Steph In Rome: Potluck dinner, Romeo & Giulietta, and more

On Wednesday, Ezio organized a potluck dinner for all of us at his apartment in the Cenci. Everyone in the group cooked something, and we all piled in to what used to be the attic of the building, now converted into a beautiful living space. It was a great chance to spend more time with Ezio's wife, Laura, their children Giorgio & Emma, our chief critic Nick, and of course everyone in our group! Also, there are some fantastic chefs in our midst! I was the most full that I've been since being in Rome.

Everyone piled into Giorgio's room

Last night, Katy, Jamie, Susie, Molly, and I went to Teatro Eliseo to see Romeo & Juliet (Romeo & Giulietta) in Italian! We had been seeing billboards all over the city advertising the show, and thought it would be an awesome opportunity to see the play in its original setting (Italy), and practice some Italian. And tickets were only 9 euro! Granted, we were in the highest row, but we still had a great view.

Il Teatro Eliseo

There was a strange thing that happened in regards to language. In the beginning, we were all concentrating really hard to understand what was being said, catching glimpses here and there, but overall hurting our brains. Then I sort of shut off and zoned out - couldn't understand anymore, and was listening more to the rhythm and cadence of the words. After intermission, something magical happened, where I went from not understanding anything to suddenly being able to understand more than I thought I could. And the last line was so great - instead of "never was there a story of more woe, than that of Juliet and her Romeo," it was rhymed (I don't remember the whole line, and can't seem to find it anywhere) "dolore" with "amore" - I don't know, it was beautiful and powerful.

Advertisement photo of the actors from R & G that have been all over the city.

Other than that, we all have been hindered a little by the crazy weather, which isn't actually crazy by New England standards but is putting Rome into chaos - everything is closed or opens late, it's wet and cold, and overall hard to get motivation when the Romans don't even want to be outside! I am heading off to Naples tomorrow with a small group, and am really looking forward to my first weekend away from Rome. Actually, the past few days the group from Bill Drew's Renaissance painting class from RISD have been in Rome, so I've gotten to see some other friends from RISD! It was strange to see people from back home, but really awesome - I had a fantastic dinner with them tonight, it was great to see them. Other than that, here are some photos from the past few days: