Book signings and sweaty nights

The primary focus of today was our classes on global migration and Islam/Italian cities. We discussed the readings that were assigned to us last spring quarter, which included “Trickster’s Travels” by Natalie Zemon Davis, and “Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio” by Amara Lakhous. The class actually watched a documentary and visited the markets of Piazza Vittorio, which has a huge immigrant population in Rome. The books in discussion have been surprisingly relevant to what we are experiencing first hand in Rome—the accounts of these immigrants and their stories of societal integration, acts of cultural preservation, and regrets of victimized trafficking. (I also manage to get my book signed by the original author who showed up for a question/answer session for class the next day.)

I ended up studying in the classrooms of the UW Rome Center for the rest of the evening, stopping briefly for dinner (I had a seafood pizza, nutella crepe, and gelato). The workload for me is increasingly exponentially, resulting in sleep deprivation—among other things (there always seems to be an outdoor concert/protest at 2 am). And the weather here isn’t conducive to studying. It’s very warm in the day time, which allows for students to fall asleep in the middle of class. It gets worse at night; the temperature only gets warmer. I swear: I’m to the point where I am drinking three gallons of water a day just to feel hydrated. Regardless of the uncontrolled circumstances, we are all having a great time and are looking forward to studying abroad in Turkey in a couple of weeks.

Exploring the streets of Rome with my water bottle in hand.