Still in Baltimore, but I thought I would post a little update and some interesting facts for the day.

Update 1:  I cannot move my head to the left.  The beds in our dorm are so terrible that I honestly am not able to fully move my head!  So I'm now that awkward girl who walks around with her head tilted to the right all day long.

Update 2:  I have taken 15 pages of typed notes and 4 pages of hand-written notes since I've gotten here.  We're had 3 full days now of lectures, and it's been weird being the student.  I won't bore you with all of the details, but I've learned some pretty cool things:

• Julius Caesar never wanted to be king.  While he's often blamed for being this super ambitious man, he never seems to want to be a monarch.  He just wanted to be more powerful than anyone else and to do things his way.  Oopps.
• hostis is the Latin word for "enemy," and we get 2 very different English words from it: hostile and host.  I was always confused about this, but here's why:  originally hostis meant "guest," then it came to mean "foreigner," and then it came to mean "enemy" in Latin.  This shows an interesting cultural attitude change for the Romans, who originally would treat all foreigners as their "guests," but as they became more powerful they thought of them in a more negative way.
• During his reign, the emperor Nero (now known for playing the lyre while Rome built and killing lots of Christians) built a massive bronze statue of himself that was called the "Colossus of Nero." When it was moved later to build the Flavian Amphitheater in its spot, it took 24 elephants (!) to move it.  Now the Flavian Amphitheater is known to us at the "Colosseum" as a reminder of the statue whose spot it stole.

Now go impress your boss at your next cocktail party with those fun facts.

The Flavian Amphitheater, aka "Colosseum"

I made it to Baltimore!

Before we go to Italy on Friday, we are spending a week in Baltimore at the College of Notre Dame (a small Catholic college close to Loyola and Johns Hopkins).  It's our chance to get preliminary information and to do research at their library before we leave.

I have now met each of the 24 other participants, and I've been surprised by the variety of people.  About half of us are Latin teachers, and the rest are English, history, math, and science high school teachers.  The average age seems younger than I thought it would be, probably late 20's early 30's, so it's been nice talking with younger teachers and sharing our stories.  There are 2 sisters who are running our program, Sister Theresa and Sister Therese Marie, who are the sweetest ladies and are both professors at Notre Dame.  I'll get a picture of them as soon as I can!

For the program, we each have to fulfill 4 major requirements (besides the obvious of attending everything, etc.).  First, we have to do a presentation (about 20 min.) to the group on a topic of our choice- mine is the Sybil of Cumae (more details later).  Second, we have to lead a Latin translation session OR a discussion session on some aspect of Roman culture.  Third, we have to present a house in Pompeii while we are on sight.  And fourth, we have to prepare a final project by the end of our session that we can distribute and share with the other teachers.  I'm not sure yet what my final project will be, but I may do something on Roman prophets or divination.  I want to come up with some really cool lesson plan to do in the fall.  What do you think?

Veni, vidi, bloggi?  That's right, I just ruined Caesar for you.

Ever since my first trip to Italy in the 10th grade, I have been in love with Italy.  I have been to Italy 3 times since then, and this summer I will be back for more!  I have received a grant from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) to spend 4 weeks in Pompeii and Rome with a group of 24 other teachers, and our goal is to create interesting lesson plans that will bring Rome back to our students.  Hopefully this blog will be my way of sharing this experience with you (family and friends)!  Enjoy!

Just a little history for you: five years ago I spent about 5 weeks of my summer in Rome.  I had received the Richter Scholarship from Wake Forest University to research women in Roman religion, though I spent more time sight-seeing than real research.  My future husband, Locke, came over on his first trip to Europe for a week, and then my sister, Kate, accompanied me for about 3 weeks.   Here are a few pictures from that trip:

Me and Kate with the owner of the best pizzeria in Rome- Pizzeria da Baffeto

Inside the Papal Palace in the Vatican

Me and Locke in front of the 4 Rivers Fountain (by Bernini) in Piazza Navona
(which, interestingly enough, used to be the location of an ancient Roman racetrack, thus the oval shape)

Let the journey begin!