 9 year olds.  I can't wait for the weekend to catch up and charge my batteries.        

Rome: on the palatine

Thank you class! As Dr. Weber said, words just don't speak to me.  This was my Aha! moment: the poem gives a visual of Rome in ruins, but these ruins give it its essence. Connecting the past with the present.   

And yes, Poetry is beautiful once you can actually make sense of the words.

We looking over Roman People, ch.3 today.  Politics were described as a mess where violence was a major part of it all.  Today we added to the violence the fact that everyone was getting married to their own relatives and stabbing each other on the back.  Brutus killed Cesar but it did not turn out as he had planned.  Instead of having everyone cheer for him, as would be the case in previous murders of leaders, Rome went through complete disaster.  Everyone wanted to rule and take up Cesars place.  

In todays video I was able to appreciate art, from statues to paintings to mosaics.  I also viewed St. Peter's Basilica.  It's beauty comes not only because it's the center for Roman Catholics but because of its structure and art within.         

To charlotte Von Stein 13-16 December 1786

What I see...

The author of the note was off to an amazing trip before reading the note.  The note ruined the entire trip for this person must have been a life death note or a breakup.

I have seen this something like this before...

I’ve experienced this before.  I start thinking about issues in life and that does it for me, I’ve gotten this sense of loneliness even if I'm surrounded by people I love. 

What does it mean to me...

This to me means that our minds are powerful.  If we let ourselves focus too much on the past or future, we don’t get to appreciate the present. 

My most memorable idea is also my most confusing… I’m actually enjoying learning history.  It has always been completely confusing for me to remember names and events and express my ideas about historical happenings.  I guess it’s the relaxed class setting that helps me take in the information and actually understand it.  I enjoyed learning about Rome’s island, river, and hills as a key for its location.  Can’t wait to see those! 

  And again, my confusion would have to be keeping track of names and places.