Rome via Brooklyn

836 words, 4 minutes read time – DOUBLE POST

Ok, not really tomb raiders, but certainly explorers. My blog post begins at the Ara Pacis. I wasn’t sure how interested I was in seeing it until I saw it in person. For me, it was this monument that seemed to only exist in my textbooks, so it didn’t really mean much to me until I saw it in person.

Though the museum was small and there wasn’t too much to see, the majesty of the Ara Pacis made up for that in spades. Once again, being able to physically step through history left me feeling overwhelmingly emotional. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes me want to cry in museums or viewing exhibits or visiting monuments. I know that a big part of it is this feeling of connection that comes from being in these spaces and imagining the lives of those who came before me. The human experience is unique to each person, and yet it’s universal and something we all go through together. So when thinking about the past, I’m fascinated thinking about how they lived and how similar they may have been to us today.

After our visit, Professor Yarrow and I made our journey to Cerveteri to meet her colleague and visit Etruscan archaeological sites. Along the way, I stopped to get cigarettes and it wasn’t until after I’d entered that I realized it was also an art store. Something about that pairing just felt so perfect, something I can’t quite describe in this moment but something I’m sure many of you can understand. The journey was relatively smooth, despite having to take three trains. We waited in a bar before our final train and I was too giddy to find a Coke bottle with my name on it (despite the different spelling). Upon our arrival, her colleague, Sebastiano, picked us up in his car and we immediately dove in.

The town of Cerveteri itself was so charming and beautiful. With my family being from a small town in the mountains, I’m constantly romanticizing these places and this lifestyle. Throughout this entire trip, I’ve been texting my sister talking about how much I’d love to move to Italy – something she also dreams of. And after all we’ve seen on our visit so far, I think it’s something I genuinely could consider doing. I’m constantly torn with what I want to do in the future and “what I want to be when I grow up”, and while my ultimate goal is and always will be to pursue the PhD, I can’t help but fantasize about throwing caution to the wind and ditching my life in NYC for a life in the countryside.

After we visited the Etruscan museum, we made our way to Il Parco Archeologico di Cerveteri e Tarquinia. This place has genuinely been one of my favorite places that I’ve visited so far. The park was enormous and even though we spent a few hours inside, I really could have stayed even longer. It was fascinating seeing the evolution of the tombs and how they improved through time. I was so grateful to have Sebastiano with us because his archaeological background and extensive knowledge of these tombs and ancient funerary practices really helped to put things into perspective for me.

TW: DEATH TALK. I’ve always held very particular views about death. I wouldn’t say I’m scared of dying, as I’ve always had an understanding that death is just a part of life, but it’s always left me feeling curious and wanting to know more. So much so that, if I hadn’t decided to go back to school, I was very seriously considering a career as a death doula. I mean, there are the obvious questions about where do you go afterwards, if you go anywhere at all. However, my interest is more focused on death on the present. Humans are so interesting when it comes to funerary practices and rituals because I’ve always felt that, at their core, they’re more for the living than for the dead.

I don’t mean to discount anyone’s beliefs by any means as I myself believe in some sort of afterlife and have my own ideas of what that means about where we might go and how we get ourselves and our loved ones to cross over there; however, I recognize that these rituals are also meant to bring us a sense of comfort in “knowing” that we’ll be cared for when it’s our time to go. END OF DEATH TALK.

After our adventures at the park, we made our way to the beach for some apericena – aperitivi + cena (dinner). The sand on the beach was black and so incredibly soft, and I really wish I’d taken a photo. But it was such a perfect end to our excursion – sharing food and drink and unwinding after an exhausting day of tomb raiding in the sun. But overall, I’m so glad I took the opportunity to go because it was absolutely unforgettable.