Haha...oh, and the other reason I know I'm fit for being an English major: extreme tangents. Which is what that last post was, because I completely forgot to mention anything I had planned on writing except for the fact that I am in love with an ancient historian named Livy.
What I also meant to write about was the inauguration. I watched it on Tuesday night with my fellow Americans in Rome and some interested Italians. JCU set up this big projection screen with live CNN coverage and brought in a speaker to discuss the importance of inaugural speeches. He was actually a speechwriter for President Ford and it was so weird hearing someone speak English without an accent. [Tangent warning] I've become so used to the Italian accent--like how when my history teacher says "vestal virgin" it sounds more like "veeestal veeergin"--that it's strange to hear Americans. I wonder what it will be like in four months when I'm back.
Okay, so, back to the inauguration. I discussed this with Emily, another artsy fartsy type like me, and we both agree that traveling makes you super-aware of the fact that people live and exist in different places and times. It was 5:00 pm when we were watching CNN, but only 11 in the morning in DC. Our day was winding down when America's was just beginning. It's hard to explain the feeling, but it's almost as if we were in two places and times.
Another thing travel makes you aware of: being American. The Italians all know who our president is. They know Tuesday was Obama's inauguration. And what do we know about them? Every time Obama mentioned other nations or our nation or anything relating America to the rest of the world, it struck me: I'm American. Being in a foreign country really emphasized that. I don't know what exactly to do with that knowledge--cheer, apologize, nothing--but I'm pretty sure I'll learn just as much about America as I will about Italy during these four months.
And I think that's everything I wanted to mention in my last post, but was too excited to remember.
So I opened your blog and what a nice gift, TWO entries to read! It's good to see that you are excited, I'm glad you like your classes.
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