"You can siesta when you're dead"

What is the sun like here?
I heard that the Romans used to call it a lion. Especially when all the Italians are taking their 2-5 siestas, the hottest part of the day, and we're trudging through heat in the 90s-100s. It is an understatement to say that the heat takes the strength out of you.
Here is some humor/tragedy for you.
You know it's hot when...

-3 showers a day, 2 outfit changes
-The dogs are always panting
-You go through an aloe vera bottle for one sunburn, and sleep with a wet towel
-You listen to Bon Iver just to feel like you're in a cold forest
-You put deoderant between your legs to prevent chaffing
-One of your classmates goes to the hospital for 2nd degree burns
-The number of gelatos per day indicate the temperature rises

Today we took the train to Ostia-Antica. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that train doors are automatic, and only stay open about 10 seconds. Train door slamming in my face, and being whisked away from my classmates? Check. Struggling through broken Italian to find the train back? Yep. Sitting on the bench, waiting for the next train was both comical and depressing.  One of my professors, Rebecca, had left to come back for me. We were late for a very traditional European tour guide.

(To the left, the beginnings of the fateful misadventure)

Our guide was fantastic though. A very well known, sassy, energetic old man named Jan Gedeyne. He repainted Ostia-Antiqa for us so well I could imagine the towering buildings, community baths, and crates rattling on the cobblestone. Ostia was an ancient port town in Rome (before the coast line moved). It died between 6-8th cent AD. By the end of the tour, he had memorized all our names. I was "the girl who got lost." Of course.

Here are the memories of old shops/apartments, and a road built to impress.


Ostia had the best brick work in Rome, and very beautiful mosiacs. Also below, their theater and a view of the end of the city, where the water used to be. Augustus placed his portrait in many theaters to make the people feel as if they were participating in the government, although he ruled as emperor with all power.

 

 

 Aww, a random statue of Cupid and Psyche kissing...

Our guide said the funniest things. He was very blunt, if not mean, but spoke in such a humor, authority and wit that he got away with it very well.

As we groan up the steps....
"Shade is for tourists."
"So this is the future of America?"
"Andiamo! (Let's go!) Do you think I was born with the face I have?"
"We don't sleep here. You can siesta when you're dead."

Learning our names...
To one of the girls who was smoking, "You who are going to die young, what is your name?"
One of us, who is amazed by his boundless energy and ability to remember our names. "What do you use?"  "Cocaine."

Roman food...
"Anything bean-y Rome loved" (Apparently this means that the Romans loved beans.)


After returning from the long day, we read poems at a park on Capitaline Hill. 2 weeks over already, we are halfway through! I was also given my new nick name. In Rome there are saints for practically everything- shipwrecks, lost things, children, etc, but apparently I found a new one! I became the "Patron Saint of lost train stops."

Breathtaking view from tonight... I will have to come up here to draw sometime.