Yesterday I got an e-mail from the program coordinator giving dates of the two program meetings this quarter (April 6th and May 16th) and giving me a giant heap of paperwork to complete in the next week. These papers include a travel waiver (which begins, hilariously, with "I recognize and acknowledge that there are certain risks of physical injury (including death) which may arise from travel, study and work abroad"), a health questionnaire, and a health insurance form. We also need three photocopies of our passports and at least 5 passport-sized photos, all by next Wednesday. (I assume they use the photos and passport info to begin settling visas.)
By the May meeting we also have to fill out a form detailing our travel plans with specific flight details and whatnot there and back from Europe. This means that I can officially start booking flights, since they also gave us the start and end dates for the program. I have to be there by Thursday, September 22nd, and the program officially ends on Sunday, December 4th. I'd love to fly direct from Boston Logan to Rome Fiumicino, which happens about once daily on Alitalia, but it's somewhat pricey. If you fly British Airways you'll be going through London Heathrow, if you fly United or Delta you often end up going through Frankfurt or something, etc. I guess we'll see what happens. I'll probably start seriously looking at booking flights after the April 6th meeting, once I see who else is in my program, if I know any of them, if any of them are also from New England, etc.
But now I officially have some things to do, namely getting passport photos from the card office here on campus and finishing filling out these forms by next week!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
La mia famiglia
Time on spring break means no news about Roma, of course, but time with family back in New England, my homeland. Like any person whose family has roots deep in New England, my actual heritage is a vague smattering of white European--mostly Scottish on my father's side and Portuguese/Irish/Italian on my mother's side. My great-grandfather (my mother's father's father) spent some time in Italia, I think; it's uncertain where he was born (he possibly was born on the voyage over from Italia to gli Stati Uniti), but his family moved back and forth a lot while he was growing up before eventually settling in New England. In Italy my family hails from the area around Campobasso, in the southeastern portion of the country, I think a fairly rural area.
Anyway, Italy is a place my grandfather has always wanted to see; his father and that side of his family grew up there, after all. He was in the Navy in World War II but spent most of that time in the Pacific and I'm not sure how much of Europe he has seen, never mind Italy. In any case, when my mother has told him (repeatedly, once for each time he's forgotten it) that I'm studying in Rome for ten weeks this fall, he has 1) asked if I need money, and 2) asked, half-seriously, if he can go.
When I was in sixth grade, my parents, my grandfather, and I went to the British Virgin Islands; this was 2003 or so. I think that was one of the last times my grandfather went anywhere outside of New England, and it's been several years since my grandfather has left a 20- or 30-mile radius around his former house, now legally owned by his son, my uncle. My grandfather lives in my hometown now, in the residential care unit of one of the branches of the state veterans' home system. For him, driving anywhere in a car is excitement, and he's mostly resigned himself to living under 24/7 guidance. If he didn't, he likely would have accidentally killed himself long ago, forgetting to turn off a stove or accidentally overdosing on medications or slipping in the shower and breaking his hip or...anything that happens when you literally lose your mind with dementia. He has a room with a bathroom (but no shower), a nice bed, and a TV. He still likes to walk around and talk to people, mostly the staff or visitors since many of his fellow inmates (as we so bitterly call the other residents at times) no longer speak anything even approaching sense. He eats three times a day, occasionally walks outside or around in the hallways, sleeps, watches TV, waits for visitors. The staff give him his medicines, bathe him regularly, help him dress, help him eat, help him shuffle along. It's like having a small child all over again. He knows the general season and time of day but does not generally remember the specific month or day it is. He still knows his family members, amazingly, and can tell stories from 60 years ago more easily than stories from a day ago.
He likely will never leave this general vicinity again and definitely will never, ever see Italy, see the place where his father and grandfather and all their forefathers grew up. While he knows he is old and forgetful and weak, I think he thinks that this is, in many ways, just an illness that could possibly somehow be suddenly reversed, or at least get better, well enough to travel. Italy will forever remain a bittersweet, childlike wish of his, but I will taste the smog of Roma and touch soil our ancestors touched in six months' time, whether or not he is still alive to know that when it happens. And he will probably ask, from time to time, to go until the day he dies.
 |
| Location of Campobasso in Italy, according to Wikipedia |
When I was in sixth grade, my parents, my grandfather, and I went to the British Virgin Islands; this was 2003 or so. I think that was one of the last times my grandfather went anywhere outside of New England, and it's been several years since my grandfather has left a 20- or 30-mile radius around his former house, now legally owned by his son, my uncle. My grandfather lives in my hometown now, in the residential care unit of one of the branches of the state veterans' home system. For him, driving anywhere in a car is excitement, and he's mostly resigned himself to living under 24/7 guidance. If he didn't, he likely would have accidentally killed himself long ago, forgetting to turn off a stove or accidentally overdosing on medications or slipping in the shower and breaking his hip or...anything that happens when you literally lose your mind with dementia. He has a room with a bathroom (but no shower), a nice bed, and a TV. He still likes to walk around and talk to people, mostly the staff or visitors since many of his fellow inmates (as we so bitterly call the other residents at times) no longer speak anything even approaching sense. He eats three times a day, occasionally walks outside or around in the hallways, sleeps, watches TV, waits for visitors. The staff give him his medicines, bathe him regularly, help him dress, help him eat, help him shuffle along. It's like having a small child all over again. He knows the general season and time of day but does not generally remember the specific month or day it is. He still knows his family members, amazingly, and can tell stories from 60 years ago more easily than stories from a day ago.
He likely will never leave this general vicinity again and definitely will never, ever see Italy, see the place where his father and grandfather and all their forefathers grew up. While he knows he is old and forgetful and weak, I think he thinks that this is, in many ways, just an illness that could possibly somehow be suddenly reversed, or at least get better, well enough to travel. Italy will forever remain a bittersweet, childlike wish of his, but I will taste the smog of Roma and touch soil our ancestors touched in six months' time, whether or not he is still alive to know that when it happens. And he will probably ask, from time to time, to go until the day he dies.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Reconnaissance
Today, after my finals were through, I met with a housemate of mine from last year, a third-year now in the college, who was in Rome this past fall for the same program I'm doing. We sat outside in the glorious weather Chicago is having right now and just talked for 45 minutes about the program and how it all works, and it really made me look forward to this fall even more. I learned a lot of useful tidbits and got a great sense of the scope of the program, which I'm going to list here to give everyone a sense of how things will work.
Housing
--We live in apartments in the Monteverde area, near Trastevere, which I believe is on the northwest (?) side of the city. They hold anywhere from 4 to 8 people or so and have 2-4 double bedrooms; you can pick your roommate but not your other apartment mates.
--The apartments are quite spacious (for Rome, anyway), and some have washing machines. There are no dryers because Italy (and Europe in general) does not do dryers.
--The apartments include a very small cooking area, but I think it's basically just a stovetop, with no oven. As a result, most people eat out a lot, which apparently is not as expensive as I had originally feared (it's still not cheap, however). My housemate said she spent about 100 euro a week on food, for 10 weeks, which is about 1000 euro ($1300-1400) for the entire quarter.
--Food and books, as well as flights there, are about all we pay for, however; we get free public transit cards for the Metropolitana (the subway, basically) in Rome as part of the program, and housing is part of the fee attached to our bursar bill
--The apartments are a 15- or 20-minute Metropolitana ride from where classes are, near the Pantheon. Interestingly, apparently even the cheap public transit trains (like the Metropolitana) are extremely fast and quiet, and not too shabby-looking either, a far cry from the slow, jerky, and loud CTA
--Sheets and the like are part of the housing deal, so we don't have to worry about bringing them out with us
--The apartments even include a weekly maid service. Win!
Program/Academics
--The program is one quarter, about ten weeks. We do not get a break in the middle like many other programs do, but we only have class Monday-Thursday, so every weekend is a long weekend.
--We take basically two classes: the civilization studies class we're there for in the first place, as well as a twice-a-week language class, depending on your prior experience with Italian. We get credited for 4 classes on our transcript, however, like a normal quarter: all three quarters of the "Rome: Antiquity to the Baroque" civ sequence as well as credit for the appropriate level of Italian
--Mondays-Thursdays we have civ for three hours a day, I think in the morning from about 9am to noon. Mondays and Wednesdays we also have language class for an hour or two in the afternoon, after a lunch break period. Thursdays are often "site visit" days, where we go to all different sorts of historical sites in the city, and so civ on those days actually is often less than 3 hours long.
--A few weeks into the program we take a long-weekend trip to Napoli, to a villa right on the Mediterranean, where we spend a few days looking at ruins and get 2 (apparently huge, classic Italian home-cooked) meals a day for free. It is apparently ungodly beautiful.
There were lots of stories of all sorts of varying appropriateness told, including stories about trips to Orvieto, to a wine festival just outside the city, to Firenze, and to Venezia, among others. Some people travel a lot, others don't; my housemate said her one big regret about the program was not traveling more while she was spending these ten weeks in such an amazing country. Traveling will be a bit expensive, but I'd really like to try it. I know people who will be in Prague, in Paris, and in London, among other places, and while I don't know that I'd get that far out, it sure sounds like tons of fun to try.
I'm now appropriately excited to really start getting this journey off the ground; it is going to be amazing, I know.
Housing
--We live in apartments in the Monteverde area, near Trastevere, which I believe is on the northwest (?) side of the city. They hold anywhere from 4 to 8 people or so and have 2-4 double bedrooms; you can pick your roommate but not your other apartment mates.
--The apartments are quite spacious (for Rome, anyway), and some have washing machines. There are no dryers because Italy (and Europe in general) does not do dryers.
--The apartments include a very small cooking area, but I think it's basically just a stovetop, with no oven. As a result, most people eat out a lot, which apparently is not as expensive as I had originally feared (it's still not cheap, however). My housemate said she spent about 100 euro a week on food, for 10 weeks, which is about 1000 euro ($1300-1400) for the entire quarter.
--Food and books, as well as flights there, are about all we pay for, however; we get free public transit cards for the Metropolitana (the subway, basically) in Rome as part of the program, and housing is part of the fee attached to our bursar bill
--The apartments are a 15- or 20-minute Metropolitana ride from where classes are, near the Pantheon. Interestingly, apparently even the cheap public transit trains (like the Metropolitana) are extremely fast and quiet, and not too shabby-looking either, a far cry from the slow, jerky, and loud CTA
--Sheets and the like are part of the housing deal, so we don't have to worry about bringing them out with us
--The apartments even include a weekly maid service. Win!
Program/Academics
--The program is one quarter, about ten weeks. We do not get a break in the middle like many other programs do, but we only have class Monday-Thursday, so every weekend is a long weekend.
--We take basically two classes: the civilization studies class we're there for in the first place, as well as a twice-a-week language class, depending on your prior experience with Italian. We get credited for 4 classes on our transcript, however, like a normal quarter: all three quarters of the "Rome: Antiquity to the Baroque" civ sequence as well as credit for the appropriate level of Italian
--Mondays-Thursdays we have civ for three hours a day, I think in the morning from about 9am to noon. Mondays and Wednesdays we also have language class for an hour or two in the afternoon, after a lunch break period. Thursdays are often "site visit" days, where we go to all different sorts of historical sites in the city, and so civ on those days actually is often less than 3 hours long.
--A few weeks into the program we take a long-weekend trip to Napoli, to a villa right on the Mediterranean, where we spend a few days looking at ruins and get 2 (apparently huge, classic Italian home-cooked) meals a day for free. It is apparently ungodly beautiful.
There were lots of stories of all sorts of varying appropriateness told, including stories about trips to Orvieto, to a wine festival just outside the city, to Firenze, and to Venezia, among others. Some people travel a lot, others don't; my housemate said her one big regret about the program was not traveling more while she was spending these ten weeks in such an amazing country. Traveling will be a bit expensive, but I'd really like to try it. I know people who will be in Prague, in Paris, and in London, among other places, and while I don't know that I'd get that far out, it sure sounds like tons of fun to try.
I'm now appropriately excited to really start getting this journey off the ground; it is going to be amazing, I know.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Payin' the dues
Today I went into the study abroad office to officially accept my place on this Rome excursion and pay the admin fee/deposit/"show of good faith" (that's what they call it on the contract) of $550. Rather a lot to write out on a check--I've never written a check that large, which makes me a noob, yes, although I used to pay monthly $200-$300 checks for piano lessons and the like back in my early high school days. It's been a while since I've had to write out anything even remotely close to "Five hundred-fifty and 0/100," however, and the money I'm spending here is actually a combination of my mother's and my grandfather's, not even really mine. But still.
I should probably clarify what I mean by "contract" above, since it sounds so official. It's actually a piece of blue computer paper with a rip-off top for me to keep as a receipt; the rest simply has my name, student ID, and program on it and tells me to check the box next to either "I accept admission to the Rome program" or "I decline admission to the Rome program" and then sign. A check mark next to "accept," my John Hancock, and a $550 check officially sets me on the road to Rome; there's no backing out now without losing that $550.
(But why would I really want to back out of Roma? There hasn't been a good reason yet.)
First program meeting is on April 6th, which is second week of spring quarter. I don't think I'll have much to say until then, really, but the road is truly beginning.
I should probably clarify what I mean by "contract" above, since it sounds so official. It's actually a piece of blue computer paper with a rip-off top for me to keep as a receipt; the rest simply has my name, student ID, and program on it and tells me to check the box next to either "I accept admission to the Rome program" or "I decline admission to the Rome program" and then sign. A check mark next to "accept," my John Hancock, and a $550 check officially sets me on the road to Rome; there's no backing out now without losing that $550.
(But why would I really want to back out of Roma? There hasn't been a good reason yet.)
First program meeting is on April 6th, which is second week of spring quarter. I don't think I'll have much to say until then, really, but the road is truly beginning.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Ciao!
Welcome to my sub-blog, you could say, about my upcoming study abroad venture to Rome for ten weeks in fall 2011! Today is March 8th, 2011, and I have officially received my acceptance to study in la citta' eterna. The program begins in mid-September and ends in early December, in conjunction with the quarter system here at the University of Chicago.
For now, details will be slow, since the next step is accepting my position in the program and paying my deposit, and I'm not sure how rapidly the rest of the timeline moves along. Regardless, should everything go well, I will be in Italia in a little over six months--far away, and yet really not so far. For the next six months, this sub-blog will be mostly more menial notes on preparations, what it takes to study abroad, and more, but I will continue blogging regularly at my main home on the internet, Composed Chiefly of Nothing and I will note there when I have a new, Italia-specific post up here.
A presto,
Aja
For now, details will be slow, since the next step is accepting my position in the program and paying my deposit, and I'm not sure how rapidly the rest of the timeline moves along. Regardless, should everything go well, I will be in Italia in a little over six months--far away, and yet really not so far. For the next six months, this sub-blog will be mostly more menial notes on preparations, what it takes to study abroad, and more, but I will continue blogging regularly at my main home on the internet, Composed Chiefly of Nothing and I will note there when I have a new, Italia-specific post up here.
A presto,
Aja
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