All Paths Lead to Rome

Does this dress remind you of anything?




.......




I'm right, right? If she had had an angel puppet perched on her shoulder she would have been a dead ringer for St. Theresa.

When in Rome, Do As the Romans Do

long time no post.

I don't know what made me think of this, but I did. A year ago in my upper-div Rome class, we watched Fellini's Roma, which wasn't personally my idea of great fun. Except that there was a ten-minute segment towards the end that I loved pretty much more than anything ever.

You know how for the Fashion Week section of Project Runway, each designer has an approximate theme and music picked out for their final collection? Well, this is SO going to be my music:



The part right before this in the movie is good too.

Adventures in Yosemite

Yosemite was pretty awesome. I REALLY liked the snow, even if it was cold and wet and slippery (especially because I was wearing my mom's rain boots, which have NO traction whatsoever, as proven by the perfectly flat footprints I kept leaving in the snow whenever I left our room).

During our last night, we played the Name Game (as usual), which gave Linus an opportunity to be Linus. I think this exchange between the two of us perfectly illustrates the WIDE range of his mind:

It is Linus' turn to pick names out of the basket and have his team, to which I belong, guess. He doesn't recognize this particular name which he has just pulled out, so he's using clues to have us guess the separate parts (keep in mind that there's a time limit).


Linus: Oh, um, Amelia, this is that really tall guy in Romeo and Juliet at Burroughs last year. He played Capulet.

Me: Evan?

Linus: No.

Me: I don't know. Um, John? Lex? I didn't even see this production!

Linus: No, keep going! He's tall!

Me; Uuuhhh, I don't know! Jacob? Linus, I DIDN'T SEE THE PLAY!

Linus: He goes to school in Monterey.

Me: Oh! Isaac.


And then to have me guess this person's last name...


Linus (in a perfectly bored tone): Oh, this was one of the Gilded Age presidents.



Seriously! It took him FOREVER to get me to give the name of one my own FRIENDS, but he knew right away that Hayes was a president during the Gilded Age!

Farewell to Nova Scotia

This whole month has been so busy, I don't even know how to begin, so I won't.

This Wednesday, some of my sisters and I are meeting up for a debate about the election between two (supposedlu crazy) Poly Sci professors, and then on Thursday I'm going to this presentation by a group of students (some of my friends) made up of Jews, Christians and Muslims who all went to Israel together over the summer with the Vice Chancellor. Should be fun, especially because Hillel AND the Muslim Student Union should be there.

My left foot has been very slightly twitching for three days now, and I think it might be because of all of the mental stress I've been under since Thursday, when my (usually super nice and awesome) History professor had a sudden freakout about us not reading/participating well enough, canceled class and told us that from then on we wouldn't be discussing, just listening to his lectures. It was actually rather scary, because it's a really small class, and I think we ALL thought he was talking to us specifically. Especially because I HAD fallen behind on my reading. And this whole weekend I was freaking out, because I definitely read and took detailed notes about everything due today, but I don't know if I'm still going to be accountable for what we didn't go after last week, which includes hundreds of pages that I don't understand anyway (which I didn't REALLY read). Whatever. I'm freaking out about it, but then again, what's the worst that's going to happen to me? Everyone knows he's a jerk now anyway, and I probably won't end up failing, even if he does happen to call on me in class when I don't know what's gong on. I hope.

Maybe Disneyland with EB on Friday? Classes are overrated, anyway.

I'm suffering from Romanitess.

For the first time, I really like ALL of my professors and TAs, and my classes are really super amazingly excellent.

In my Upper-Div class on the Roman Empire, we've been reading lots and lots of Virgil and Livy. We'll be reading stuff like that all year, then coming back together to discuss them and to decide what we think Romanitas meant to the Romans (except that in class the other day someone pronounced it RomanITEss, like a disease. We all thought that was awesome). The class is great. I have a seven page paper due on Thursday but I'm not even worried because I like this class so much. And yesterday the professor told me I made an excellent point when we were discussing the orgins of Rome's founders and how that contributed to the Roman point of view about the growth of the empire, so that felt good.


My Lower-Div history class focuses on the Roman Republic, and it's the complete opposite from History 105. There are no essays, just tests. I really like this professor too, and my TA is great because he uses Latin in class just for fun as much as he can. The other day we talked about Roman names and how what part of their three names refered to what, and how ALL of Cicero's daughters would have been named Tullia, which is funny. My two history classes complement each other PERFECTLY -- I'm doing the actual reading in one, and getting the history in the other, and each class is giving me evidence to back up any thesis I need to come up with in the other. AND because of the way my schedule works out I get to study ancient Rome five times a week, so I'm one happy girl.


Lingustics isn't exactly fun, but at least it's interesting. Right now we're talking about the IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet, I think), and how each sound has a corresponding symbol that represents that sound. And we're also talking about how to classify sounds based on what part of our mouths form them. It's hard so far, but it's the mathless math class, so at least it has that going for it. And our Professor is a good lecturer and my TA is cool. And I like knowing that if I do well in this class I'll have learned something that I actually do sort of have use for every day, unlike Pre-Calculus.

My Physics class is called Great Ideas of Physics (it's a non-Physics major class). It's the same stuff we studied in high school, but a very basic version, so we go over LOTS of different things in one class, versus spending a few weeks on one form of an equation. I don't look forward to going to class, but my TA is really attractive and super nice, and even though my Professor has a thick accent, he ALWAYS has a smile on his face, which honestly does put me in a better mood.

I decided to bump up my schedule to 20 units so that I could add Intro to Stage Management. I miss Drama classes terribly, so I was thinking that this one would be good way to at least be somewhat connected to the Drama Department. Plus my Big Sis is in the class too. And I am SO glad I added it. It's taught by the Dean of Stage Management (for the Grad School), and the best way to describe him is that he's a slightly less flamboyant version of Tim Gunn on Project Runway, and in the sense that Tim Gunn is excited about fashion, my professor is ten times as excited by us learning about the art and technique of stage managing. It's a super easy class (I have a short paper due on Tuesday about five good qualities that I believe a good stage manager should have. C'mon) and my professor is EXTREMELY encouraging. Anyone one else would come off as sappy, but as easily-congratulatory as he is on the basic points we come up with in class, his compliaments NEVER seem ridiculous, because he is just so awesome. And he knows everything and everyone and he worked for Equity for a long time so we get to hear all of his really interesting stories about that kind of thing. It's pretty much amazing. AND because I'm in the class I get to observe (on my own headset!) the dress rehearsal of UCI's upcoming mainstage production of West Side Story. So pretty much I'm ecstatic.


Eeee!

Zot! I love UCI.

I'll make this quick because I still have to read Books I-IV and VI of The Aeneid before I go to the Hillel Bonfire at Corona Del Mar tonight. I LOVE my apartment. There is too much storage space in my room, kitchen AND bathroom. My roommates are awesome. My pink kettle is amazing. My room is fantastic! Except that I can't decide where I want anything to go, plus I didn't bring enough hangers, so it's still kind of messy because I haven't really unpacked yet.

Recruitment is going really awesomely so far. We have a consultant who is there for us (mostly me, really, since I'm Recruitment Chair) pretty much 24/7, and who tables with us from open to close every day. Having her there is seriously a big boost, because with her tips we've spoken to more girls in two days of recruiting than we did all last quarter.

Lots of boys around, but no time to talk to them because I have to meet potential sisters! Grr.

Class officially starts tomorrow, but it's Thursday so I only have to go to one of my history classes and physics. Then table table table, and then Chipotle with Talia and Shannon to discuss our upcoming Recruitment plans.


Must go finish coffee/read about Aeneas!

The Adventures of Amelia And That Little Boy With the Same Last Name Who Hangs Around Her.

Episode One: Studying for His First AP United States History Test.


Amelia: Linus, give me the definition of the word "graft".

Linus: To have graft in the past.

*Amelia and her mother exchange blank stares*

Linus, realizing he must be wrong: Ohhhhhh. I thought you meant "graftuh".
*Amelia and her mother attempt to laugh but fail*




+++Ten Minutes Later+++



Amelia: Linus. If you want to do well on this test there is no such thing as being "done studying". You have to study every night.

Linus, shocked and appalled: What?! That's called communist!....ism.