Post-blogging Thoughts on a Wednesday Night

[editorial note: I wrote this piece last night, after the tram post, in my regular journal. At first it was just going to be a freewrite about my research questions for social research methods, but it turned into more of a reflection, so I thought I'd share with you.]

I was all set to write something intelligent here and then somehow I ended up on youtube and now I'm falling asleep with one hand in my Italian homemade trail mix (M&M's that taste low-fat, non-salted peanuts, tiny flavorless raisins) and my Italian homework spread out around me on my bed.

If I was a morning person (something I might start to answer when people ask me what I want to be when I grow up), I would venture into the center of Rome tomorrow looking for a market to buy some dried fruit to add to my trail mix, but I don't think that will happen. First, I will set my alarm for 8 but without fail I will only get up for a bathroom break and then reset my alarm for 10. I mean, I don't have class until 1:45. Second, the only market I know of right now is the one at Campo (dei Fiori), and I've pretty much decided that's fast becoming a tourist trap. All the kids at school talk about Campo (there's clubbing there at night, but it's way American), and the market during the day seems overpriced and fakey fake. Maybe I'll wander back and take some pictures, since the produce does look fresh and it probably tastes good, but there must be another, smaller market where real Italians go.

I wish the weather was better because then I would want to walk around more. Once it's nicer out I'll be able to check out the botanical garden that's supposed to be close to campus plus wander up to the Vatican. A lot of the big monuments I'll get to see in my on-site art history class, so I'm not as worried about finding those on my own, but I do want to find some of the lesser known things in Rome, the things tourists and people only spending a few days here often miss out on.

I know a lot of my fellow Americans will miss out on these things too because they are all so concerned about where they are going every weekend. I don't really even want to leave Italy. I'm planning on coming back to Europe in my life so I don't feel all this pressure to see Paris, London, Madrid, Athens...and I definitely don't want to be confined to seeing these places in just one weekend. No, instead I want to really live in Rome and travel to some places around Italy.

A lot of this feeling stems from my classes on ancient Rome and what I've learned so far. It's given me this huge need to write and research more about Rome's history. I'll get to the specifics eventually, but what it comes down to is Rome, history, gender, storytelling and me. Somehow my story seems to fit in Rome's story and I really want to know how it all comes out. It's one hot mess in my head now, all of these ideas and research questions and possible theories and story ideas, but hopefully I can untangle some of it in these next few weeks.

I've got to peace out, though, since the garbage truck is on my street now and by the time I'm done with the homework I have left and I'm ready for bed it should be gone and via Pascarella will finally be quiet.