Friday, January 9
Turner's fanciful 1820 depiction of the Vatican Loggia, Raphael and his mistress shown anachronistically in the foreground
All Roads Lead to Rome
Well, it looks like I will be doing the famed Airline Security Shuffle tomorrow as I embark for the Eternal City once again. It's strange, sitting here and remembering doing it for the first time four months ago, remembering feeling that mixture of apprehension and excitement--and the utterly bewildering sensation I had no clue what I was doing whatsoever. Now, it's different. I'm ready, I think, at long last. I said goodbye to my grandmother this evening, both of us perhaps not quite sure what to say, I feeling overwhelmed by last-minute packing and planning, she simply feeling overwhelmed. She's recovering, slowly but surely, and I think I can slip away into Rome's past knowing I'll see her and my parents again soon enough.
So, here I am, standing on the brink of a new semester. There'll be twice as much liturgical and ecclesiastical fun in the coming months, plenty of churches to visit, Vespers to pray, and pasta to sample. First semester was a trial balloon, I suppose. I'm no longer the scared young architecture student I was then, fumbling over exact change to the anger of Italian salesclerks, or, most embarassingly, coming across the Pantheon one day while lost and not knowing it was literally around the corner from the cozy and familiar world of Studio. I've figured how Rome works, and Rome's figured out how I work, and I think we respect each other--though we're not afraid to laugh at each other, even to our own faces.
And, since sleep is a prerequisite for thoughtful travelling, it seems best to close with the words of the great diarist of another metropolis, Samuel Pepys: And so to bed. Ciao, y'all.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
