Lala In Italia: Swan Lake at Terme di Caracalla

I had a very productive day yesterday. Class was a little bit of a blur. I've been rather ill the past few days and I was definitely day dreaming the entire class period. Of course, I was called on in the middle of it but I was able to come up with the perfect answer - I'm really becoming a pro Shakespearean. We got our first papers back and I made a B which was the second highest grade in the class next to a B+. I don't really know how I managed to pull that off because I may or may not have written my paper the morning it was due :). I guess I just do my best under immense amounts of pressure-ish. We had to chose between two questions. I chose to answer the question about Titus Andronicus and why or why not I agree with T.S. Elliott's statement that it is "one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written" (It actually is a pretty ridiculous play). Am I boring you? The other question was about Romeo and Juliet. I really don't know why I didn't chose to write about that play because we all know that I love Leonardo DiCaprio. That is besides the point. The real point is that I made the second highest grade in the class and I'm an excellent Shakespeare critic.

After class, I decided to just wander around and run some errands. The saldi is still going on and there were these sandals that I was eyeing the other day. Thankfully, they ran out of my size. I was able to save myself a lot of money and guilt with that one. I stumbled upon the Pantheon in the midst of my wandering. It is absolutely breathtaking if you really look at it. You must ignore all the chaos and kind of clear your mind and it kind of just hits you. That is probably my favorite thing about living in Rome, the wandering.

Last night we had a planned night excursion with API. Boy, did API hook us up. We got to see Swan Lake at the Terme di Caracalla (Baths of Caracalla). The Baths of Caracalla were built in Rome between AD 212 and 216, during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla and now the remains are just these beautiful ruins. I can't believe we got to see Swan Lake outsides in ancient Roman ruins. Are you kidding me? How cool is that! The ballet started around 9:30 (21:30) and didn't get out till after midnight (then we indulged ourselves in some cornetti a nutella :) ). It was absolutely beautiful. The swan queen was absolutely perfect. She was stunning and so graceful - not to mention teeny tiny. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my life and one of the top things we have done in Rome. Thanks, API!