My first Rome seminar: Roman History with Mr. Sullivan. I would normally dread having to wake up at 8am and get ready to walk to school on a Saturday, though this particular morning I was excited. I love History. I am one who enjoys good fun facts, and today has been full of them.
Once we had all arrived we jumped right into reviewing over our Rome Timelines. It was comforting to be sitting around one another and seeing how much hard work went into our timelines, and how we each brought our own individuality into it. It made me better understand the people I will be spending my next few Saturdays with.
Soon after talking about our timelines, and learning our roman numerals, we got right into Sullivan's lesson. Good thing we had done our timelines before his class, knowing the back stories made it easier to understand and go deeper into the history. We talked of Romulus, The Punic Wars, The Republic, Popes, Caesar, buildings, art work, dreams of swords shaped like the cross on fire, the Black Death, Dan Brown books, and so much more. Sullivan's pronunciation of Italian words, his booming voice acting as if he were Ballio (from Plautus, Pseudolus, Act. 1, Sc. 2.), his way of showing us we cannot really fathom what it is like to be standing in one place and having three huge buildings all built in completely different time periods surround us, made me ecstatic that I may get the opportunity to feel that feeling he was trying so hard to describe. It is interesting how little things can make you feel so inspired to do great things.
My family is very Italian, I always knew it but I had never realized just how much until Mrs. Everett and Mr. Sullivan had talked to us about modern Rome. Sleeping in and staying out late, sitting down for a 3 hour meal, some people think this is odd, but upon hearing this I felt, "Rome is the place for me!" I felt a since of belonging just hearing about the way life is there. There was so much that impressed me today, besides realizing I love Rome and I have not yet even been. It was of course the odd little fun facts that caught my attention: how the hole at the top of the Pantheon lets no rain in, how Hannibal traveled from Carthage up to the north of Italy with elephants just for the element of surprise, how the Coliseum has parts of it missing because after it was no longer in use the Romans recycled the building to build others, and how when the Coliseum was in use it held water battles.
Today has been a good day, despite the waking up early. I would have to say the best part of my first seminar was learning so much interesting history that made me realize how much I want to travel and how much I appreciate every detail of the amazing city of Rome. Plus Mr. Sullivan giving us chocolate at the end of class was a nice bonus.
-Kathleen Snook
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