Sensory Overload

Buonasera!  Good evening from Rome everyone!   As I write this post, I am sitting next to the window of my third floor apartment in Trastevere, up above the bustling nightlife atmosphere of Vicolo de Cinque.  I smell the thick and hearty aroma of oven-baked pizza blended with the familiar flavor of cigarette smoke as it wafts up past my window.  I hear snippets of Italian being thrown around at the tables below, a classical violininist playing at the far street corner, and the occasional automobile rumbling by on the rough cobblestone alleyway.  I took the picture below just a few moments ago.

As it happens, the area where we are living seems to be one of the liveliest parts of Rome at the moment.  My roommate Jacob and I were surprised to see all the activity after we returned from a relatively quiet stroll down the Via Giulia – which has historically been one of Rome’s main thoroughfares (Bramante was charged with its rejuvenation during Renaissance times) -- earlier this evening.  All of the energy here in Trastevere has inspired me to write this post – though I must admit that I am very close to passing out due to exhaustion!

  Twelve hours of flight time, six hours of waiting in the airport, and three meagre hours of sleep later; I arrived here in Rome – more specifically at Fiumicino International Airport – at about 9 a.m. this morning Rome time.  Since then, I’ve been introduced to my apartment and the neighborhood, allowed to rest for a few hours, and then treated to dinner this evening by the UARK Rome Center and its staff.

Jacob and I then explored our area of town a bit, and managed to capture this shot of St. Peter’s over the Ponte Sisto Bridge.  I really like this photo because it seems to embody the richly layered architecture that defines the Rome I have encountered so far.  Every great work of art here rests in the shadow of something far greater.  And from what I’ve heard, it only gets better from here. 

Thanks again for your kind attention in reading my blog!  This is the first time I’ve ever written about my experiences in real time, and I must say that it is quite exhilarating to know that some of you are along with me on my journey as I experience the incredible history and culture of the Eternal City.  That’s all for now!  Stay tuned for more soon!


-Brock DeMark

Setting Out

At the turn of the 20^th century, filled with nervous energy and cautious expectations, my great great grandparents boarded a boat from Italy to America.  They were no doubt fueled by the promise of a fresh start in the States; new opportunities and a better life for their – OUR – family.  I can’t help but feel that my present set of emotions somehow emulates what they must have been feeling more than a century ago.  For the first time in my life of nineteen years, I am leaving this country. 

One week from today, I will be on the ground in Rome, Italy.  I’m participating in a study abroad program through the University of Arkansas Honors College at the U of A Rome Center.  Every summer, our university sends some 60-80 students to the center – which is actually a historic Renaissance Palazzo located in the heart of the historic district, and just a five minute walk from Vatican City!  Classes at the center include anything from economics to classical studies to Italian language and culture.

The particular program I will be participating in this summer is called “The Renaissance in Rome”.  It is a program geared toward History and English majors (of which I am both), and it is also a great way to satisfy requirements for the U of A’s Medieval and Renaissance Studies Minor (which I am also pursuing).  I will be taking 6 hours of credit total, which include a 3 hour class focusing on the Petrarchan sonnet, and a 3 hour class focusing on the history of Italian Renaissance literature.   

While in Rome, I will be staying in an apartment in Trastevere, a neighborhood located just south of the main historic district and about a fifteen minute walk from the Rome Center.  I will also be spending one weekend in Florence, a city widely hailed as the “birthplace of the Renaissance”.

    

My goal is to update this blog a few times each week, time permitting.  I’m hoping to use this as both a personal and academic space – a forum where I can discuss both the everyday encounters I experience living abroad, as well as some of the interesting historical information I learn through my classes and site visits.

 Although my ancestors left Italy for America with the future in mind, it is with the past in mind that I leave America for Italy.  This trip is a pilgrimage for me on multiple levels. At face value, I am travelling to a modern westernized nation with a rich and diverse history.  But for me, it’s a kind of mystical world – a place that has existed in my mind for as long as I can remember, but only as a wisp of intangible ideas and words. 

Now I’m finally getting a chance to make it all real – to pair faces with the many names and ideas swirling around in my mind, and to walk in the footsteps of true academic royalty.  I will traverse the Via Giulia, I will gaze upon the Sistine Chapel, I will peruse the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Bernini, and Caravaggio, and I will. Eat. Lots. Of. Gelato. 

In the true spirit of the Italian Renaissance, I would like to make a nod to the authors of the past and end with a quote from Giovanni Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man.  Mirandola entreats us all to realize our own inherent potential, “…so that, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish.” 

Thank you for your kind attention.  Stay tuned for more!

Brock DeMark