Spectacular! Spectacular! No words in the vernacular...

Since I have recently decided for definitely-sure that I am going to Rome, I am going to need some kind of travel-logue ... travellogue... travellog... travel-log ... some kind of place to post pictures and memoirs and stuff, before I inevitably come home and create a massive scrapbook. Here will be my online Rome scrapbook, except I won't glue ticket stubs and stuff to my comptuer, otherwise that might make it hard to see the screen.

I am told there is wireless access from the Rome campus. And since the only thing that allowed me even to consider Rome is that I would not be wholly out of touch with America because of this, I intend to make full use of it. However I have no idea how I'm going to secure it while I'm off on 10-day, because I'm certainly not lugging this thing around. My plan is to get a biggish backpack, and pack everything I will need for 10-day in one backpack. Hopefully I have some room to spare for stuff I'll hopefully buy along the way.

Since I'm obviously not in Rome right now, I shall use this as the planning-stages stuff, where I can put thoughts down and come back and read them so I don't forget. Also, this is Being For The Benefit Of John Esposito, as the Beatles might say. It is quite fortunate that JohnE and Sarah will both be in Italy this next semester -- JohnE and I are planning on doing a bit of traveling, and hopefully we can take Sarah along with us.

So this is my to-do list so far:

1) Find out about dual-use (America/Europe) cellphones
2) Write a letter concerning a papal audience
3) investigate the practicalities of utilizing walkie-talkies for group expeditions
4) Get information on the Scavi tour
5) See if mom and I can't drag John with us to the British isles after the semester is over
6) Find out how long it takes to get around to places
7) Figure out the tricky logistics of accomodations
8) Opera?
9) Plan out, to the nearest detail, various trips doable over weekends; possibly arrane these by theme:
      * cathedrals
      * medieval courtly love thingies
      * Knights Templar?
      * mountains
      * St. Dominic?

Places on the list:

* France (mostly southern)
* Spain (wherever John wants to go)
* Portugal, the islands or wherever the mountains are
* Switzerland
* Austria
* Libya (I wish ...)
* Constantinople/Istanbul (John and I wish ...)
* British Isles (England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales)

Anywhere else I'll leave up to chance.

Also, I want to see the movie "An American in Paris". (typoed: "An American in Parish") Also, I want to be Audrey Hepburn. When I picture myself in Paris, I have two overly-romantic notions: the first is of Audrey Hepburn/whoever it was who did the remake, of the movie Sabrina ... she goes to Paris an ugly duckling and comes back ... Audrey Hepburn, the epitome of grace, class, etc. Also the other is from the animated movie Anastasia... I don't know if there's an actual shot of this, but it's her in her Audrey-Hepburn gown and Dmitri in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh, also there's Moulin Rouge and "Spectacular Spectacular" and the windmills and the can-can dancers, blahblahblah. ("You'll end up WASTING your life at the MOULIN ROUGE with a can-can dancer! ... ALways this riDIculous obSEssion with LOVE!")

Love ... above all things, I believe in love. Love is like oxygen, love ... LIFTS us up to where we belong: all you need is love!

The hiiiiiills are aliiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusiiiiiiic....

I know what movie I'm watching tonight. HOLY COW, nevermind, I forgot -- I have a paper due for Western Civ tomorrow. Oh well, it's some Greeky thing. Easy, I can fake it.

So there is my first post. It's public, so anyone can search in and write things if they want to. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.