Rome via Brooklyn

812 Words

4-5 Minute Read

A photo of the River Tiber from our morning walk to our Temple meeting point

I woke up this morning with a pit in my stomach. I have been feeling homesick and honestly couldn’t believe the fact that I am in Rome, Italy so far way from home.

Last night my amazing roommate Lucy suggested that we walked to our meeting point in the morning, I also was nervous about this as I still have a lot of anxiety about navigating the city and our neighborhood. Lucy and her confidence rubbed off on me and allowed me to not take the easy way out by taking the bus and to walk on.

Walk on we did. Lucy, Arden and I had a walk of 30 minutes from the apartment to the meeting point between the two temples. In this walk we had great conversations but also moments of silence, moments in which I was able to reflect and think about my current situation and where I was going, both metaphorically and physically.

The option of walking to our destination allowed me to begin to grasp and understand the significance of the location of which I was moving within. I looked at all the buildings, they are not uniform, not of the same architectural style, not of the same time.

The hodgepodge of buildings allowed me to come to a conclusion for myself that perhaps is otherwise well-known. Rome is not a city suspended in time but rather one that lives and coexists with all sorts of times. The ancient, the medieval, the renaissance, the modern.

As we continued on I looked to my left and asked (perhaps naïvely) “What river is this?”

My roommates responded much more kindly than they should have and told me it was the Tiber River.

Of course it was the Tiber River, after all we are in Rome. It was here the dots started to connect.

It was strange for me to see such an ancient thing, a body of water that has withstood the test of time and informed the things surrounding it, something with so much power right beside me.

I felt overwhelmed, a place I had read so much about, a place that has so much significance in history was tangible. The river was right to the left of me, wide and grand and not quite the image I had in mind.

I physically felt the cogs move in my brain and felt my perspective shift. It was hard and still is difficult for me to reckon with the mix of old and new. In Rome I am increasingly finding these things are not dead and of the past, they are right beside you.

My hand in the Mouth of Truth

As I put my hand in the Mouth of Truth I tried to approach it much more mindfully and with strong intention, this was my chance to mix the modern with the old. My intentions, my dreams, and my truth mixed with that of the people past, not only back in the times of the Romans but the people who went last week, last year.

I am still nervous, I am still unsure, I am still afraid, but this is not my permanent position. I am in fact changing and I can feel it happening in real time.

As the water has continued to flow in the River Tiber so will I, adjusting, adapting and moving forward to better understand and better enjoy what lays on the horizon.

Something I really enjoyed both from class today and from the readings was this idea of the columns of travertine in the front of the temple and the tufa in the engaged columns further down the back of the Temple of Portunus. As the travertine was closer to marble, and as I have begun to think of it, sort of as its cheaper cousin, it is the better material and it makes sense it would be more front facing as compared to the cheaper easier to work with tufa.

It made me think of this idea that often comes up when making first impressions and going into new surroundings and environments, putting your best foot forward.

In the reading we learn that the Temple of Portunus survives whilst many other temples of a similar kind did not because it was adapted. According to the reading the temple was “converted into a church of St Mary at a very early date”…”while it was still in good condition.” (216, Republic Readings). Although the temple had no say in what it would be used for it made me think about how truly important the things we assign value to are. It could be the determining factor in whether or not something gets to live on. Although the temple did not have a choice we do. I can chose to change and move forward.

Pine Trees in front of Portunus and the Round Temple

I hope to keep learning and reflecting and aspire to keep moving upwards like the Pine Trees.

-Paola ❤