Blogging from London, Britain on October 21st, 2019
Bloggers: Mack and Halle
Steps taken: 150000
Trains Taken: 2
Planes Flown: 1
TODAY’S THE DAY FOLKS!
there have been a lot of expectations surrounding today, and the seven days to come. VEGETABLES. VISTAS. VISAS. VALOR. VELOUR. VAULTING. VILLAS. VIRTUOSOS. VIRTUS. VENGEANCE. VESTIGES. VESTS. VERANDAH. VENISON. and the list goes on.
With these V words at the forefront of our minds, we sprung awake at 4 am with great enthusiasm and nervous anticipation.
By 4:45, the FSP GANG wished BHI a sweet goodbye, sealed with a kiss, and marched on to the train station. It was only a fifteen minute walk!
Professor Stewart greeted us at the Pristine Trastevere Train Station, adorned with the latest modern interior design, a few homeless people, and a grade A stank.
We waited about 45 minutes for the elevator to meet us. Some FSPers were “heroes” and braved the steep steps with the very very heavy bags. Good for them! Mack and Halle enthusiastically took the elevator with Professor Stewart. Everyone regrouped (some breathing heavily) and we waited on a Clean and Well-lit Train platform.
We then boarded the train (minding the gap) and had a smooth ride to the Rome airport, taking up approximately 130% of the train cabin between our eleven bodies and three hundred-some-odd bags. As you can imagine, the airport was PACKED at 5 am and we had to wait approximately TWELVE hours to go through security. Just Kidding! We got through in minutes.
Our three hour flight consisted primarily of naps, though Mack and an Italian-English woman had an intriguing conversation about terrorism, Mithras, and the death of the Great American Novel during the last thirty minutes of the flight. Mack was thrilled. Mack understood what it meant to be “cool” for the first time in his life when he opened up a bag of mini Toblerones and suddenly people wanted to talk to him about his Greece trip. Hoi Polloi.
Across the aisle, Kylie, Halle and Shawn hung loose and chewed gum and were well behaved.
Mila and Margaret slept the whole time. Benzi and Sophia also slept probably (who knows or cares). To give you an idea of “our vibe,” if a stranger walked on to the airplane and were to be gifted a thousand dollars for every FSPer correctly identified, He/She/They would win 12,000 dollars (an extra one thousand for answering so quickly.) Our faces tell the story of a weary traveler.
The flight landed soon enough and before we knew it, FSP was back to a place safe and ever-familiar: A MUSEUM!
To clarify, we flew to Britain. We thought the suspense would express the drama and anticipation of the day. Let us know if we were right – email Maxwell.G.Reiferson.22 with your thoughts.
But back to museums, literally.
We scarfed down a fast and dirty lunch (dirty in a good way) and began our examination of the Roman Britain rooms. Professor Stewart gave an introductory lecture of Roman Britain’s history, we did some preliminary museum gawking and Professor Stewart narrowed our focus to a few themes: Gender, Trade, Religion, and Diversity. Or, GTRD. We broke into groups and analyzed inscriptions, pottery, mosaics, and religious items with our given theme in mind. Team G and Team D partnered up and noticed the wide range of names and birth places of the people living in Roman Britain. Team T pointed out how not only do the physical origins of the items in the room tell us about trade in the Roman British world, but also how the iconography on the locally made items indicates cultural influences and thus connectivity with other cultures as well. Team Religion tracked and thought about the indigenous gods of Britain (tres matres was a group favorite) and their prevalence as compared with the Roman gods. After about 2 hours, we did a short debrief then went to a dimly lit restaurant with a fish forward menu. The first course was great. The second course was great. The third course was also pretty good. Three courses! What is this, a Dartmouth term? Everyone left dangerously full and very pleased to be in Britain.